The aim of this study was to validate the SENIAM recommendations for surface electromyography placement(sEMG) over rectus femoris(RF) muscle in healthy children and in children with cerebral palsy(CP) during gait analysis and compare placement using these guidelines to using ultrasonography. The study included 10 healthy children volunteers and 10 CP children volunteers, aged 8–12. All the CP children had spastic diplegia, were GMFCS levels I–II and had not previously undergone surgery. RF electrodes were placed following SENIAM recommendations. RF was then identified by ultrasound. The distance between the lateral edge of RF and the position of the sEMG electrode as per SENIAM guidelines and the width of RF was measured, to the nearest millimetre. We considered ‘ideal electrode’ position to be at halfway between the edges of RF (i.e. 50%). The mean percentage difference in distance from the ‘ideal electrode’ position as measured by ultrasound to electrode placement following SEMIAN guidelines was 2.7% in the healthy children group compared with 19.5% in the CP group. By performing unpaired SENIAM recommendations for sEMG electrode placement over RF muscle were validated in 10 healthy children. We showed that ultrasonography improved the accuracy of sEMG electrode placement in children with CP, who can exhibit anatomical variation due to their condition. Accurate electrode placement will ensure that a more accurate signal is recorded which may have a direct clinical bearing on the decision to proceed with surgical intervention. Level of evidence: IIMethods & Results:
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