AN ANGLE-EMG BIOMECHANICAL MODEL OF THE HUMAN ELBOW JOINT

Abstract

The biomechanical model of the human elbow joint is extensively studied. In the model, the surface electromyography (sEMG) is used as the input signal, whereas the muscle force or muscle torque is commonly considered as the output signal. The estimation of the actual muscle force or torque is important to effectively modulate the tremor suppression. However, the measurement of the muscle force or torque in vivo is difficult. In this paper, a new angle-to-EMG biomechanical model of the elbow joint was developed and evaluated by comparing the measured sEMG with the calculated sEMG. Three sources of the sEMG signal, namely, the central nervous system (CNS), the Golgi tendon and the muscle spindle were considered in this model. Furthermore, a local PID algorithm was proposed to describe the impact of the CNS on the motor neuron and the Golgi tendon model was used to transform muscle forces to stimulus signals. The model was calibrated by an improved search procedure combining the Powell search and the direct search to determine optimal model parameters. In the experiment, an sEMG signal acquisition system was established to measure the sEMG signal and the elbow joint angle. The experimental results, the predicted sEMG signal well following the measured sEMG, demonstrated that the calibrated model could be used to estimate in vivo sEMG signals and is beneficial to explore the peripheral neural system and the pathogenesis of tremor.