Musculoskeletal models determine the effect of a soft active exosuit on muscle activations and forces during lifting and lowering tasks.

Autor: Yan C; Center for Advanced Orthopaedic Studies, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, United States; Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States., Banks JJ; Center for Advanced Orthopaedic Studies, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, United States; Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States., Allaire BT; Center for Advanced Orthopaedic Studies, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, United States., Quirk DA; John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States., Chung J; John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States., Walsh CJ; John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States., Anderson DE; Center for Advanced Orthopaedic Studies, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, United States; Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States. Electronic address: danders7@bidmc.harvard.edu.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Journal of biomechanics [J Biomech] 2024 Nov; Vol. 176, pp. 112322. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Sep 11.
DOI: 10.1016/j.jbiomech.2024.112322
Abstrakt: Exosuits have the potential to mitigate musculoskeletal stress and prevent back injuries during industrial tasks. This study aimed to 1) validate the implementation of a soft active exosuit into a musculoskeletal model of the spine by comparing model predicted muscle activations versus corresponding surface EMG measurements, and 2) evaluate the effect of the exosuit on peak back and hip muscle forces. Fourteen healthy participants performed squat and stoop lift and lower tasks with boxes of 6 and 10 kg, with and without wearing a 2.7 kg soft active exosuit. Participant-specific musculoskeletal models, which included the exosuit, were created in OpenSim. Model validation focused on the back and hip extensors, where temporal agreement between EMG and model estimated muscle activity was generally strong to excellent (average cross-correlation coefficients ranging from 0.84 to 0.98). Root mean square errors of muscle activity (0.05-0.10) were similar with and without the exosuit, and compared well to prior model validation studies without the exosuit (average root mean square errors ranging from 0.05 to 0.19). In terms of performance, the exosuit reduced the estimated peak erector spinae forces during lifting and lowering phases across all lifting tasks but reduced peak hip extensor muscles forces only in a squat lift task of 10 kg. These reductions in total peak muscle forces were approximately 1.7-4.2 times greater than the corresponding exosuit assistance force, which were 146 ± 19 N and 102 ± 14 N at the times of peak erector spinae forces in lifting and lowering, respectively. Overall, the results support the hypothesis that exosuits reduce soft tissue loading, and thereby potentially reduce fatigue and injury risk during manual materials handling tasks. Incorporating exosuits into musculoskeletal models is a valid approach to understand the impact of exosuit assistance on muscle activity and forces.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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