• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.118-125
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• 2020

Background: Lateral epicondylitis (LE) is the most common chronic musculoskeletal pain condition of the upper extremities. LE is often related to forceful grip activities that require isometric contraction of the wrist extensors. A previous study evaluated the effect of the diamond taping technique on grip strength and pain; however, there has been no report on the change in the electromyography (EMG) findings of wrist extensors. Objects: The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of diamond taping technique, using a rigid tape, on the EMG activities of the extensor carpi radialis (ECR) during grip activities. Methods: Twenty-four healthy subjects (mean age = 21.50 ± 2.76 years) volunteered to participate in this study. The subjects were instructed to perform forceful grip activities with and without diamond-type taping on the origin area of the ECR. Grip strength tests were performed at 100%, 75%, 50%, and 25% for maximal isometric contraction force. EMG data were collected from the ECR. Repeated measure analysis of variance was used to analyze the effect of grip force and taping (with and without). Statistical significance levels were set at α = 0.05. Comparison of the results with and without taping at different grip force were analyzed using independent t-test. Statistical significance levels were set at α = 0.01. Results: Statistically significant association was observed between the taping application and forceful grip activity as revealed by the EMG data of the ECR (p < 0.05). EMG of the ECR significantly reduced for all muscle strength levels (p < 0.01) after taping. Conclusion: This study shows an impressive effect of the diamond taping technique, using rigid tape, on wrist extensors during grip activities. Decreasing muscle activity via this taping approach could be utilized to enhance pain-free grip force and reduce pain in patients with LE. Our study suggested that this taping technique could be considered as an effective management strategy of LE.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.319-326
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• 1996

Clinical myography(EMG) is a technique for diagnosing neuromuscular disorders by analyzing the electrical signal that can be records by needle electrode during a muscular contraction. The EMG signal arises from electrical discharges that accompany the generation of force by groups of muscular fiber, and the analysis of EMG signal provides symptoms that can distinguish disorder of mLecle from disor- ders of nerve. One of the methods for analysis of EMG signal is to separate the individual discharge-the motor unit action potentials(MVAPS) - from EMG signal. But we can only observe the EMG signal that is a superimposed version of time delayed MUAPS. To obtain the information about MUAP(, i.e., position, firing number, magnitude etc), first of all, a method that can separate each MUAP from the EMG signal must be developed Although the methods for MUAP separation have been proposed by many researcherl they have required heavy computational burden. In this paper, we proposed a new method that has less computational burden and performs more reliable separation of superimposed EMG signal using wavelet filter which has multiresolution analysis as major property. As a result, we develope the separation algorithm of superimposed EMG signal which has less computational burden than any other researchers and exacutes exact separation process. The performance of this method has been discussed in the automatic resolving procedure which is neccessary to identify every firing of every motor unit from the EMG pattern.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.78-86
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• 1997

Back muscles play an important role in protecting the spine. Epidemiological studies have shown that loads imposed on the human spine during daily living play a significant role in the onset of low back pain. No previous study has attempted to correlate the response of the trunk musculature with the type of external load. The purpose of this study was to use surface electromyography (EMG) to quantify the relative demands placed on the back muscles while lifting loads in one hand. Forty asymptomatic, twenty year-old subjects stood while lifting loads of 10% of body weight(BW) unilaterally. All EMG data were normalized to a percentage of the EMG voltage produced during no-load standing(%EMG). Our major analysis involved a paired t-test for repeated measures. Of particular note was the fact that the ipsilateral 10% of BW condition produced statistically less % EMG change than did the contralateral 10% of the condition.

• Journal of Korean Institute of Industrial Engineers
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.581-591
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• 1995

The main objective of this study is to compare three representative methods predicting compressive forces on lumbosacral disc : LP-based method, double LP-based method and EMG-assisted method. Two subjects simulated lifting tasks performed in the refractories industry, in which vertical and horizontal distance, and weight of load were varied. To calculate the L5/S1 compressive forces, EMG signals from six trunk muscles were measured and postural data and locations of load were recorded using the Motion Analysis System. The EMG-assisted model was shown to reflect well all three factors considered here. On the other hand, the compressive forces of the LP-based model and the double LP-based model were only significantly affected by weight of load. In addition, lowly positive correlation was observed between compressive forces of the EMG-assisted model and lifting index(LI) of 1991 NIOSH lifting equation. From this results, it can be concluded that compressive forces on L5/S1 by the EMG-assisted method should be used as biomechanical criterion in order to evaluate risk of jobs precisely, and LI can not evaluate risk of lifting tasks fully.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.61-70
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• 2005

This study investigated the spinal loads(L5/S1 disc compression and shear forces) predicted from four biomechanical models: one EMG model and three optimization models. Three objective functions used in the optimization models were to miminize 1) the cubed muscle forces : MF3, 2) the cubed muscle stress : MS3, 3) maximum muscle intensity : MI. Twelve healthy male subjects participated in the isometric voluntary exertion tests to six directions : flexion/extension, left/right lateral bending, clockwise/ counterclockwise twist. EMG signals were measured from ten trunk muscles and spinal loads were assessed at 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90%MVE(maximum voluntary exertion) in each direction. Three optimization models predicted lower L5/S1 disc compression forces than the EMG model, on average, by 31%(MF3), 27%(MS3), 8%(MI). Especially, in twist and extension, the differences were relatively large. Anterior-posterior shear forces predicted from optimization models were lower, on average, by 27%(MF3), 21%(MS3), 9%(MI) than by the EMG model, especially in flexion(MF3 : 45%, MS3 : 40%, MI : 35%). Lateral shear forces were predicted far less than anterior-posterior shear forces(total average = 124 N), and the optimization models predicted larger values than the EMG model on average. These results indicated that the optimization models could underestimate compression forces during twisting and extension, and anterior-posterior shear forces during flexion. Thus, future research should address the antagonistic coactivation, one major reason of the difference between optimization models and the EMG model, in the optimization models.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2004.11c
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• pp.6-8
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• 2004

The objective of this paper is to develop a powered wheelchair controller based on EMG for users with high-level spinal cord injury using a proportional control scheme. An advantage of EMG is relative convenience of acquisition by a surface electrode to users. Direction information can be easily extracted from two EMG channels and force information can be acquired by proportional relationship between the amplitude of EMG and user's power, respectively. Pattern classification algorithm is a threshold method with a supervised learning process. Furthermore, the emergency situation can be avoided using an interrupt function. We evaluated the performance of powered wheelchair controller by navigating a pre-defined path with three non-handicapped people. The results show the feasibility of EMG as an input interface for powered wheelchair and other devices for the seriously disabled.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.84.5-84
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• 2001

The objective of this paper is to develop a powered wheelchair controller based on EMG for users with high-level spinal cord injury. EMG is very naturally measured when the user Indicating a certain direction, and the force information which will be used for the speed of wheelchair is easily extracted from EMG. Furthermore, the emergency situation based on EMG will be checked relatively ease. We classified the pre-defined motions such as rest case, forward movement, left movement, and right movement by Fuzzy Min-Max Neural Networks (FMMNN). This classification results shows the feasibility of EMG as an input interface for powered wheelchair. To make the system low cost and small size, we developed EMG AMP and its controller ...

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.196-209
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• 2003

본 연구의 목적은 보통 보행과 장애물 보행 시작시에 accuracy constraints, 즉 발꿈치 닿기(swing limb heel-strike)의 정확도가 힘판(forceplate) 상에서 힘의 조절 (force modulation)과 EMG에 어떠한 영향을 미치는지를 분석하는 것이다. 본 실험의 대상자는 힘판(forceplate)위에서 보통 보행과 장애물 보행을 하되, 대상자 앞에 놓인 표적(target)에 정확히 발꿈치 닫기 (heel-strike)를 하도록 유도되었다. 이 때 힘판 자료와 전경골근(tibialis anterior)및 가자미근 (soleus)의 근전도 (EMG)의 활동을 양쪽 다리에서 측정하였다. 대상자 앞에 놓인 표적 (target)에 정확한 발꿈치 닫기(heel-strike)가 요구되었을 때에는 발끝밀기(swing toe-off) 시간이 증가되었으며 힘판(forceplate)상에서의 peak farce와 slope to peak force 가 감소되는 것으로 나타났다. 전경골근 (tibialis anterior)의 활동역시 큰 차이로 감소하는 것으로 나타났다. 하지만 보통 보행과 장애물 보행시의 근전도 혹은 힘판상의 자료에는 큰 차이점이 없는 것으로 나타났다. 이러한 결과는 기존의 상지(upper extremity)에서 보여준 운동제어 (motor control)의 이론들이 하지(lower extremity)에서도 동일하게 적용될 수 있음을 보여주는 것이다.

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.65-73
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• 2012

The purpose of this study was to identify the saddle to pedal length contributing to successful performance in kayak using a kayak ergometer. Ten male elite kayak players participated in this study. players were tested on the kayak ergometer which was varied saddle to pedal length by the knee flexion angle(90deg; 120deg; 150deg) to measure stroke frequency, paddling amplitude, joint angle, RoM and angular velocity, foot pressure and force, iEMG using the 3D motion system, foot pressure system and EMG wireless system. At a results, rowing at 120deg on knee flexion angle showed higher stroke frequency and paddling amplitude than other knee flexion angles. RoM at upper extremity showed not significant difference between knee flexion angles. But there were significant differences in thorax and pelvis rotation RoM, knee flexion-extension RoM in each condition. In addition, foot pressure, force and iEMG were significantly different in knee flexion angles. Study showed that changed of saddle to pedal length affected rowing performance kinds of stroke frequency, paddling amplitude. The most important thing, increased range of motion in pelvic and thorax has occurred by force that generated foot-bar to seat. Not only that, but it seems to be attributed to a technical adaptation developed to maximum rowing performance.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.67 no.1
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• pp.124-130
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• 2018

The EMG amplitude estimator, which has been investigated as an indicator of muscle force, is of high relevance not only in biomechanical studies but also more and more in clinical applications. This paper presents a new approach to estimate surface EMG amplitude by using the mean spike and mean turn amplitude(MSA and MTA) variables. Surface EMG signals, a total of 198 signals, were recorded from biceps brachii muscle over the range of 20-80%MVC isometric contraction and performance of the MSA and MTA variables applied to amplitude estimation of the EMG signals were investigated. To examine the performance, a SNR(signal-to-noise ratio) was computed from each amplitude estimate. The results of the study indicate that MSA and MTA amplitude estimations with first order whitening filter and 300[ms]-350[ms] moving average window length are optimal and show better performance(mean SNR improvement of 6%-15%) than the most frequently used variables(ARV and RMS).