Surface electromyography (sEMG) biofeedback is a straightforward technique that measures the electrical activity of your muscles. mTrigger’s custom electrodes are placed on the skin where they detect signals from the muscle as it relaxes, moves, and contracts. This information is displayed on your Apple/Android device screen to provide immediate visual feedback on how you are performing. mTrigger biofeedback is an excellent tool for people in physical therapy who are experiencing pain, weakness, difficulty moving, or even after a surgery. By becoming more aware of your muscle activity, mTrigger biofeedback makes it easier to improve your control and maximize your movement patterns.
If you are a patient looking to take control of your muscle rehabilitation but don’t know where to start with mTrigger biofeedback – This blog is for you!
Set Up
The mTrigger device is designed to be user friendly starting with a simple set up. To begin, all you need is your mTrigger device, custom electrodes, leads, and an Apple/Android Device. First off, make sure you have downloaded the mTrigger App from the Apple or Android App Store.
To begin using your device, plug your leads into the mTrigger device box and attach the custom mTrigger electrodes to the leads. Once complete, it should look like this.
Now, open the mTrigger App on your phone/tablet and turn on your mTrigger device. You should see your mTrigger device pop up and ask to connect. Click on that.
Basic Exercise Examples
Electrode placement will depend on the exercise you are trying to perform. We recommend using mTrigger biofeedback in conjunction with seeing a licensed physical therapist, occupational therapist, athletic trainer, or another health care professional who can help guide your personalized care. For educational and demonstration purposes, we will cover some very common rehabilitation exercises and their typical performance with mTrigger biofeedback as an example.
Shoulder
Rehabilitation exercises often focus on improving the muscle activation in the back of the shoulder. Electrode placement for these exercises will look like this.
Now that the electrodes are placed, go into Settings on the Home Screen. Adjust your settings to reflect these numbers.
1. Dual channel – on
2. Match goals – on
3. Channel 1 Settings – MVC Goal 1000
4. Channel 2 Settings – MVC Goal 1000
5. Time Settings
a. Total time: 3m 0 sec
b. Contract: 0m 5 sec
c. Relax: 0m 5 sec
SAVE your settings and go back to the Home Screen and enter Train. Now, it’s time to perform the exercise!
For the shoulder, let’s start with a simple row.
As you perform the exercise, you should see the activation meter on both sides rising into the green.
If not, you may need to lower your goal using the slide bar. If reaching the goal is easy, then raise your goal using the slide bar.
Once you have established a good goal, hit PLAY and begin the exercise. Follow the contract and relax indicator as you perform each rep!
When the exercise is complete, SAVE your session. More on how to interpret results can be found HERE, but this information is really best suited for the health care provider you are working with.
Knee
In the knee, exercises often focus on improving muscle activation of the quadricep muscle on the effected side. Electrode placement for these exercises will look like this.
Now that the electrodes are placed, go into Settings on the Home Screen. Adjust your settings to reflect these numbers.
1. Dual channel – off
2. Match goals – off
3. Channel 1 Settings – MVC Goal 1000
4. Time Settings
a. Total time: 3m 0 sec
b. Contract: 0m 10 sec
c. Relax: 0m 5 sec
SAVE your settings and go back to the Home Screen and enter Train. Now, it’s time to perform the exercise!
For the knee, let’s start with a simple straight leg raise.
As you perform the exercise, you should see the activation meters rising into the green. If not, you may need to lower your goal using the slide bar. If reaching the goal is easy, then raise your goal using the slide bar, as indicated above.
Now you can hit play and begin the exercise. Follow the contract and relax indicator as you perform each rep!
When the exercise is complete, SAVE your session. Again, more on how to interpret results can be found HERE, but this information is really best suited for the health care provider you are working with.
Here is another exercise example for the quadriceps.
When performing a step up, the focus is often on increasing quad muscle activation throughout the duration of the exercise. Apply the electrodes to the quadriceps muscle of the effected leg as suggested above and adjust your settings to look like this.
1. Dual channel – off
2. Match goals – off
3. Channel 1 Settings – MVC Goal 1000
4. Time Settings
a. Total time: 2m 0 sec
b. Contract: 0m 5 sec
c. Relax: 0m 5 sec
SAVE your settings and go back to the Home Screen and enter Train. Adjust your goal if needed and perform the step up exercise.
Achilles/Ankle
With Achilles issues, exercises often focus on improving activation of gastroc and soleus muscles in the back of the leg. Electrode placement for this exercises will look like so.
Now that the electrodes are placed, go into Settings on the Home Screen. Adjust your settings to reflect these numbers.
1. Dual channel – on
2. Match goals – on
3. Channel 1 Settings – MVC Goal 1000
4. Channel 2 Settings – MVC Goal 1000
5. Time Settings
a. Total time: 2m 30 sec
b. Contract: 0m 5 sec (up quickly, down very slowly)
c. Relax: 0m 5 sec
SAVE your settings and go back to the Home Screen and enter Train. Now, it’s time to perform the exercise!
For the Achilles, let’s start with a simple heel raise.
Make sure to adjust your activation levels accordingly so maintaining the activation meter in green is challenging, but not impossible.
Now you can hit play and begin the exercise. Follow the contract and relax indicator as you perform each rep!
Summary
mTrigger biofeedback is an important component to anyone’s rehab program. sEMG visual biofeedback offers the benefit of real time feedback for improving muscle activation and making immediate adjustments. If you are a patient looking to step up your rehab game and see improvements faster, give mTrigger biofeedback a try!
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Why Measure Muscle Activation
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