Page "Electromyography" Paragraph 3

The first documented experiments dealing with EMG started with Francesco Redi ’ s works in 1666.

Redi discovered a highly specialized muscle of the electric ray fish ( Electric Eel ) generated electricity.

By 1773, Walsh had been able to demonstrate that the Eel fish ’ s muscle tissue could generate a spark of electricity.

In 1792, a publication entitled De Viribus Electricitatis in Motu Musculari Commentarius appeared, written by Luigi Galvani, in which the author demonstrated that electricity could initiate muscle contractions.

Six decades later, in 1849, Emil du Bois-Reymond discovered that it was also possible to record electrical activity during a voluntary muscle contraction.

The first actual recording of this activity was made by Marey in 1890, who also introduced the term electromyography.

In 1922, Gasser and Erlanger used an oscilloscope to show the electrical signals from muscles.

Because of the stochastic nature of the myoelectric signal, only rough information could be obtained from its observation.

The capability of detecting electromyographic signals improved steadily from the 1930s through the 1950s, and researchers began to use improved electrodes more widely for the study of muscles.

Clinical use of surface EMG ( sEMG ) for the treatment of more specific disorders began in the 1960s.

Hardyck and his researchers were the first ( 1966 ) practitioners to use sEMG.

In the early 1980s, Cram and Steger introduced a clinical method for scanning a variety of muscles using an EMG sensing device.