Electromyography-Driven Modeling for Simulating Subject-Specific Movement at the Neuromusculoskeletal Level

This chapter provides a comprehensive description of subject-specific electromyography (EMG)-driven musculoskeletal models for the human lower extremity. EMG-driven modeling requires experimental human motion data to be captured for model calibration and operation. A musculoskeletal model is created from medical imaging data of bone and muscle surfaces, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or computed tomography. The multi-degrees of freedom (DOFs) model comprises five main components: musculotendon kinematics, musculotendon activation, musculotendon dynamics, moment computation, and model calibration. The chapter demonstrates the use of EMG-driven modeling to predict musculotendon units (MTUs) forces and the resulting joint moments about multiple DOFs during dynamic motor tasks. It outlines the use of EMG-driven modeling for applications in neurorehabilitation technologies. EMG-driven methodologies can be successfully applied to study dynamic tasks that involve muscle co-contraction. EMG-informed predictions of muscle forces acting on the hip have been also used to improve estimates of bone remodeling stimulus.