Muscle networks

The human body is a complex system consisting of many subsystems and regulatory pathways. The central nervous system controls movements through the spinal motor neurons, which serve as the final common pathway to the muscles. We use graph analysis of anatomical and functional muscle networks to investigate the organisational principles of the neural control of movement and posture. Anatomical connectivity is defined based on the origin and insertion of the muscles. Functional connectivity is assessed between the EMG envelopes of multiple muscle pairs.

In this study we compared the modularity structure of anatomical and functional muscle networks. Functional connectivity was estimated using intermuscular coherence between 36 muscles pairs. We found that functional muscle networks are strongly shaped by the anatomical constraints of the musculoskeletal system. Difference in the functional networks, such as bilateral connectivity between forearm muscles and between the lower leg muscles, demonstrate additional constrains imposed by the central nervous system.

For further information see our paper in Science Advances.

In a subsequent study, we used multivariate information decomposition to investigate directed interactions between muscles in the same data set. We estimated a set of information measures from an instantaneous linear regression model and a time-lagged VAR model fitted to the EMG envelopes of 36 muscles, including conditional transfer entropy. These findings show robust patterns of directed in- teractions between muscles that are task-dependent, which may reflect gain modulations of spinal reflex pathways.

For further information see our paper in NeuroImage.

POSTURENET

I was awarded a Marie Curie Fellowship from the European Commission to investigate postural networks and link cognitive and motor control across the lifespan. In this project we combined EEG and EMG to investigate the neural interactions within the brain and spinal cord involved in postural control. The project was conducted at Maastricht University from 2020-2022.

2018 Delsys Prize

I was awarded the 16th Annual Delsys Prize for my research on mapping muscle networks using surface EMG recorded from multiple muscles across the human body. The prize has helped me to advance my research on muscle networks and investigate clinical applications of this approach.

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