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sEMG feature analysis on forearm muscle fatigue during isometric contractions

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Abstract

In order to detect and assess the muscle fatigue state with the surface electromyography (sEMG) characteristic parameters, this paper carried out a series of isometric contraction experiments to induce the fatigue on the forearm muscles from four subjects, and recorded the sEMG signals of the flexor carpi ulnaris. sEMG’s median frequency (MDF) and mean frequency (MF) were extracted by short term Fourier transform (STFT), and the root mean square (RMS) of wavelet coefficients in the frequency band of 5–45 Hz was obtained by continuous wavelet transform (CWT). The results demonstrate that both MDF and MF show downward trends within 1 min; however, RMS shows an upward trend within the same time. The three parameters are closely correlated with absolute values of mean correlation coefficients greater than 0.8. It is suggested that the three parameters above can be used as reliable indicators to evaluate the level of muscle fatigue during isometric contractions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tianjin Key Laboratory of Biomedical Detecting Techniques and Instruments, School of Precision Instrument and Opto-Electronics Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China

    Dong Ming  (明 东), Xin Wang  (王 欣), Rui Xu  (徐 瑞), Shuang Qiu  (邱 爽), Xin Zhao  (赵 欣), Hongzhi Qi  (綦宏志), Peng Zhou  (周 鹏), Lixin Zhang  (张力新) & Baikun Wan  (万柏坤)

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  1. Dong Ming  (明 东)
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  2. Xin Wang  (王 欣)
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  3. Rui Xu  (徐 瑞)
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  4. Shuang Qiu  (邱 爽)
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  5. Xin Zhao  (赵 欣)
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  6. Hongzhi Qi  (綦宏志)
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  7. Peng Zhou  (周 鹏)
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  8. Lixin Zhang  (张力新)
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  9. Baikun Wan  (万柏坤)
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dong Ming  (明 东).

Additional information

Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81222021 and No. 31011130042) and the National Key Technology R&D Program of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (No. 2012BAI34B02).

Ming Dong, born in 1976, male, Dr, Prof.

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Ming, D., Wang, X., Xu, R. et al. sEMG feature analysis on forearm muscle fatigue during isometric contractions. Trans. Tianjin Univ. 20, 139–143 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12209-014-2181-2

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