Muscle Fatigue Judgement Based on Neck Electromyogram Signals

Chronic cervical flexion can have serious effects on the cervical spine. In order to quantitatively assess the effects of prolonged bowing on cervical fatigue, 16 healthy participants were selected and maintained normal working posture for 3h. The sternocleidomastoid muscle, the neck clamp muscle and the shoulder trapezius muscle were selected to measure the surface EMG signal. After filtering and amplitude standardization, the EMG value of every 60s is integrated and its mean power frequency is calculated. It was found that the integrated EMG value fluctuated regularly, and the decrease after the initial increase indicated that the muscle entered the fatigue state. The mean power frequency (MPF) value of different muscles is significantly different, which determines the duration of fatigue tolerance of the muscles, and MPF is not a simple linear relationship in the whole process of neck flexion. The results show that the negative accumulation of MPF can be a good judge of muscle fatigue. Therefore, the EMG sensor can be programmed to connect to the computer. When the negative accumulation of MPF is detected, the program can display a pop-up window to prompt people to take a proper rest, thus reducing the probability of cervical spine injury.