A robotic neck brace to characterize head-neck motion and muscle electromyography in subjects with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

This paper presents the first study where a dynamic neck brace was used to characterize the head motion of ALS patients while concurrently recording the surface electromyography (EMG) of the neck muscles.

Methods

Eleven ALS patients and 10 age-matched healthy controls consented and participated in an experiment. Each participant was asked to perform three single-plane motions of the head-neck that included flexion-extension in the sagittal plane, lateral bending in the coronal plane, and axial rotation in the transverse plane. Each motion was performed in a cycle and was repeated five times at self-selected speeds.

Results

During single-plane flexion-extension under gravity, compared to healthy peers, ALS patients showed a shorter duration to reach the maxim

SUBMITTER: Zhang H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6764623 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature