Initial analysis of EMG signals of hand functions associated to rehabilitation tasks

The objective of this work is to study the EMG signals based on hand motions for specified tasks, and different gripping conditions so as to identify patterns of EMG signals. This will allow therapists to identify weak muscles of patients with motor weakness, such as spinal cord injury (SCI) and post-stroke and concentrate on rehabilitation activities which can strengthen these specific muscles. At the same time, it is hoped that the analysis is able to provide useful data for objective and quantitative assessment towards control applications on the hand rehabilitation device, which is being developed. The analysis of the EMG signals for various hand muscles during functional motions and prehensile tasks has been carried out. The method to identify individual hand motions from EMG signals is described. The EMG signals associated to physical parameters are also illustrated in this paper. Finally, the preliminary works and future research are concluded.

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