Surface Electromyogram (sEMG)

Your muscles are controlled by nerves. The sEMG scan measures how well the motor nerves are working by reading the amount of current found in the muscles.

Subluxations (misalignments of vertebrae) in the spine disturb the function of the nerve causing an abnormal amount of electrical current flowing to your muscles (indicated by colors and/or abnormal patterns).

Muscle Balance (Symmetry)

Muscle balance is extremely important because the vertebrae in the spine depend on the muscles to move properly. If one or more vertebrae are out of their normal position, it disturbs nerve function.

This nerve disturbance creates muscle imbalance caused by an abnormal amount of electrical current in the muscles on either side of the spine. As a result of this disturbance, the muscles can become weaker or stronger, tighter, or fatigued.

The abnormal muscle pattern on the scan below reveals an increased amount of tension/pull on one side compared to the other (similar to a Tug-of-War). This scan of a patient’s muscle asymmetry depicts the amount of muscle pull from one side to another. The scan shows that this is up to 158% more of a muscle pull to the left on the upper back. This detailed information helps us to accurately identify the main problem and provide you with the correct adjustments, stretches and exercises.

Normal is marked by white spikes or no spikes at all. The same colors are used here – green, blue and red for mild, moderate and severe levels of muscle asymmetry respectively.

The patient’s sEMG scan is compared to normal. We are viewing the amplitude (amount of tension) of paraspinal muscle activity, along with hyper- or hypo-tonicity as it compares to a normal population.

Green bars indicate one standard deviation over normal, or mild elevation.

Blue bars indicate moderate elevation and Red bars indicate severe elevation.

Yellow indicates one standard deviation below normal.

The Dynamic EMG Scan can track up to four channels of muscle activity while the patient goes through various ranges of motion.

Patients that follow their program of care can achieve normal muscle function and symmetry. This is a major step towards maintaining a healthy functioning spine that will be less likely to suffer from recurrent problems and develop osteoarthritis in the years to come.