Whose Touch is This? : Understanding the Agency Trade-Off Between User-Driven Touch vs. Computer-Driven Touch

Force-feedback enhances digital touch by enabling users to share non-verbal aspects such as rhythm, poses, and so on. To achieve this, interfaces actuate the user’s to touch involuntarily (using exoskeletons or electrical-muscle-stimulation); we refer to this as computer-driven touch. Unfortunately, forcing users to touch causes a loss of their sense of agency. While researchers found that delaying the timing of computer-driven touch preserves agency, they only considered the naïve case when user-driven touch is aligned with computer-driven touch. We argue this is unlikely as it assumes we can perfectly predict user-touches. But, what about all the remainder situations: when the haptics forces the user into an outcome they did not intend or assists the user in an outcome they would not achieve alone? We unveil, via an experiment, what happens in these novel situations. From our findings, we synthesize a framework that enables researchers of digital-touch systems to trade-off between haptic-assistance vs. sense-of-agency.

An Electrical Stimulation Method to Control Deep Muscle Contraction using Surface Electrodes

Conventional EMS technology cannot stimulate deep muscles to induce muscle contraction using surface electrodes. Several treatments use electrical stimulation for various neurological conditions, including stroke and spinal cord injury. One such treatment is functional electrical stimulation (FES), a form of rehabilitation in which electrical muscle stimulation (EMS) is provided while the muscles are being moved. Here, we show whether two interfering electrical stimulation pulses could stimulate the deep muscles of the forearm to control muscle contraction. The results showed that the strongest torques were generated across the subjects when the reference frequency was mid-frequency (4,000 Hz) and the beat frequencies were low (20 Hz, 40 Hz, 80 Hz, 160 Hz and 320 Hz). This study is the first counterexample to demonstrate that it is possible to control muscle contraction in the deep muscles of the forearm using surface electrodes, which was previously thought to be impossible.

Interactive assistant tool for the evaluation of kinematic patterns and EMG signals in patients with a forearm injury

Subjective feelings feedbacks are commonly employed by a patient during forearm rehabilitation therapy without real-time data, leading to suboptimal recovery results in some patients. Technological innovations in the field of assisted rehabilitation have enabled the evolution of real-time monitoring systems. In this paper, interactive assistant development is presented as the interface to define the relationship between the kinematics patterns and the electromyographic signals during the forearm rehabilitation routine. Leap Motion (LM) and Shimmer3 EMG sensors read the routine behavior by following the movements that appear on the software. Real-time targets are programmed to lead the necessary forearm movements that the therapist sets to determine the recovery progress. The integration of software and hardware shows a dataset basis on interaction variables such as arm velocity, arm position, performance rate, and electrical muscle pulse. The results obtained from tests show that the system works effectively within a range of movement of 9 to 88 degrees in rotation about the axes, and velocities under 190 mm/s show stable movement representation on software. Finally, the outcomes ranges show an alternative tool to evaluate patients with a forearm injury.

Physical factors in medical rehabilitation of children with spinal osteochondropathies

The article is devoted to a targeted search of scientific literature sources aimed at compiling a review of data on the use of physiotherapy methods in the medical rehabilitation of children with spinal osteochondropathy. One of the most urgent and socially significant issues of modern medicine is the widespread prevalence of orthopedic pathology, among which the leading positions are taken by diseases of the spine. Recently, in the population of children and adolescents, there has been a steady increase in pain syndromes of a vertebrogenic nature, leading to impaired physical functioning. According to various population studies, the prevalence of this nosological form ranges from 0.42 to 37% among the child population. The prevalence of Scheuermann — Mau disease in the general population of children and adolescents ranges from 0.4–8.3%. This pathology is the most common among all children osteochondropathies. To date, the etiology of spinal osteochondropathy is still unclear. Due to the asymptomatic course, the disease is not always diagnosed in the early stages of development, which creates certain difficulties in diagnosing and prescribing an effective treatment for the disease. Medical rehabilitation of children with osteochondropathy of the spine is aimed at preventing further progression of deformity, improving posture, respiratory function and cardiovascular system and includes: a rational exercise regime and nutrition, bracing and cold water treatment procedures, conservative orthopedic measures (wearing a corset, staying in a plaster bed), active correction of deformity (kinesiotherapy), hydrokinetic therapy, massage, passive correction of deformity (treatment by position), physiotherapy (electrical muscle stimulation), sports (skiing, swimming).

Evaluation of Muscle Activities on Different Type of Exercises During Prolonged Sitting

Electromyography (EMG) signal is an analysis of electrical signals generated during muscular contractions that have been used to measure and record electrical muscle activity usually applied for medical tests. In this research EMG signal is used to; (1) evaluate muscle activations on different gender during prolonged sitting task; (2) investigate the influence of various types of exercise during prolonged sitting on muscle activation and (3) proposed the best exercise that can help to prevent low back discomfort. Twenty subjects (10 males and 10 females) were recruited from undergraduate engineering student’s education background in UniMAP with age ranging between 20 to 24 years old. The subject must be asymptomatic back pain, normal BMI and right-handed. . Three different types of sitting, one hour per sitting were done by each subject in order to reach the goals of this study. First sitting (sitting without exercise) was conducted while second and third sitting (sitting with exercise) were done in order the investigate the effectiveness of the exercises. Two different types of exercise were performed in second and third sitting, both of exercises were chosen from Mc Kenzie’s exercise. EEGOTM sport device were used to record the EMG signal from four types of muscles which are Erector Spinae, Latissimus Dorsi, Internal Oblique and External Oblique. By comparing the Root Mean Square (RMS) values from EMG signals muscle activation during prolonged sitting and the effectiveness of performing the exercises have been evaluated based on RMS values. As the results, muscle become deactivate during prolonged sitting. The best exercise to reduce back pain discomfort is exercise type 1 (Seated Lumbar Exercise) and it is recommended to perform this exercise regularly to reduce the risk of getting hazardous disease due to prolonged sitting.

Effects of electrical muscle stimulation on cerebral blood flow

Background Electrical muscle stimulation (EMS) induces involuntary muscle contraction. Several studies have suggested that EMS has the potential to be an alternative method of voluntary exercise; however, its effects on cerebral blood flow (CBF) when applied to large lower limb muscles are poorly understood. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the effects of EMS on CBF, focusing on whether the effects differ between the internal carotid (ICA) and vertebral (VA) arteries. Methods The participants performed the experiments under EMS and control (rest) conditions in a randomized crossover design. The ICA and VA blood flow were measured before and during EMS or control. Heart rate, blood pressure, minute ventilation, oxygen uptake, and end-tidal partial pressure of carbon dioxide (PETCO2) were monitored and measured as well. Results The ICA blood flow increased during EMS [Pre: 330 ± 69 mL min−1; EMS: 371 ± 81 mL min−1, P = 0.001, effect size (Cohen’s d) = 0.55]. In contrast, the VA blood flow did not change during EMS (Pre: 125 ± 47 mL min−1; EMS: 130 ± 45 mL min−1, P = 0.26, effect size = 0.12). In the EMS condition, there was a significant positive linear correlation between ΔPETCO2 and ΔICA blood flow (R = 0.74, P = 0.02). No relationships were observed between ΔPETCO2 and ΔVA blood flow (linear: R = − 0.17, P = 0.66; quadratic: R = 0.43, P = 0.55). Conclusions The present results indicate that EMS increased ICA blood flow but not VA blood flow, suggesting that the effects of EMS on cerebral perfusion differ between anterior and posterior cerebral circulation, primarily due to the differences in cerebrovascular response to CO2.