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A Novel Lower-Limb Coordination Assessment Scheme Using Multi-Scale Nonlinear Coupling Characteristics With sEMG | IEEE Journals & Magazine | IEEE Xplore

A Novel Lower-Limb Coordination Assessment Scheme Using Multi-Scale Nonlinear Coupling Characteristics With sEMG


Abstract:

Motor dysfunction (e.g., incoordination of upper or lower limb) significantly limits the individuals’ ability of daily living, and thus the provisioning of a motion coord...Show More

Abstract:

Motor dysfunction (e.g., incoordination of upper or lower limb) significantly limits the individuals’ ability of daily living, and thus the provisioning of a motion coordination assessment method becomes of vital importance. As a quantitative indicator, intermuscular coupling strength could assess limb coordination. Since surface electromyography (sEMG) signals cover nonlinear coupling characteristics, in this article, a lower-limb motion coordination assessment scheme with intermuscular coherence (IMC) analysis and optimization variational mode decomposition (VMD) is proposed. First, sEMG signals are decomposed into several intrinsic mode functions (IMFs) using optimized VMD. Then, the nonlinear coupling feature vector in the beta-band frequency domain (15–35 Hz) is extracted by the G-P algorithm from optimal IMF, thereby estimating the intermuscular coupling strength by IMC. In particular, differential evolution (DE) algorithm’s global optimization capability and envelope entropy (EE)’s sparsity are adopted to provide the basis for optimization VMD and screening optimal IMF, respectively. Finally, signals are collected from four muscle pairs of the 12 male and 12 female subjects to assess lower-limb motions’ coordination. Simultaneously, the independent sample T test is leveraged to compare the effects of gender on groups’ characteristics (e.g., age, height, and body mass). Results demonstrate not only the effectiveness of the proposed approach (i.e., p< 0.01 with both “S-walking” and “Running” motions, p< 0.05 with “Q-walking”) but also the difference in motion coordination relationship between male and female adults as well as the significance of muscle selection.
Article Sequence Number: 4002911
Date of Publication: 20 February 2023

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I. Introduction

Limb coordination analysis has attracted enough interest for decades due to its medical health care and healthcare assessment [1], [2]. Typically, monitoring real-world lower-limb function in individuals with lower-limb impairments, especially for those undergoing rehabilitation after a neurological event, provides clinically important information [3]. Surface electromyography (sEMG) is a noninvasive recording of muscle activity that gives an indication of limb coordination [4], [5]. During human motion process, the central nervous system transmits limb motion information to neuromuscular control through nerve oscillation [6]. More importantly, intermuscular coupling is also a bridge that could relate limb coordination to neuromuscular control. Specifically, patterns of interlimb coordination and its variability provide insights into neuromuscular control during movement [2]. Hence, the lower-limb coordination between thigh and shank from the nonlinear intermuscular coupling of sEMG has become the key. More precisely, it is beneficial for understanding the functional state of muscles, and then exploring the pathological mechanism of human motion control and motor dysfunction. With the popularity of sEMG wearable sensing equipment, the lower-limb movement analysis by measuring muscle state has attracted much attention owing to its effects on medical health care [7], [8] and healthcare assessment [9], as shown in Fig. 1.

Application of sEMG in rehabilitation.

References

References is not available for this document.