The muscle activity spectrum: spectral analysis of muscle force as an estimator of overall motor unit activity.

Starting from the observation that the part above 6 Hz of the power spectrum of force tremor during isometric contractions can be related to the unfused twitches of motor units firing asynchronously, an attempt was made to study the usefulness of force tremor spectral analysis as a global descriptor of motoneurone pool activity. To compensate for the mechanical low-pass filter characteristic of skeletal muscle which leads to increased damping of mechanical ripples at higher frequencies, a numerical compensation rule was derived from data obtained by electrical microstimulation of small ensembles of motor units (MUs). Hidden line plots of consecutive partially overlapping spectra allowed visualization of changes in spectral composition during ongoing muscle activity. The resulting muscle activity spectra (MAS) showed broad peaks according to the range of onset firing rates in normal subjects. These tended to shift to higher frequencies with increasing force. Under conditions with increased synchronization of the MUs these broad peaks were replaced by sharp peaks corresponding to the burst repetition rate. Patients with different motor dysfunctions were selected to illustrate how alterations of MU activity are reflected in the MAS. Decreased or increased firing rates were observed as well as abnormal states of synchronization. It is concluded that the MAS provides useful information about some aspects of the discharge characteristics of ensembles of MUs and therefore represents a method to monitor some qualitative 'image' of the MU activities within a muscle.