Do simulated synergies accurately represent muscle coordination?

Multibody dynamic simulations are often used to generate estimates of muscle force and activation profiles during tasks like walking, but it is unclear if these simulations generated accurately capture muscle coordination patterns as measured by experimental electromyography (EMG) data. Muscle synergies, defined as groups of muscles activated together during a task, provide a tool to quantify and compare muscle coordination strategies. We investigated the similarity of synergies produced from musculoskeletal simulation and measured EMG data. Synergies from simulations were more accurate than random chance in describing muscle coordination, yet still had significant deviations from EMG data.