The Clinical Significance of Two Different Electromyography Normalisation Techniques in Patients with Anterior Cruciate Ligament Instability during Treadmill Walking

The purpose of this study is to investigate the clinical outcome of two normalisation techniques in detecting neuromuscular alterations of the quadriceps muscles between injured and non-injured patients diagnosed with ACL knee instability in their right knee during repeated gait cycles on a treadmill. The ensemble average muscle activity of the vastus lateralis and vastus medialis were normalised to either MVC or maximal activation during the gait cycle in eight male and female subjects. Results indicate that the EMG normalised to MVC was more sensitive in detecting differences in activation between the vastus lateralis and vastus medialis than the normalisation to maximal activity during repeated strides. This study indicates the importance of choosing the appropriate normalisation technique when seeking a clinical outcome measure.