AUTHOR=Tan Chun Kwang , Kadone Hideki , Miura Kousei , Abe Tetsuya , Koda Masao , Yamazaki Masashi , Sankai Yoshiyuki , Suzuki Kenji TITLE=Muscle Synergies During Repetitive Stoop Lifting With a Bioelectrically-Controlled Lumbar Support Exoskeleton JOURNAL=Frontiers in Human Neuroscience VOLUME=13 YEAR=2019 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/human-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2019.00142 DOI=10.3389/fnhum.2019.00142 ISSN=1662-5161 ABSTRACT=

Lower back problems are common in the world, which leads to the development of various lumbar support exoskeletons to alleviate this problem. In general, previous studies evaluating lumbar support devices quantified assistance by reporting the reduction in back muscle activity and perceived fatigue. However, despite the beneficial effects of such devices, the effects of using such exoskeletons on muscle coordination are not well-studied. In this study, we examined the short-term change in muscle coordination of subjects using a bioelectrically-controlled lumbar support exoskeleton in a fatiguing stoop lifting task with muscle synergy analysis. Results indicate that muscle coordination changes were dominated by changes in timing coefficients, with minimal change in muscle synergy vectors. Analysis on muscle coordination changes would be useful to design future generations of exoskeletons.