Position-Velocity Categorization of Time-Frequency Coherence for the Analysis of Muscle Coordination Dynamics of Elbow Joint During Low Force Movements in Healthy Children

In this study we used a method based on joint position and velocity categorization of time frequency coherence calculated using the pseudo smoothed Wigner-Ville distribution (PSWVD). PSWVD is applied to one experimental data set of sEMG signals during voluntary isotonic elbow movements in healthy children. Nine healthy children (age range 6-13 years old) were assessed. Time-frequency coherence of each muscle were divided into ten joint angle categories (0°-130°) and five joint angular velocity categories (0°/s to 1097°/s) based on elbow kinematic data. Effects of load configurations, elbow position, elbow velocity and muscle pairs were analyzed by ANOVA tests. Findings suggest the existence of a common muscle coordination dynamics between antagonistic muscles of elbow joint which may be helpful to understand neuromusculoskeletal deficits and to evaluate and to design interventions for neuromusculoskeletal diseases.