Reliability of surface electromyography measurements from the suprahyoid muscle complex

• Published in: Journal of oral rehabilitation Vol. 44; no. 9; pp. 683 - 690
• Main Authors: Kothari, M., Stubbs, P. W., Pedersen, A. R., Jensen, J., Nielsen, J. F.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.09.2017
• Subjects: Adult; Analysis of Variance; deglutition; Deglutition - physiology; Dentistry; Electric Stimulation - instrumentation; Electromyography; Evoked potentials; Evoked Potentials, Motor - physiology; Female; Healthy Volunteers; Humans; Magnetic fields; Male; Motor evoked potentials; Motor task performance; Muscle Contraction - physiology; Neck Muscles - diagnostic imaging; Neck Muscles - physiology; Reproducibility of Results; suprahyoid muscle complex; Swallowing; Transcranial magnetic stimulation; deglutition; transcranial magnetic stimulation; motor evoked potentials; suprahyoid muscle complex
• ISSN: 0305-182X; 1365-2842
• DOI: 10.1111/joor.12537

Summary Assessment of swallowing musculature using motor evoked potentials (MEPs) can be used to evaluate neural pathways. However, recording of the swallowing musculature is often invasive, uncomfortable and unrealistic in normal clinical practice. To investigate the possibility of using the suprahyoid muscle complex (SMC) using surface electromyography (sEMG) to assess changes to neural pathways by determining the reliability of measurements in healthy participants over days. Seventeen healthy participants were recruited. Measurements were performed twice with one week between sessions. Single‐pulse (at 120% and 140% of the resting motor threshold (rMT)) and paired‐pulse (2 ms and 15 ms paired pulse) transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) were used to elicit MEPs in the SMC which were recorded using sEMG. ≈50% of participants (range: 42–58%; depending on stimulus type/intensity) had significantly different MEP values between day 1 and day 2 for single‐pulse and paired‐pulse TMS. A large stimulus artefact resulted in MEP responses that could not be assessed in four participants. The assessment of the SMC using sEMG following TMS was poorly reliable for ≈50% of participants. Although using sEMG to assess swallowing musculature function is easier to perform clinically and more comfortable to patients than invasive measures, as the measurement of muscle activity using TMS is unreliable, the use of sEMG for this muscle group is not recommended and requires further research and development.