Long-Term Modeling and Monitoring of Neuromusculoskeletal System Performance Using Tattoo-Like EMG Sensors

This paper introduces stretchable, long-term wearable, tattoo-like dry surface electrodes for highly repeatable electromyography (EMG). The tattoo-like sensors are hair thin, skin compliant and can be laminated on human skin just like a temporary transfer tattoo, which enables multi-day noninvasive but intimate contact with the skin even under severe skin deformation. The new electrodes were used to facilitate a system-based approach to tracking of long-term fatiguing and recovery processes in a human neuromusculoskeletal (NMS) system, which was based on establishing an autoregressive moving average model with exogenous inputs (ARMAX model) relating signatures extracted from the surface electromyogram (sEMG) signals collected using the tattoo-like sensors, and the corresponding hand grip force (HGF) serving as the model output. Performance degradation of the relevant NMS system was evaluated by tracking the evolution of the errors of the ARMAX model established using the data corresponding to the rested (fresh) state of any given subject. Results from several exercise sessions clearly showed repeated patterns of fatiguing and resting, with a notable point that these patterns could now be quantified via dynamic models relating the relevant muscle signatures and NMS outputs.