Title: Estimation of upper limb muscle forces by a biomechanical simulation model

Authors: Yanxin Zhang

Addresses: Department of Sport and Exercise Science, University of Auckland, 261 Morrin Rd., Glen Innes, Auckland, New Zealand

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to quantify individual upper limb muscle forces during planar arm movements by a biomechanical simulation model. This study includes two steps. First, a multi-linkage rigid body biomechanical simulation model was developed. The simulation model was developed to create equations of motion for the body segments and simulate the directional dependent characteristic of joint muscle forces. Second, human subjects were recruited to perform planar arm reaching task in different directions. Kinematic data collected by a motion capture system was used as the input to the simulation model. The simulation results were further interpreted and compared with previous findings. Potential application of this model to biomedical robotics design was also discussed.

Keywords: biomechanical simulation; kinematics; motion analysis; upper limbs; joint muscle forces; planar arm movements; biomechanics; motion capture; modelling; biomedical robotics; robot design.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBBR.2009.030055

International Journal of Biomechatronics and Biomedical Robotics, 2009 Vol.1 No.1, pp.17 - 21

Published online: 03 Dec 2009 *

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