Álvaro Page

Relationship between comfort and back posture and mobility in sitting-posture

The objective of this work is to analyze the causes of lumbar discomfort while sitting on a chair, by analyzing the relationship of lumbar curvature, pelvic inclination and their mobilities with discomfort. An experiment has been performed with healthy subjects, in which comfort, postural and mobility parameters have been measured. Their relationship has been analyzed with multivariate analysis. Factorial analysis has been used to represent all the correlated variables measured. Logistic regression and discriminant analyses have been used to classify discomfort/absence of discomfort. The results show that great changes of posture are a good indicator of discomfort, and that lordotic postures with forward leaned pelvis and low mobility are the principal causes of the increase of discomfort.

System to measure the use of the backrest in sitting-posture office tasks

This paper presents an inexpensive and simple system to measure the way of use of the backrest. The system can be also used in field studies. It is based on a set of electrodes which, attached to the subjects back and the backrest, allows the contact area to be measured. A laboratory test was performed to validate the system. In the test the spontaneous use of the backrest in standard office chairs and tasks was studied. Four different types of backrest use have been detected, and it has been shown that they determine the lumbar curvature and pelvic inclination angles, as well as postural mobility. The comfort levels observed in the four types of backrest use were also different. Consequently, the system can be used as an indicator of back posture and comfort.

Neck motion patterns in whiplash-associated disorders: Quantifying variability and spontaneity of movement

BACKGROUNDnwhiplash-associated disorders have usually been explored by analyzing changes in the cervical motor system function by means of static variables such as the range of motion, whereas other behavioural features such as speed, variability or smoothness of movement have aroused less interest.nnnMETHODSnwhiplash patients (n=30), control subjects (n=29) and a group of people faking the symptoms of whiplash-associated-disorders (Simulators, n=30) performed a cyclical flexion-extension movement. This movement was recorded by means of video-photogrammetry. The computed variables were: range of motion, maxima angular velocity and acceleration, and two additional variables that quantify the repeatability of a motion and its spontaneity. Two comparisons were made: Control vs. Patients and Patients vs. Simulators. At each comparison we used ANOVA to detect differences between groups and discriminant analysis to evaluate the ability of these variables to classify individuals.nnnFINDINGSncomparison between Controls and Patients showed significant reductions in the range of motion, and both the maximum of angular velocity and acceleration in the Patients. The most efficient discriminant model only included the range of motion and maximum angular velocity. Comparison between Patients and Simulators showed a significant reduction in all measured variables in the Simulators. The best classification model was obtained with maximum angular velocity, spontaneity and repeatability of motion.nnnINTERPRETATIONnour results suggest that the pathological patterns differ from those of Controls in amplitude and speed of motion, but not in repeatability or spontaneity of movement. These variables are especially useful for detecting abnormal movement patterns.

Analysis of multiple waveforms by means of functional principal component analysis: normal versus pathological patterns in sit-to-stand movement

This paper presents an application of functional principal component analysis (FPCA) to describe the inter-subject variability of multiple waveforms. This technique was applied to the study of sit-to-stand movement in two groups of people, osteoarthritic patients and healthy subjects. Although STS movement has not been extensively applied to the study of knee osteoarthritis, it can provide relevant information about the effect of osteoarthritis on knee joint function. Two waveforms, knee flexion angle and flexion moment, were analysed simultaneously. Instead of using the common multivariate approach we used the functional one, which allows working with continuous functions with neither discretization nor time-scale normalization. The results show that time-scale normalization can alter the FPCA solution. Furthermore, FPCA presents better discriminatory power compared with the classical multivariate approach. This technique can, therefore, be applied as a functional assessment tool, allowing the identification of relevant variables to discriminate heterogeneous groups such as healthy and pathological subjects.

Experimental Analysis of Rigid Body Motion. A Vector Method to Determine Finite and Infinitesimal Displacements From Point Coordinates

This paper presents a vector method for measuring rigid body motion from marker coordinates, including both finite and infinitesimal displacement analyses. The common approach to solving the finite displacement problem involves the determination of a rotation matrix, which leads to a nonlinear problem. On the contrary, infinitesimal displacement analysis is a linear problem that can be easily solved. In this paper we take advantage of the linearity of infinitesimal displacement analysis to formulate the equations of finite displacements as a generalization of Rodrigues formula when more than three points are used. First, for solving the velocity problem, we propose a simple method based on a mechanical analogy that uses the equations that relate linear and angular momenta to linear and angular velocities, respectively. This approach leads to explicit linear expressions for infinitesimal displacement analysis. These linear equations can be generalized for the study of finite displacements by using an intermediate body whose points are the midpoint of each pair of homologous points at the initial and final positions. This kind of transformation turns the field of finite displacements into a skew-symmetric field that satisfies the same equations obtained for the velocity analysis. Then, simple closed-form expressions for the angular displacement, translation, and position of finite screw axis are presented. Finally, we analyze the relationship between finite and infinitesimal displacements, and propose vector closed-form expressions based on derivatives or integrals, respectively. These equations allow us to make one of both analyses and to obtain the other by means of integration or differentiation. An experiment is presented in order to demonstrate the usefulness of this method. The results show that the use of a set of markers with redundant information (n>3) allows a good accuracy of measurement of kinematic variables.

Kinematic description of soft tissue artifacts: quantifying rigid versus deformation components and their relation with bone motion

This paper proposes a kinematic approach for describing soft tissue artifacts (STA) in human movement analysis. Artifacts are represented as the field of relative displacements of markers with respect to the bone. This field has two components: deformation component (symmetric field) and rigid motion (skew-symmetric field). Only the skew-symmetric component propagates as an error to the joint variables, whereas the deformation component is filtered in the kinematic analysis process. Finally, a simple technique is proposed for analyzing the sources of variability to determine which part of the artifact may be modeled as an effect of the motion, and which part is due to other sources. This method has been applied to the analysis of the shank movement induced by vertical vibration in 10 subjects. The results show that the cluster deformation is very small with respect to the rigid component. Moreover, both components show a strong relationship with the movement of the tibia. These results suggest that artifacts can be modeled effectively as a systematic relative rigid movement of the marker cluster with respect to the underlying bone. This may be useful for assessing the potential effectiveness of the usual strategies for compensating for STA.

Mechatronic Development and Dynamic Control of a 3-DOF Parallel Manipulator

The aim of this article is to develop, from the mechatronic point of view, a low-cost parallel manipulator (PM) with 3-degrees of freedom (DOF). The robot has to be able to generate and control one translational motion (heave) and two rotary motions (rolling and pitching). Applications for this kind of parallel manipulator can be found at least in driving-motion simulation and in the biomechanical field. An open control architecture has been developed for this manipulator, which allows implementing and testing different dynamic control schemes for a PM with 3-DOF. Thus, the robot developed can be used as a test bench where control schemes can be tested. In this article, several control schemes are proposed and the tracking control responses are compared. The schemes considered are based on passivity-based control and inverse dynamic control. The control algorithm considers point-to-point control or tracking control. When the controller considers the system dynamics, an identified model has been used. The control schemes have been tested on a virtual robot and on the actual prototype.

Effect of marker cluster design on the accuracy of human movement analysis using stereophotogrammetry

This paper presents a new, simple model to evaluate the instrumental random errors in kinematic analysis of human movements using stereophotogrammetry. By means of equations analogous to that relate linear or angular momentum with linear or angular velocities, a direct measurement of instantaneous motion can be made without previous finite displacement analysis. Single explicit expressions can be obtained to evaluate the influence of instrumental random errors in the accuracy of the kinematic variables. From these expressions, some conclusions about the effect of marker cluster design on the experimental errors are obtained. An experiment has been carried out in order to validate the proposed technique and to assess the experimental errors in linear and angular velocity measurement and its influence in instantaneous helical axis determination.

Propagation of soft tissue artifacts to the center of rotation: a model for the correction of functional calibration techniques.

This paper presents a mathematical model for the propagation of errors in body segment kinematics to the location of the center of rotation. Three functional calibration techniques, usually employed for the gleno-humeral joint, are studied: the methods based on the pivot of the instantaneous helical axis (PIHA) or the finite helical axis (PFHA), and the symmetrical center of rotation estimation (SCoRE). A procedure for correcting the effect of soft tissue artifacts is also proposed, based on the equations of those techniques and a model of the artifact, like the one that can be obtained by double calibration. An experiment with a mechanical analog was performed to validate the procedure and compare the performance of each technique. The raw error (between 57 and 68mm) was reduced by a proportion of between 1:6 and less than 1:15, depending on the artifact model and the mathematical method. The best corrections were obtained by the SCoRE method. Some recommendations about the experimental setup for functional calibration techniques and the choice of a mathematical method are derived from theoretical considerations about the formulas and the results of the experiment.

Analysis of 3D rigid-body motion using photogrammetry: A simple model based on a mechanical analogy

We present a technique based on 3D video photogrammetry for analyzing rigid body kinematics. The technique is based on a method for calculating the kinematic variables associated with rigid body motion. To illustrate the technique an analysis of the rolling motion of a truncated cone on a floor is performed. From the coordinates of a set of markers, kinematic parameters such as linear velocity, angular velocity, and the instantaneous axis of rotation can be measured. The complexity is appropriate for undergraduates using a mechanical analogy that relates linear and angular momentum to linear and angular velocities, respectively. The possibility of compounding simple rotational motions to achieve a more complex motion is also addressed.