Influence of the thickness of soft tissues overlying human masseter and temporalis muscles on the electromyographic maximal voluntary contraction level.

Skinfold measurements by means of calipers and the use of linear regression functions, representing relationships between maximal EMG activity and skinfold thickness, provide a simple and non-invasive procedure to diminish the influence of the thickness of the subcutaneous tissues overlying jaw-elevator muscles on electromyographic data of the maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) level. This method, which allows an improved comparison between different subject or muscle groups in terms of neuromuscular capacity, has been applied to MVC values from the masseter and the anterior temporal muscles (surface EMG) of 21 healthy males, 14 healthy females, and 14 females suffering from myogenous temporomandibular disorders (TMD). Non-corrected MVC values from both muscle groups were larger for the male controls than for the female controls. As the skinfold thickness was smaller for males than for females, these MVC levels did not differ significantly after correction for skinfold thickness. As the skinfold thickness was very similar for the female TMD patients and the controls, the correction method did not appreciably change the lower MVC values of the TMD patients.