Electromyographic Assessment of the Lower Leg Muscles during Concentric and Eccentric Phases of Standing Heel Raise

A smart insole system capable of identifying proper heel raise posture for chronic ankle instability rehabilitation

Heel raise is widely prescribed to patients with chronic ankle instability in order to strengthen the Peroneus Longus muscle (PL) which supports the weakened lateral collateral ligaments. While the exercise itself is intuitive, ankle orientation is of particular importance because heel raises performed with inversion do not well recruit the PL. This implies that proper execution is imperative and a means to assess heel raise training sessions is needed. In this study we present a smart insole system capable of identifying heel raise events and its corresponding rise, hold and drop phases, which allows for a more descriptive analysis. The results from our heel raise sessions, which consist of four different variants performed by five healthy subjects, suggest that medial–lateral foot pressure distribution and foot orientation are needed to differentiate heel raises performed with ankle eversion and inversion. We go further and substantiate that proper execution, detected by our system, indeed leads to increased PL activation by analyzing the electromyography signals. We believe that the proposed system may provide clinicians with invaluable information regarding onsite as well as at-home training and possibly, with biofeedback, serve as foundation for software as a medical device.

The Influence of External Additional Loading on the Muscle Activity and Ground Reaction Forces during Gait

Asymmetrical external loading acting on the musculoskeletal system is generally considered unhealthy. Despite this knowledge, carrying loads in an asymmetrical manner like carrying on one shoulder, with one hand, or on the strap across the torso is a common practice. This study is aimed at presenting the effects of the mentioned load carrying methods on muscle activity assessed by using thermal field and ground reaction forces. Infrared thermography and pedobarographic force platform (ground reaction force/pressure measurement) were used in this study. Experimental results point out an increased load-dependent asymmetry of temperature distribution on the chosen areas of torso and the influence of external loading on ground reaction forces. Results point out that wearing an asymmetrical load should be avoided and are showing which type of carrying the external load is potentially less and the most harmful.