access icon openaccess Upper limb vibration prototype with sports and rehabilitation applications: development, evaluation and preliminary study

Vibration stimulation as an exercise intervention has been studied increasingly for its potential benefits and applications in sports and rehabilitation. Vibratory exercise devices should be capable of generating highly precise and repeatable vibrations and should be capable of generating a range of vibration amplitudes and frequencies in order to provide different training protocols. Many devices used to exercise the upper body provide limited variations to exercise regimes mostly due to the fact that only vibration frequency can be controlled. The authors present an upper limb vibration exercise device with a novel actuator system and design which attempts to address these limitations. Preliminary results show that this device is capable of generating highly precise and repeatable vibrations with independent control over amplitude and frequency. Furthermore, the results also show that this solution provides a higher neuromuscular stimulation (i.e. electromyography activity) when compared with a control condition. The portability of this device is an advantage, and though in its current configuration it may not be suitable for applications requiring higher amplitude levels the technology is scalable.

Inspec keywords: sport; actuators; patient rehabilitation; gait analysis; vibrations; prototypes; electromyography

Other keywords: electromyography; rehabilitation; exercise intervention; upper limb vibration prototype; sports; neuromuscular stimulation

Subjects: Bioelectric signals; Patient care and treatment; Patient care and treatment; Physics of body movements; Electrodiagnostics and other electrical measurement techniques

References

    1. 1)
    2. 2)
    3. 3)
    4. 4)
    5. 5)
      • 6. Pujari, A.N., Neilson, R.D., Cardinale, M.: ‘A novel vibration device for neuromuscular stimulation for sports and rehabilitation applications’. Conf. Proc. Annual Int. Conf. IEEE Engineering in Medicine Biology Society, January 2009, vol. 2009, pp. 839844.
    6. 6)
      • 4. Roger Talish, C.R., McLeod, K.: ‘Exercise equipment utilizing mechanical vibrational apparatus’. US20040067833 A1, 2004 https://www.google.com/patents/US20040067833.
    7. 7)
    8. 8)
      • 7. Pujari, A.N.: ‘Development and evaluation of vibration apparatus and method for neuromuscular stimulation’. PhD thesis, University of Aberdeen, UK, 2016.
    9. 9)
      • 3. Schiessl, H.: ‘Device for stimulating muscles’. EP97/04475, 1997.
    10. 10)
http://iet.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.1049/htl.2016.0069
Loading

Related content

content/journals/10.1049/htl.2016.0069
pub_keyword,iet_inspecKeyword,pub_concept
6
6
Loading