The objective of this study was to determine muscle fatigue in cyclists with and without low back pain (LBP) using bilateral surface electromyography (sEMG). sEMG was acquired bilaterally from biceps brachii medial, trapezius medial, latissimus dorsi medial, and erector spinae medial muscles. Fourteen male volunteers split equally into two groups (with and without LBP) participated in this study. sEMG was recorded before, after 15 and 30 min of cycling when the subjects performed psychophysical tests to elicit maximal voluntary contraction of the relevant muscles. Statistical tests to determine fatigue difference using mean power frequency were performed. LBP group showed a significantly higher fatigue (P < 0.05) in right trapezius medial and erector spinae when compared to the without LBP group. The high fatigue in the back muscles in the LBP group is suggestive of the possibility for worsening of their condition due to cycling. © 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Venkatesh Balasubramanian

Department of Engineering Design

adult

article

BACK MUSCLE

BICEPS BRACHII MUSCLE

clinical article

controlled study

CYCLING

DISEASE EXACERBATION

Electromyography

Human

LATISSIMUS DORSI FLAP

LOW BACK PAIN

male

Muscle Contraction

MUSCLE FATIGUE

Psychophysiology

statistical analysis

TRAPEZIUS MUSCLE

VOLUNTARY MOVEMENT

IIT Madras is a public technical and research university located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Founded in 1959, it is recognised as an Institute of National Importance.

IIT Madras has been ranked as the top engineering institute in India for four years in a row by the National Institutional Ranking Framework of the MHRD

It currently offers undergraduate, postgraduate and research degrees across 16 disciplines in Engineering, Sciences, Humanities and Management. About 596 faculty belonging to science and engineering departments and centres of the Institute are engaged in teaching, research and industrial consultancy.

IIT Madras

Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies

Hand position while driving varies considerably among drivers and it depends on their training and habit of driving. In this paper, we have estimated muscle fatigue of drivers using sensors to measure interfacial grip pressure and surface electromyography (sEMG) for three different steering wheel holding positions, i.e., 10-2, 9-3, and 8-4, during simulated driving. Thirty volunteers participated in this study by performing 60 min of simulated driving. sEMG study did not show a significant ( {p} < 0.05 ) rate of increase in muscle fatigue while driving in 8-4 position when compared with 10-2 and 9-3 positions. Interfacial grip pressure showed that the mechanical loading acting on the palm of the hands was distributed while holding steering wheel in 8-4 position. In comparison, 10-2 and 9-3 positions showed a point palmar loading. In 8-4 position, the rate of decrease of interfacial grip pressure features such as contact pressure was observed to be significantly ( {p} < 0.05 ) lower than 10-2 and 9-3 positions. This implies that the rate of fatigue will be lower while holding steering wheel in the 8-4 position. Based on the result from this paper, the 8-4 position can be concluded as the best position to hold the steering wheel to reduce the risk of muscle fatigue and other injuries to drivers during prolonged driving. © 2001-2012 IEEE.

IEEE Sensors Journal

Grip and Electrophysiological Sensor-Based Estimation of Muscle Fatigue while Holding Steering Wheel in Different Positions

Bicycling posture leads to considerable discomfort and a variety of chronic injuries. This necessitates a proper bicycle design to avoid injuries and thereby enhance rider comfort. The objective of this study was to investigate the muscle activity during cycling on three different bicycle designs, i.e., rigid frame (RF), suspension (SU) and sports (SP) using surface electromyography (sEMG). Twelve male volunteers participated in this study. sEMG signals were acquired bilaterally from extensor carpi radialis (ECR), trapezius medial (TM), latissimus dorsi medial (LDM) and erector spinae (ES), during 30min of cycling on each bicycle and after cycling. Time domain (RMS) and frequency domain (MPF) parameters were extracted from acquired sEMG signals. From the sEMG study, it was found that the fatigue in right LDM and ES were significantly (p<0.05) higher in SP bicycle. This was corroborated by a psychophysical assessment based on RBG pain scale. The study also showed that there was a significantly lesser fatigue with the SU bicycle than the RF and SP bicycles. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society.

Applied Ergonomics

Muscle fatigue based evaluation of bicycle design

Manufacturing in developing economies continue to be labour intensive owing to its cost benefits. Productivity improvement in this circumstance is brought about by continuous evaluation of manual work for ergonomic risks and taking corrective actions. Existing tools for risk assessment seek to measure risk in isolation while risk often depends on several factors such as posture, loads, injury proneness of a job and environmental factors (EFs) (temperature, lighting conditions, etc.). In the absence of an integrated measurement tool for ergonomic risk assessment, we propose a composite measure called RBG risk scale. It provides a single measure of the ergonomic assessment in terms of several factors(e.g. posture, biomechanical forces, environmental, etc.) collectively contributing to ergonomic impairments. This integrated score provides a clearer picture of the risk involved in the job and hence it can be used as a basis for prioritising operations for ergonomic interventions. © 2011 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

International Journal of Industrial and Systems Engineering

RBG risk scale: An integrated tool for ergonomic risk assessments

Helicopter pilots espouse ergonomically unfavourable postures and endure vibration which result in low back pain. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of a helicopter flight on pilots back and shoulder muscles using surface Electromyography (sEMG) analysis. This study also correlates low back pain symptoms from Rehabilitation Bioengineering Group Pain Scale (RBGPS) questionnaire with muscle fatigue rates obtained. RBGPS was administered on 20 Coast Guard helicopter pilots. sEMG was acquired before and after flight from erector spinae and trapezius muscles in 8 of these 20 pilots. Statistical analysis of time and frequency domain parameters indicated significant fatigue in right trapezius muscle due to flying. Muscle fatigue correlated with average duration of flight (r2 = 0.913), total service as pilot (r2 = 0.825), pain (r2 = 0.463) and total flying hours (r2 = 0.507). However, muscle fatigue weakly correlated with Body Mass Index (BMI) (r2 = 0.000144) and age (r2 = 0.033). © 2011 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society.

Analysis of muscle fatigue in helicopter pilots

Fatigue due to motorcycle riding is an important field of study as it is one of the key parameters through which the end user rates the motorcycle. The fatigue due to riding can be broadly divided into two major activities the body performs: 1. Maintain the body posture, absorbing road shocks and 2. Generate the required forces to control the motorcycle. The current methods of estimating fatigue are limited to subjective feel and objective measurements of parameters like steering torque; shock levels at seat, etc. during riding. These parameters estimate the inputs to the vehicle irrespective of the rider posture and hence predict same fatigue for all postures, but it is well known that the riding posture significantly affects the fatigue of rider. In this study the authors propose a direct way of measuring fatigue using Electromyography (EMG). The objective of this study is to determine physical fatigue due to motorcycle riding using surface EMG. Two motorcycles similar in all the specifications except the riding posture are taken up for this study; one has an erect/straight posture while the other has a leaning forward posture. Experiments are conducted using these motorcycles on two road conditions one involving high number of road shocks and the other involving maneuvering through heavy traffic. Surface EMG measurements are carried out on four muscle groups identified as the most common areas of fatigue in motorcycle riding. Fatigue in these muscle groups is estimated using the features extracted from EMG signal such as mean power frequency (MPF) and RMS amplitude for each of the experiments. The subjective rating of the rider is also captured after each experiment. Results show that the leaning forward posture causes lower fatigue when exposed to road shocks and body fatigue caused due to control of motorcycle in traffic is similar for both the postures. The subjective rating also agrees with results of EMG measurements. Copyright © 2010 SAE International and Copyright © 2010 SAE Japan.

SAE Technical Papers

Muscle fatigue due to motorcycle riding

Journal of Electromyography and Kinesiology

Activation of shoulder muscles in healthy men and women under isometric conditions

IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering

Wavelet analysis of surface electromyography to determine muscle fatigue

Clinical Biomechanics

Differentiating temporal electromyographic waveforms between those with chronic low back pain and healthy controls

The relationship between EMG median frequency and low frequency band amplitude changes at different levels of muscle capacity

Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise

Electromyographic (EMG) normalization method for cycle fatigue protocols

Low back pain and muscle fatigue due to road cycling-An sEMG study

Journal	Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies
ISSN	13608592
Open Access	No