Haddara Raneem, Zhou Yue, Chinchalkar Shrikant, Trejos Ana Luisa
IEEE Int Conf Rehabil Robot. 2017 Jul;2017:1395-1400. doi: 10.1109/ICORR.2017.8009443.
Musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions are the most common cause of severe long-term pain and physical disability. Current postoperative treatment for patients requires them to follow a long-term physiotherapy program customized for each specific case; however, this process can be complex, time-consuming and without the right therapy it may end up being ineffective. A possible solution involves the development of wearable mechatronic elbow braces that use electromyography (EMG) to identify patient intent. However, EMG characteristics change based on the health of the individual and therefore require further investigation. In order to quantify the progress of MSK injury patients and assess their neuromuscular health, EMG signals from 16 healthy individuals and 15 postoperative patients were collected and analyzed. The experiments conducted show that EMG can be used as a method for assessing MSK health. A normal range across the muscle groups has been identified to which the patient population was compared. This showed statistically significant differences in the magnitudes of muscle recruitment and activation between the two groups. Furthermore, a comparison within the patient population at the beginning of their therapy versus at the end of their therapy was conducted. Statistical differences arose in this second analysis further proving that patients' signals tend to change and show trends closer to those of the healthy population.
肌肉骨骼（MSK）疾病是导致严重长期疼痛和身体残疾的最常见原因。目前针对患者的术后治疗要求他们遵循针对每个具体病例定制的长期物理治疗方案；然而，这个过程可能很复杂、耗时，而且如果没有正确的治疗方法，最终可能会无效。一个可能的解决方案是开发可穿戴的机电一体化肘部护具，利用肌电图（EMG）来识别患者的意图。然而，EMG特征会根据个体健康状况而变化，因此需要进一步研究。为了量化MSK损伤患者的进展情况并评估他们的神经肌肉健康状况，收集并分析了16名健康个体和15名术后患者的EMG信号。所进行的实验表明，EMG可以用作评估MSK健康状况的一种方法。已经确定了肌肉群的正常范围，并将患者群体与之进行比较。这显示出两组之间在肌肉募集和激活程度上存在统计学上的显著差异。此外，还对患者群体在治疗开始时和治疗结束时进行了比较。在第二次分析中出现了统计学差异，进一步证明患者的信号往往会发生变化，并显示出更接近健康人群的趋势。
