Evaluation of muscle activity characteristics in lower limb motion based on contact force measurements with wearable sensors

Abstract

Decreasing the muscle strength of lower limbs due to aging or fatigue leads to fall accidents during walking or stepping stairs. In order to evaluate the changes of muscle activity, it is important to quantitatively measure the muscular characteristics for a long time by using wearable instruments. In this study, a portable sensing system composed of thin pressure sensors was developed to evaluate the muscle activity as hardness changes of body segments, and the system was applied to investigate the muscle activities in lower limbs during several motions. Long-term changes of the muscle activities were obtained in the case of walking and going up and down stairs with the sensor units attached to the lower limb. As the results, difference of individual muscle activity and their cooperative characteristics could be measured in the motions.