Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, ICxT Innovation Center, University of Torino, Torino, Italy.
Laboratory for Engineering of the Neuromuscular System (LISiN), Department of Electronics and Telecommunications and PolitoBIOMed Lab, Politecnico di Torino, Torino, Italy.
Ergonomics. 2021 Nov;64(11):1379-1392. doi: 10.1080/00140139.2021.1928297. Epub 2021 May 24.
This study aimed at determining the effect of a passive exoskeleton on local perceived discomfort, perceived effort and low back muscles' activity. Thirteen volunteers performed two simulated working tasks with and without the exoskeleton. In the static task, the exoskeleton decreased the lumbar perceived discomfort, the perceived effort and the level of low back muscles' activity (∼10%) while increasing discomfort in the chest and feet. The percent decrease in EMG amplitude was correlated with the percent increase in perceived effort with exoskeleton. For the dynamic task, the exoskeleton increased the discomfort in the chest and decreased the level of back muscle activity (∼5%). Current findings suggest exoskeleton is effective in reducing the back load while increasing the perceived discomfort at non-targeted body regions in both working tasks. The concurrent increase of discomfort in non-targeted areas probably led to a higher perceived effort despite the reduction of low back muscle activity. This study provided insights into exoskeleton effects on local discomfort, perceived effort and muscle activity. Overall, the potential benefits of passive exoskeleton should be considered alongside its adverse effects on the non-targeted body regions that can lead to an increase of perceived effort despite the reduction of back muscle activity.
本研究旨在确定被动式外骨骼对局部不适感、感知用力和腰部肌肉活动的影响。十三名志愿者在使用和不使用外骨骼的情况下进行了两项模拟工作任务。在静态任务中，外骨骼降低了腰部的不适感、感知用力和腰部肌肉活动水平（约 10%），同时增加了胸部和脚部的不适感。使用外骨骼时，肌电图幅度的百分比降低与感知用力的百分比增加呈正相关。对于动态任务，外骨骼增加了胸部的不适感，降低了背部肌肉活动水平（约 5%）。目前的研究结果表明，外骨骼在这两项工作任务中均能有效降低背部负荷，同时增加非目标身体部位的不适感。尽管背部肌肉活动减少，但非目标区域的不适感同时增加，可能导致感知用力增加。本研究为外骨骼对局部不适感、感知用力和肌肉活动的影响提供了新的见解。总的来说，应该考虑被动式外骨骼的潜在益处，同时也要考虑其对非目标身体区域的不利影响，这可能导致感知用力增加，尽管背部肌肉活动减少。
