Evaluating Postoperative Muscle Strength Using Surface Electromyography in Hip Fracture Patient

Abstract

Background: To compare the muscle strength of patients with a hip fracture according to the presence of sarcopenia after surgery and the correlation of measured values between a Biodex and surface electromyography (sEMG) in postoperative measurement of muscle strength. Methods: Seventy-one patients who underwent hip fracture surgery were included in this study. Muscle mass was measured using dual energy X-ray absorptiometry and the grip strength was evaluated using a dynamometer. The diagnosis of sarcopenia followed the Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia criteria. We evaluated the Biodex to assess muscle strength according to the presence of sarcopenia and at the same time measured the sEMG to evaluate the correlation of muscle strength between Biodex and sEMG. Results: We assigned 34 patients with sarcopenia and 37 without sarcopenia to 2 groups. In the comparison of muscle strength using Biodex and sEMG between the 2 groups, it was confirmed that muscle strength of sarcopenia group was decreased compared with that of the non-sarcopenia group, although there was no statistical significance between the groups. However, Biodex and sEMG showed very close correlation with muscle strength in all variables. Conclusions: We suggest that using sEMG for the evaluation of muscle strength after hip fracture surgery may be an excellent tool alternative to isokinetic testing machines such as the Biodex.

Prevalence of sarcopenia and mortality rate in older adults with hip fracture

“…24,25 Low muscle mass and weak muscle strength of sarcopenic hip fracture patients are associated with this higher mortality. 26 One recent position statement of an expert panel questioned the association between lean muscle mass and adverse health-related outcomes in older adults. 7,27 Thus, identification of optimal diagnostic criteria of sarcopenia is crucial to evaluate the risk of mortality of hip fracture patients.…”

“…Clinically, the 1‐year mortality rate is more pragmatic than the 5‐year mortality rate in hip fracture patients because up to 59% of these patients die within 1‐year after the trauma 24,25 . Low muscle mass and weak muscle strength of sarcopenic hip fracture patients are associated with this higher mortality 26 . One recent position statement of an expert panel questioned the association between lean muscle mass and adverse health‐related outcomes in older adults 7,27 .…”

Diagnosis and Management of Sarcopenia after Hip Fracture Surgery: Current Concept Review

“…Therefore, development of tools for assessment of muscle strength for diagnosis of sarcopenia in postoperative patients with hip fractures is needed. Although surface electromyography (sEMG) has been used for assessment of muscle strength in patients with hip fractures, a standardized protocol for assessment of muscle strength in patients with hip fractures has yet to be established 31) . A standardized method for measurement of muscle strength for treatment of sarcopenia in patients with hip fractures should be developed in the future.…”

Comparative Analysis of Supervised Classifiers for the Evaluation of Sarcopenia Using a sEMG-Based Platform

“…As highlighted by the state of the art introduced above, sEMG is widely used for the analysis of specific pathologies but very few works in the literature have focused on the use of sEMG for the assessment of sarcopenia or its monitoring over time. For example, the study proposed in [ 25 ] compared the muscle strength of seventy-one hip fracture patients based on the presence of sarcopenia after surgery and correlated the measured values between sEMG and dynamometer in the postoperative measurement of muscle strength. After the trial, the authors concluded that dynamometer and sEMG values were highly correlated, although no statistically significant difference in muscle strength with or without sarcopenia was evidenced.…”