Comparison of muscle activation patterns among healthy males and females during different lower limb movements

Abstract

Motion abilities and lifestyle of an individual is highly affected by neuromuscular, musculoskeletal disorders and injuries to the lower limbs. Gender differences in kinematics during running have been speculated to be a contributing factor to the lower extremity injury rate showing disparity between men and women (Farahani and Gunjan, 2015; Chumanov et al., 2008). The purpose of this study was to examine the difference in non-sagittal motion of males and females in four prominent lower limb muscles namely, tibialis anterior (TA), soleus (SOL), hamstrings (biceps femoris) (HM) and quadriceps (rectus femoris) (QUAD) during different locomotion tasks involving knee flexion and extension, ankle plantar flexion and dorsiflexion. Time domain parameters of EMG were used for the quantification of EMG activity of muscles due to its implementation and computation simplicity. Statistical analysis of results demonstrated greater TA, SOL and HM activity in males but greater QUAD activity in females than males.