Eskandari Amir Hossein, Ghezelbash Farshid, Shirazi-Adl Aboulfazl, Arjmand Navid, Larivière Christian
Institut de recherche Robert Sauvé en santé et en sécurité du travail, Montréal, Canada; Division of Applied Mechanics, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Polytechnique Montréal, Canada; Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Rehabilitation of Greater Montreal (CRIR), Institut universitaire sur la réadaptation en déficience physique de Montréal (IURDPM), Centre intégré universitaire de santé et de services sociaux du Centre-Sud-de-l'Ile-de-Montréal (CCSMTL), Canada.
Institut de recherche Robert Sauvé en santé et en sécurité du travail, Montréal, Canada; Division of Applied Mechanics, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Polytechnique Montréal, Canada.
Appl Ergon. 2025 Feb;123:104407. doi: 10.1016/j.apergo.2024.104407. Epub 2024 Nov 2.
This study assessed the effect of a small-torque generating passive back-support exoskeleton during a low demanding occupational task, namely a repetitive lifting/lowering of an empty crate between the knee and shoulder heights. A comprehensive set of outcomes was considered, ranging from the measured trunk muscle activation and trunk movement to the estimated muscle group forces/coordination, spine loading and spine stability, using a dynamic subject-specific EMG-assisted musculoskeletal model. The exoskeleton decreased back muscle activation and corresponding muscle forces in the lowering phase and reduced spinal loading at larger trunk flexion angles (decreased peak compression and shear forces by ∼ 15%). However, the effect sizes were small (η < .06), questioning the usefulness of this type of exoskeleton, even for light tasks. On the other hand, the unique results of the present study showed that coordination between the main muscle groups as well as spinal stability remained unchanged with low effect sizes, suggesting that the use of this exoskeleton is safe.
本研究评估了一种产生小扭矩的被动背部支撑外骨骼在一项低强度职业任务中的效果，该任务是在膝盖和肩部高度之间重复提起/放下一个空箱子。使用特定于个体的动态肌电图辅助肌肉骨骼模型，考虑了一系列综合结果，从测量的躯干肌肉激活和躯干运动到估计的肌肉群力量/协调性、脊柱负荷和脊柱稳定性。外骨骼在放下阶段降低了背部肌肉的激活和相应的肌肉力量，并在较大的躯干屈曲角度下降低了脊柱负荷（峰值压缩力和剪切力降低了约15%）。然而，效应量较小（η < 0.06），这使人质疑这种类型外骨骼的实用性，即使对于轻度任务也是如此。另一方面，本研究的独特结果表明，主要肌肉群之间的协调性以及脊柱稳定性在效应量较低的情况下保持不变，这表明使用这种外骨骼是安全的。
