Muscle Force Estimation during Swallowing based on Musculoskeletal Model and sEMG Measurement

Abstract

Swallowing is a process for transporting food from mouth to stomach. However, it is complicated as it requires precise neuromuscular coordination among muscles. Dysfunction of any muscle may cause dysphagia and leads to aspiration pneumonia, especially in oropharyngeal phase of swallowing. In this study, we focus on the muscle activities in oropharyngeal phase and developed a musculoskeletal model containing hyoid bone, thyroid cartilage and cricoid cartilage. Individual muscle force was estimated by inverse dynamics computation and optimization with knowledge of the anatomy and mechanical properties of muscle. The estimation results were then compared with the results of sEMG measurement and previous studies.