ABSTRACT
Surface electromyography (sEMG) is a non-invasive method, which may be used in France by health practitioners without medical degree, such as physiotherapists, who are taught in Institutes of physiotherapy. However, very few hours are devoted to sEMG teaching in physiotherapist educational programs, especially in a form of practical work. In order to motivate using sEMG in physiotherapy to the students, we propose an example of sEMG practical work, applied to muscle stretching. Passive stretching exercises are often used by physiotherapists to maintain or improve range of motion. During a passive stretching session, subjects are given specific instructions to relax and not to activate their muscles during the procedure. In the proposed practical work, the sEMG is used to study the plantar flexor activation level during passive stretching. Therefore, this work may provide students with deeper understanding of physiology and biomechanics, trigger an interest in sEMG as a tool, and give knowledge about good sEMG practice, according to SENIAM and other recommendations. The integration of Institutes of physiotherapy in the University system may provide an opportunity to revisit the physiotherapist educational program and to provide students with more practical courses on sEMG application.
ABSTRACT
The extensor mechanism of the finger is a structure transmitting the forces from several muscles to the finger joints. Force transmission in the extensor mechanism is usually modeled by equations with constant coefficients which are determined experimentally only for finger extension posture. However, the coefficient values change with finger flexion because of the extensor mechanism deformation. This induces inaccurate results for any other finger postures. We proposed a biomechanical model of the extensor mechanism represented as elastic strings. The model includes the main tendons and ligaments. The parametric identification of the model in extension posture was performed to match the distribution of the forces among the tendons to experimental data. The parametrized model was used to simulate three degrees of flexion. Furthermore, the ability of the model to reproduce how the force distribution in simulated extensor mechanism changes according to the muscle forces was also demonstrated. The proposed model could be used to simulate the extensor mechanism for any physiological finger posture for which the coefficients involved in the equations are unknown.
