Assessment strategy of human upper forearm inter-relation and muscle fatigue

Surface electromyography (EMG) signals classification is currently applied in various prostheses and arm controls using various classification methods. The limited robustness in practical EMG control applications has become an important matter of research consideration. The precision of EMG signal features and parameters proportionally vary with muscle fatigue (MF). The major challenge for the study is to identify the MF manifestation in the EMG signal, so that the control performance is improved. This can be done by the improvement of data collection practicality, features extraction and classification. Hence, fundamental study is performed by investigating the signals acquired from the human upper forearm (UFA) to determine muscle characteristics and to establish the inter-relationship between both muscles of the forearm and upper arm. The aim of the present study is to investigate the applicability of human UFA muscles and MF indices at various force levels of maximum voluntary contraction (MVC). EMG signals are recorded from nine (9) normally limbed subjects. The frequency domain power spectrum density (PSD) is computed in order to derive the useful characteristics of the signal. The results show that only few muscles contributes for the movement. Further analysis show that flexor digitorum superficialis (FDS), flexor carpi radialis (FCR), extensor carpi radialis longus (ECRL), extensor digitorum communis (EDC) and biceps/triceps brachii show interesting results.