Departamento de Ingeniería Industrial, Colegio de Ciencias e Ingenierías, Universidad San Francisco de Quito USFQ, Quito, Ecuador.
Department of Orthopaedics, Renaissance School of Medicine, Stony Brook University, New York, NY, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2024 Jul 11;19(7):e0304606. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0304606. eCollection 2024.
To compare whole-body kinematics, leg muscle activity, and discomfort while performing a 10-min carrying task with and without a passive upper-body exoskeleton (CarrySuitⓇ), for both males and females.
Diverse commercial passive exoskeletons have appeared on the market claiming to assist lifting or carrying task. However, evidence of their impact on kinematics, muscle activity, and discomfort while performing these tasks are necessary to determine their benefits and/or limitations.
Sixteen females and fourteen males carried a 15kg load with and without a passive exoskeleton during 10-min over a round trip route, in two non-consecutive days. Whole-body kinematics and leg muscle activity were evaluated for each condition. In addition, leg discomfort ratings were quantified before and immediately after the task.
The gastrocnemius and vastus lateralis muscle activity remained constant over the task with the exoskeleton. Without the exoskeleton a small decrease of gastrocnemius median activation was observed regardless of sex, and a small increase in static vastus lateralis activation was observed only for females. Several differences in sagittal, frontal, and transverse movements' ranges of motion were found between conditions and over the task. With the exoskeleton, ROM in the sagittal plane increased over time for the right ankle and pelvis for both sexes, and knees for males only. Thorax ROMs in the three planes were higher for females only when using the exoskeleton. Leg discomfort was lower with the exoskeleton than without.
The results revealed a positive impact on range of motion, leg muscle activity, and discomfort of the tested exoskeleton.
比较男性和女性在使用和不使用被动式上体外骨骼（CarrySuit Ⓡ）进行 10 分钟搬运任务时的全身运动学、腿部肌肉活动和不适感。
市面上出现了多种商业性被动式外骨骼，声称可以辅助搬运或携带任务。然而，为了确定其益处和/或局限性，有必要评估它们对这些任务的运动学、肌肉活动和不适感的影响。
16 名女性和 14 名男性在两天内的非连续两天中，使用和不使用被动式外骨骼进行 10 分钟的往返搬运任务，携带 15 公斤的负荷。对每种条件下的全身运动学和腿部肌肉活动进行评估。此外，在任务前后对腿部不适感进行评分。
在使用外骨骼的情况下，小腿肌和股外侧肌的肌肉活动在整个任务中保持不变。在没有外骨骼的情况下，无论性别如何，小腿肌的中位激活度都略有下降，只有女性的股外侧肌静息激活度略有增加。在条件和任务过程中，发现几个矢状面、额状面和横断面上运动范围的差异。对于男女，外骨骼使用时，右侧踝关节和骨盆在矢状面的运动范围随时间增加，仅男性的膝关节增加。只有女性使用外骨骼时，三个平面的胸廓运动范围更高。使用外骨骼时腿部不适感低于不使用时。
结果显示，所测试的外骨骼对运动范围、腿部肌肉活动和不适感产生了积极影响。
