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Target-directed elbow movements are essential in daily life; however, how different task demands affect motor control is seldom reported. In this study, the relationship between task demands and the complexity of kinematics and electromyographic (EMG) signals on healthy young individuals was investigated. Tracking tasks with four levels of task demands were designed, and participants were instructed to track the target trajectories by extending or flexing their elbow joint. The actual trajectories and EMG signals from the biceps and triceps were recorded simultaneously. Multiscale fuzzy entropy was utilized to analyze the complexity of actual trajectories and EMG signals over multiple time scales. Results showed that the complexity of actual trajectories and EMG signals increased when task demands increased. As the time scale increased, there was a monotonic rise in the complexity of actual trajectories, while the complexity of EMG signals rose first, and then fell. Noise abatement may account for the decreasing entropy of EMG signals at larger time scales. This study confirmed the uniqueness of multiscale entropy, which may be useful in the analysis of electrophysiological signals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To explore the stroke- and aging-induced neurological changes in paretic muscles from an entropy point of view, fuzzy approximate entropy (fApEn) was utilized to represent the complexity of EMG signals in elbow-tracking tasks. In the experiment, 11 patients after stroke and 20 healthy control subjects (10 young and 10 age-matched adults) were recruited and asked to perform elbow sinusoidal trajectory tracking tasks. During the tests, the elbow angle and electromyographic (EMG) signals of the biceps brachii and triceps brachii were recorded simultaneously. The results showed significant differences in fApEn values of both biceps and triceps EMG among four groups at six velocities ( p < 0.01), with fApEn values in the following order: affected sides of stroke patients < unaffected sides of stroke patients < age-matched controls < young controls. A possible mechanism underlying the smaller fApEn values in the affected sides in comparison with aged-matched controls and in the aged individuals in comparison with young controls might be the reduction in the number and firing rate of active motor units. This method and index provide evidence of neurological changes after stroke and aging by complexity analysis of the surface EMG signals. Further studies are needed to validate and facilitate the application in clinic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]