System identification of the mechanomyogram from single motor units during voluntary isometric contraction

A mechanomyogram (MMG) from single motor units of the anconeus muscle in voluntary isometric contraction was recorded from seven subjects using a spike-triggered averaging technique. The MMG system, in which the input was an ideal impulse and the output was the MMG detected with an acceleration sensor, was identified as the fifth-order model by the subspace-based state-space model identification method. The transfer function of the MMG system was factorized to the second- and the first-order models. The second-order model was compared to the standard form of the second-order model, and its resonance frequency was calculated. The resonance frequencies of the second-order models were 166 +/- A 61 and 93 +/- A 27 Hz, which were within the range of the values estimated from mechanical impedance in the literature. The equivalent mechanical model of the MMG system of the single motor unit was proposed on the basis of the fifth-order model. The model might be useful to evaluate the visco-elastic properties of the anconeus muscle.