Multiple muscles are controlled simultaneously by the Central Nervous System (CNS). This strategy employs more parsimonious procedures rather than independently controlling each single muscle. This state of multiple muscle activation (MMA) can be measured by using an algorithm called SYNERGOS. In this algorithm a nonlinear analysis technique, Recurrence Quantification Analysis (RQA) is employed to calculate the percentage of determinism (%DET) of each EMG signal collected from each muscle and then combining those by using SYNERGOS algorithm to come up with a single quantity representing the overall MMA.
SYNERGOS index has some benefits especially in the clinical settings. The simplicity of monitoring the indices will provide a huge advantage which is essential to in clinical settings. For more information about the SYNERGOS index visit the Neuroscience abstract. Azadeh Khorram coauthored in this research working on the SYNERGOS algorithm to assess MMA during an isotonic movement.