Measuring the accuracies of motor unit firing times and action potential waveforms derived from surface electromyographic decomposition

Abstract This study included spike trigger averaging (STA) procedures to examine the acceptability of the Precision Decomposition (PD) III derived motor unit action potential (MUAP) trains that met the >90% accuracy criteria from the reconstruct-and-test. MUs met the >90% accuracy criteria from the reconstruct-and-test with STA procedures then applied. Y-intercepts and slopes were calculated for the firing rate- and MUAP amplitude-recruitment threshold relationships. Gaussian noise (1% of the SD of the mean interspike interval) was added to the firing times with the changes in MUAPs quantified. A total of 455 MUs were decomposed with 155 MUs removed as a result of the reconstruct-and-test. Five additional MUs were excluded via the STA criteria. The MUAP waveforms deteriorated with the inclusion of Gaussian noise. There were differences in the derived action potentials amplitudes of higher-threshold MUs between the PD III algorithm and the STA procedure. There was excellent agreement among the slopes and y-intercepts between the relationships that included or excluded MUs that did not meet the STA criteria. There was good agreement between the MUAP amplitude-recruitment threshold relationships derived from the PD III and STA procedure. The addition of the STA procedures did not alter the MU-derived relationships.