Evaluation of an assistive exosuit for alleviating neck and shoulder muscle fatigue during prolonged flexed neck posture
Abstract Introduction Neck pain affects 203 million people globally and is prevalent in various settings due to factors like poor posture, lack of exercise, and occupational hazards. Therefore, addressing ergonomic issues with solutions like a wearable robotic device is crucial. This research presen...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMC
2024-12-01
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| Series: | Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12984-024-01540-5 |
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| author | Hang Man Cho Jae-Ryeong Choi Jung-Hwan Moon Kyu-Jin Cho Seung-Won Kim |
| author_facet | Hang Man Cho Jae-Ryeong Choi Jung-Hwan Moon Kyu-Jin Cho Seung-Won Kim |
| author_sort | Hang Man Cho |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Introduction Neck pain affects 203 million people globally and is prevalent in various settings due to factors like poor posture, lack of exercise, and occupational hazards. Therefore, addressing ergonomic issues with solutions like a wearable robotic device is crucial. This research presents a novel assistive exosuit, characterized by its slim and lightweight structure and intuitive control without the use of hands, designed to mitigate muscle fatigue in the neck and shoulders during prolonged flexed neck posture. The efficacy of the exosuit was confirmed through human experiments and user surveys. Methods The preliminary feasibility experiment was conducted with five subjects for 15 min to verify the effect of supporting the weight of the head with a wire on reducing neck muscle fatigue. The prime experiment was conducted with 26 subjects for 15 min to quantitatively evaluate the reduction in muscle fatigue achieved by wearing the exosuit and to assess its qualitative usability from the user’s perspective. For all experiments, surface electromyography (sEMG) data was measured from upper trapezius (UT) and splenius capitis (SC) muscles, the two representative superficial muscles responsible for sustaining flexed neck posture. The analysis of the device's efficiency utilized two parameters: the normalized root mean square value (nRMS), which was employed to assess muscle activity, and the normalized median frequency (nMDF), which was utilized to gauge the extent of muscle fatigue. These parameters were statistically analyzed with the IBM SPSS statistic program. Results When wearing the exosuit, the nMDF of UT and SC increased by 7.18% (p < 0.05) and 5.38% (p < 0.05), respectively. For the nRMS, no significant differences were observed in either muscle. The nMDF slope of UT and SC increased by 0.63%/min (p < 0.01) and 0.34%/min (no significance). In the context of the nRMS slope, UT exhibited a reduction of 0.021% MVC/min (p < 0.05), while SC did not demonstrate any statistically significant outcomes. The exosuit received an average system usability scale score of 66.83. Conclusions Based on both qualitative and quantitative evaluations, our proposed assistive exosuit demonstrated that it promises the significant reduction of muscle fatigue in the neck and shoulders. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-7520b97a27de41bc83749d957c53a009 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1743-0003 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-12-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation |
| spelling | doaj-art-7520b97a27de41bc83749d957c53a0092025-01-05T12:10:31ZengBMCJournal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation1743-00032024-12-0121111610.1186/s12984-024-01540-5Evaluation of an assistive exosuit for alleviating neck and shoulder muscle fatigue during prolonged flexed neck postureHang Man Cho0Jae-Ryeong Choi1Jung-Hwan Moon2Kyu-Jin Cho3Seung-Won Kim4Center for Healthcare Robotics, Korea Institute of Science and TechnologyDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Seoul National UniversityCenter for Healthcare Robotics, Korea Institute of Science and TechnologyDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Seoul National UniversityCenter for Healthcare Robotics, Korea Institute of Science and TechnologyAbstract Introduction Neck pain affects 203 million people globally and is prevalent in various settings due to factors like poor posture, lack of exercise, and occupational hazards. Therefore, addressing ergonomic issues with solutions like a wearable robotic device is crucial. This research presents a novel assistive exosuit, characterized by its slim and lightweight structure and intuitive control without the use of hands, designed to mitigate muscle fatigue in the neck and shoulders during prolonged flexed neck posture. The efficacy of the exosuit was confirmed through human experiments and user surveys. Methods The preliminary feasibility experiment was conducted with five subjects for 15 min to verify the effect of supporting the weight of the head with a wire on reducing neck muscle fatigue. The prime experiment was conducted with 26 subjects for 15 min to quantitatively evaluate the reduction in muscle fatigue achieved by wearing the exosuit and to assess its qualitative usability from the user’s perspective. For all experiments, surface electromyography (sEMG) data was measured from upper trapezius (UT) and splenius capitis (SC) muscles, the two representative superficial muscles responsible for sustaining flexed neck posture. The analysis of the device's efficiency utilized two parameters: the normalized root mean square value (nRMS), which was employed to assess muscle activity, and the normalized median frequency (nMDF), which was utilized to gauge the extent of muscle fatigue. These parameters were statistically analyzed with the IBM SPSS statistic program. Results When wearing the exosuit, the nMDF of UT and SC increased by 7.18% (p < 0.05) and 5.38% (p < 0.05), respectively. For the nRMS, no significant differences were observed in either muscle. The nMDF slope of UT and SC increased by 0.63%/min (p < 0.01) and 0.34%/min (no significance). In the context of the nRMS slope, UT exhibited a reduction of 0.021% MVC/min (p < 0.05), while SC did not demonstrate any statistically significant outcomes. The exosuit received an average system usability scale score of 66.83. Conclusions Based on both qualitative and quantitative evaluations, our proposed assistive exosuit demonstrated that it promises the significant reduction of muscle fatigue in the neck and shoulders.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12984-024-01540-5ExosuitAssistive wearable deviceClutchFlexed neck postureSurface EMGMedian frequency |
| spellingShingle | Hang Man Cho Jae-Ryeong Choi Jung-Hwan Moon Kyu-Jin Cho Seung-Won Kim Evaluation of an assistive exosuit for alleviating neck and shoulder muscle fatigue during prolonged flexed neck posture Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation Exosuit Assistive wearable device Clutch Flexed neck posture Surface EMG Median frequency |
| title | Evaluation of an assistive exosuit for alleviating neck and shoulder muscle fatigue during prolonged flexed neck posture |
| title_full | Evaluation of an assistive exosuit for alleviating neck and shoulder muscle fatigue during prolonged flexed neck posture |
| title_fullStr | Evaluation of an assistive exosuit for alleviating neck and shoulder muscle fatigue during prolonged flexed neck posture |
| title_full_unstemmed | Evaluation of an assistive exosuit for alleviating neck and shoulder muscle fatigue during prolonged flexed neck posture |
| title_short | Evaluation of an assistive exosuit for alleviating neck and shoulder muscle fatigue during prolonged flexed neck posture |
| title_sort | evaluation of an assistive exosuit for alleviating neck and shoulder muscle fatigue during prolonged flexed neck posture |
| topic | Exosuit Assistive wearable device Clutch Flexed neck posture Surface EMG Median frequency |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12984-024-01540-5 |
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