Muscle

The Innervation of Skeletal Muscle

“…Many papers published prior to 1949, not discussed in this section, are listed in the last two pages of Sandow's review (63). Also some of the work published during the war and early post-war years are summarized in the section on electromyography by Buchthal (64).…”

“…Much of the work was aimed at assessing the extent of nerve damage resulting from various types of trauma and at de vising methods which might be more accurate than the clinical examination for determining whether the injured nerve was recovering spontaneously (and hence would usually not be operated) or whether its progress after sur gical repair was satisfactory. Though it is generally agreed that the practical contributions of electro myographic research to prognosis and diagnosis were disappointing, a marked upsurge of basic data as well as improvements both in technique and apparatus did result [cf., e.g., Lambert (112) and Sandow (63) for technological advancesJ� Form of the action potential.-In the course of their work on traumatic nerve injuries Hodes, Larrabee & German (52) described the form of the muscle action potentials obtained from the major muscle groups of the human arm, leg, hand, and foot. Whereas the small hand and foot muscles generally gave simple diphasic potentials upon maximal stimulation of their motor nerves, the larger muscles of the extremities were very complicated, with evidence of two or three, or occasionally more, potential crests.…”