Title: SEMG-based research of upper body muscle fatigue during manual material handling

Authors: Na Yu; Chang Zhang

Addresses: Institute of Ergonomics, College of Furnishings and Industrial Design, Nanjing Forestry University, Longpan Road 159#, Nanjing Forestry University, Jiangsu, 210037, China ' Institute of Ergonomics, College of Furnishings and Industrial Design, Nanjing Forestry University, Longpan Road 159#, Nanjing Forestry University, Jiangsu, 210037, China

Abstract: The upper body muscles frequently contract during manual material handling tasks, and muscle fatigue could arise during the repetitive contraction. To explore the muscle fatigue within arm, shoulder and back during material handling, 11 male graduate students were chosen as subjects to simulate furniture boards handling task. In the experiment, the vertical lifting distance, set three levels, was the single test variable. Through analysing normalised average electromyography (Normalised AEMG) and mean power frequency (MPF) of the electromyography signal collected during the experiment, found that the biceps brachii muscle the most relaxed, and the multifidus muscle the most fatigable. In order to reduce waist muscle load, it is suggest that operators increase their use of arm strength during material handling, optimising work posture.

Keywords: muscle fatigue; material handling; sEMG; surface electromyography; work posture.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSCIP.2018.097137

International Journal of System Control and Information Processing, 2018 Vol.2 No.4, pp.279 - 287

Received: 12 Dec 2017
Accepted: 21 Feb 2018
Published online: 02 Jan 2019 *

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