Development of wearable electromyogram for the physical fatigue detection during aerobic activity

Abstract

Physical fatigue or muscle fatigue is a common problem that affects people who are vigorously involved in activities that require endurance movements. It becomes more complicated to measure the fatigue level when the dynamic motion of the activity is included. Therefore, this paper aims to develop a wearable device that can be used for monitoring physical fatigue condition during aerobic exercise. A 10-bit analog to digital converter (ADC) micro-controller board was used to process the data sensed by Ag/AgCl electrodes and real-time transmitted to the computer through Bluetooth's technology. The wearable was attached to the knee and connected to the biopotential electrodes for sensing the muscle movement and convert it into the electrical signal. The signal then processed by using the fourth-order Butterworth filter to filter the low-pass filter frequency and eliminate the noise signal. The results reveal that the fatigue level increased gradually based on the rating of perceived exertion (RPE), using 10-point Borg's scale, which is rated by the subject’s feeling. Both muscle's activities in lower limb rise as speed is increased, and it was also observed that the rectus femoris is functioning more than gastrocnemius due to the size of muscle fiber. Furthermore, it was established that the maximum volumetric contraction (MVC) could be used as a reference and indicator for measuring the percentage of contraction in pre-fatigue but not to fatigue induced experiment. However, this wearable device for EMG is promising to measure the muscle signal in the dynamic motion of movement. Consequently, this device is beneficial for a coach to monitor their athlete's level of exhaustion to be not over-exercise, which also can prevent severe injury.