P-18　Development of a lower-back muscle activity sensor system for educational support for care workers

• Published in: Ningen kogaku. The Japanese journal of ergonomics Vol. 53; no. Supplement2; pp. S736 - S737
• Main Authors: MAENAKA, Kazusuke, YOTO, Tsuyoshi Yi, NAKAI, Akira, MURAMATSU, Shigeo, KOMATSU, Takeshi, SHIMOMURA, Yoshihiro
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Japan Ergonomics Society 2017
• Subjects: care worker; educational support; electromyogram; lower-back muscle activity
• ISSN: 0549-4974; 1884-2844
• DOI: 10.5100/jje.53.S736

In training institutions for care workers, incorrect operation often causes a pain in the lower-back to trainees. The instructors have difficulty in judging whether the trainees perform an operation correctly without monitoring muscle activity in the lower-back. Accordingly, the purposes of the present study were (a) to produce a sensor to measure muscle activity in the lower-back and (b) to develop the education support system which shows the instructors a simultaneous display of muscle and physical activities in the lower-back and video of the operations. The experimental sensors consist of six channel electromyogram (EMG) sensors, three-axis acceleration, angular velocity and geomagnetic sensors. The software for data acquisition which records data from individual sensors synchronously was developed using LabVIEW 2015. Using this all-in-one experimental sensor system, five subjects had their lower-back muscle activity measured while lifting a dumbbell. The data acquired was compared to the data from the same experiment monitored by existing, commercially available non-integrated systems. Consequently, the experimental system could record the data smoothly from the sensors on the lower-back as expected. The integrated EMG values of the erector spinae muscles obtained by the experimental system and the commercially available EMG system had a strong positive correlation. Hereafter, our work will be to validate the experimental system by comparing the other data sources to existing sensor systems.