COMPARISON OF sEMG ACTIVITY DURING REACHING MOVEMENTS

Identification of elderly at risk of fall should be a top medical priority. The Functional Reach (FR) Test was proposed as a measure of balance able to identify elderly subjects at risk of recurrent falls. It was defined as the maximal distance one can reach forward beyond arm’s length while maintaining a fixed base of support in the standing position [1]. A similar motor task, the Standing Reach (SR), was proposed too and differs from FR just because the reach movement is performed with both arms extended. Both tests were used to examine dynamic balance and joint kinematics [2]. The aim of this work was to analyse the muscular activity of several muscles by surface electromyography (sEMG) during these motor tasks in order to highlight similarities and differences between the two motor performances, focusing on the estimate of muscle effort as evaluated by integrated surface EMG signals