• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
• /
• v.29 no.2
• /
• pp.183-188
• /
• 2010

The purpose of this study is to investigate the stationarity of the electromyographic signal in various flexion angles, loads, and window sizes, which influence the result of the mean power frequency (MPF) and median frequency (MNF) analysis. Six healthy subjects participated in the experiment. They were tested in the combination of 3-level flexion angles (0 degree, 22.5 degree, 45 degree) and 3-level loads (0Nm, 30Nm, 60Nm). Electromyographic data were collected for 20 seconds during isometric contraction. The stationarity of collected data were analyzed with four different window sizes including 250, 500, 1000 and 2000ms. Two test methods for stationarity such as Reverse Arrangements Test and Modified Reverse Arrangements Test were used. In order to show the effect of nonstationarity, the increasing/decreasing trend of MPF and MNF trend were discussed. In results, the stationarity of the electromyographic signal decreased as flexion angle increased and load decreased while window size decreased based on Reverse Arrangements Test. The highest stationarity was shown at 500 ms window in Modified Reverse Arrangements Test. The inclination of MNF and MPF indicated 3.6-6.3%, 3.8-5.1% discrepancy compared to the result from stationary data.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
• /
• v.29 no.4
• /
• pp.667-671
• /
• 2010

Runs test is a mathematical tool to test the stationarity of electromyographic (EMG) signals. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of segmentation size on the stationarity of EMG signals in runs test. Six subjects participated in this experiment and performed isometric trunk exertions for twenty seconds at the load level of 25% and 50% MVC. The signals extracted from the erector spinae muscles were divided into the intervals of 1000ms and the stationarity of the signal in each interval was tested by the runs test. In this test, seven segmentation sizes such as 1.0, 2.0, 3.9, 7.8, 15.6, 31.3 and 62.5ms were applied. Additionally, two stationarity tests of reverse arrangements test and modified reverse arrangements test were used to verify the results of the runs test. In results, the segmentation size of 62.5ms showed the similar results with the other stationarity tests. However, the stationarity values among there tests were different each other when segmentation sizes other than 62.5ms were used. These results indicated the effect of segmentation size in runs test that needs to be considered to have consistent and sensitive result in stationarity test.