Improving the upper-limb force feasible set evaluation by muscles maximal isometric force identification and cocontraction factors.

Abstract

In order to improve the evaluation of the force feasible set (FFS) of the upper-limb which is of great interest in the biomechanics field, this study proposes two additional techniques. The first one is based on the identification of the maximal isometric force (MIF) of Hill-based muscles models from sEMG and isometric force measurements at the hand. The second one considers muscles cocontraction. The FFS was computed with an upper-limb musculoskeletal model in three different cases. The first one (M1) considered binary muscular activation and a simple MIF scaling method based on the weight and muscle length of the subject. The second one (M2) introduces cocontraction factors determined from sEMG. The third one (M3) considers the cocontraction factors and the MIF identification. Finally, M1, M2 and M3 are compared with end-effector force measurement. M3 outperforms the two other methods on FFS prediction demonstrating the validity and the usefulness of MIF identification and the consideration of the cocontraction factors.