The Use of Emg For Load Prediction During Manual Lifting

It was hypothesized that muscle activation levels (MAL’s) in the upper limb and trunk muscles are correlated with the magnitude of the load in the hands during a manual lifting task. An experimental study was run to examine alterations in the muscle activation patterns when lifting different loads. EMG signals from the biceps brachii, triceps brachii, anterior deltoid, thoracic erector spinae, lumbar erector spinae and the external oblique muscles were recorded. A system was developed using nonlinear modelling and EMG signal characteristics to correctly predict the load in the hands.