A Hybrid Static Optimization for Estimating Muscle Forces during Heel-rise Movements

The estimation of muscle force is important to understand the roles of the muscles. The static optimization method can be used to figure out the individual muscle forces. However, muscle forces during the movement including muscle co-contraction cannot be considered by the static optimization. In this study, a hybrid static optimization method was introduced to find the well-matched muscle forces with EMG signals under muscle co-contraction conditions. To validate the developed algorithm, the 3D motion analysis and its corresponding inverse dynamics using the musculoskeletal modeling software (SIMM) were performed on heel-rise movements. Results showed that the developed algorithm could estimate the acceptable muscle forces during heel-rise movement. These results imply that a hybrid numerical approach is very useful to obtain the reasonable muscle forces under muscle co-contraction conditions.