Estimating the effects of awareness on neck-muscle loading in frontal impacts with EMG and MC sensors

Krašna, Simon (author), Đorđević, Srđan (author)

Critical traffic situations, such as vehicle collisions and emergency manoeuvres, can cause an occupant to respond with reflex and voluntary actions. These affect the occupant's position and dynamic loading during interactions with the vehicle's restraints, possibly compromising their protective function. Electromyography (EMG) is a commonly used method for measuring active muscle response and can also provide input parameters for computer simulations with models of the human body. The recently introduced muscle-contraction (MC) sensor is a wearable device with a piezo-resistive element for measuring the force of an indenting tip pressing against the surface of the body. The study aimed to compare how data collected simultaneously with EMG, video motion capture, and the novel MC sensor are related to neck-muscle loading. Sled tests with low-severity frontal impacts were conducted, assuming two different awareness conditions for seated volunteers. The activity of the upper trapezius muscle was measured using surface EMG and MC sensors. The neck-muscle load F was estimated from an inverse dynamics analysis of the head's motion captured in the sagittal plane. The volunteers' response to impact was predominantly reflexive, with significantly shorter onset latencies and more bracing observed when the volunteers were aware of the impact. Cross-correlations between the EMG and MC, EMG and F, and F and MC data were not changed significantly by the awareness conditions. The MC signal was strongly correlated (r = 0.89) with the neck-muscle loading F in the aware and unaware conditions, while the mean [delta] F-MC delays were 21.0 [plus-minus sign] 15.1 ms and 14.6 [plus-minus sign] 12.4 ms, respectively. With the MC sensor enabling a consistent measurement-based estimation of the muscle loading, the simultaneous acquisition of EMG and MC signals improves the assessment of the reflex and voluntary responses of a vehicle's occupant subjected to low-severity loading.

• Language: English
• Keywords: biomechanics, vehicle collision, sled tests, active response, muscle loads, MC sensor, EMG sensor
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FS - Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2020
• Number of pages: 15 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 20, iss. 14, art. 3942
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-126316
• UDC: 531.66:629.33(045)
• ISSN on article: 1424-8220
• DOI: 10.3390/s20143942
• COBISS.SI-ID: 22835459
• Publication date in RUL: 16.04.2021

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Sensors
• Shortened title: Sensors
• Publisher: MDPI
• ISSN: 1424-8220
• COBISS.SI-ID: 10176278

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.
• Licensing start date: 15.07.2020

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: biomehanika, trki vozil, trčni preizkusi, aktivni odziv, mišične obremenitve, MC senzor, EMG senzor

Projects

• Funder: ARRS - Slovenian Research Agency
• Project number: P2-0109
• Name: Modeliranje v tehniki in medicini