Abstract
The performance of the masticatory muscle is frequently affected and presents high heterogeneity poststroke. Surface electromyography (EMG) is widely used to quantify muscle movement patterns. However, only a few studies applied EMG analysis on the research of masticatory muscle activities poststroke, and most of which used single parameter—root mean squares (RMS). The aim of this study was to fully investigate the performance of masticatory muscle at different head positions in healthy subjects and brainstem stroke patients with multiparameter EMG analysis. In this study, 15 healthy subjects and six brainstem stroke patients were recruited to conduct maximum voluntary clenching at five different head positions: upright position, left rotation, right rotation, dorsal flexion, and ventral flexion. The EMG signals of bilateral temporalis anterior and masseter muscles were recorded, and parameters including RMS, median frequency, and fuzzy approximate entropy of the EMG signals were calculated. Two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with repeated measures and Bonferroni post hoc test were used to evaluate the effects of muscle and head position on EMG parameters in the healthy group, and the non-parametric Wilcoxon signed rank test was conducted in the patient group. The Welch–Satterthwaite t-test was used to compare the between-subject difference. We found a significant effect of subject and muscles but no significant effect of head positions, and the masticatory muscles of patients after brainstem stroke performed significantly different from healthy subjects. Multiparameter EMG analysis might be an informative tool to investigate the neural activity related movement patterns of the deficient masticatory muscles poststroke.
Highlights
Stroke, a cerebrovascular disease with a high incidence and a high mortality rate, is divided into hemorrhagic and ischemic types [1]
This study aimed to investigate whether there existed a certain activation pattern of the masticatory muscles in patients after brainstem stroke
Some trends in the activities of masticatory muscles could be observed in the healthy subjects
Summary
A cerebrovascular disease with a high incidence and a high mortality rate, is divided into hemorrhagic and ischemic types [1]. The cerebral damage in survived patients was often left with sequela of motor dysfunction and abnormal muscle activation. Patients frequently have disorders of masticatory system, with masticatory muscle activity, bite force, flexibility of tongue, lip force and EMG Responses of Chewing Muscles chewing performance affected, especially after brainstem stroke [2]. It is important for stroke patients to go through a rehabilitation training and recover the masticatory function. The impairments of the masticatory system are usually of a high heterogeneity, and the effect of the masticatory rehabilitation training should be enhanced. To improve the effect of training, the overall characteristics of the impaired masticatory system and their responses to neural stimuli in patients after stroke should be studied
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