Imaging of nerve electrical activities in lumbar spine

Abstract

This paper describes our investigation on functional imaging of human nerve electrical activity in the lumbar spine area using its evoked neuromagnetic field. The neuromagnetic measurements were conducted for five healthy male over the surface of lower back after stimulation of the tibial nerves at the ankle. The nerve electrical activity was reconstructed over a curved surface which was determined using the subject’s lateral X-ray image. We applied the recursive null steering (RENS) spatial filter to reconstruct the nerve activity. The results of our experiments, showed that the dynamics of nerve electrical activities in the lumbar spine could clearly be visualized for all five subjects.