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Bipolar versus high-density surface electromyography for evaluating risk in fatiguing frequency-dependent lifting
Tiwana Varrecchia1, Alberto Ranavolo2, Silvia Conforto3
1Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Epidemiology and Hygiene, INAIL, Monte Porzio Catone, 00040, Rome, Italy; Department of Engineering, Roma Tre University, Via Vito Volterra 62, Roma, Lazio, Italy.
Applied Ergonomics
|May 13, 2021
Summary
High-density surface electromyography (HDsEMG) better identifies lifting risks than traditional bipolar sEMG. HDsEMG monitors worker fatigue more effectively, improving safety assessments for manual lifting tasks.
Area of Science:
- Occupational Biomechanics
- Human Factors Engineering
- Rehabilitation Engineering
Background:
- Manual lifting is a common cause of low back pain in workers.
- Instrumental tools assess biomechanical risks during lifting activities.
- Current methods may lack sensitivity in detecting early signs of fatigue.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the effectiveness of high-density surface electromyography (HDsEMG) versus bipolar sEMG in discriminating lifting risk levels.
- To evaluate HDsEMG's potential for optimized fatigue monitoring during demanding lifting tasks.
Main Methods:
- 15 participants performed three fatiguing lifting tasks with increasing lifting index (LI).
- Erector spinae (ES) muscle activity was recorded using both HDsEMG and bipolar sEMG systems.
- Analysis focused on the amplitude discrimination capabilities of both sEMG types across different LI levels.
Main Results:
- Both HDsEMG and bipolar sEMG amplitudes significantly discriminated between different LI pairs.
- HDsEMG demonstrated earlier discrimination of LI levels (by the 4th minute) compared to bipolar sEMG (near the end).
- HDsEMG exhibited superior discriminative power across varying lifting tasks and fatigue levels.
Conclusions:
- HDsEMG offers enhanced discriminative capability for assessing biomechanical risk and fatigue during lifting.
- This methodology represents a valuable advancement for monitoring occupational lifting activities.
- HDsEMG can potentially expand the utility of current instrumental assessment tools for workplace safety.
