Analysis of Dynamics of EMG Signal Variations in Fatiguing Contractions of Muscles Using Transition Network Approach

The measurement and analysis of the electrical activity of muscle provide information that aids in the control of assistive devices. The investigation of these signals under varied physiological conditions, such as fatigue, enables reliable control. Muscle fatigue is a muscular condition associated with loss of muscle function. The early detection of muscle fatigue using surface Electromyography (sEMG)-based electrical measurements is challenging due to the nonlinear variations of the signal. In this work, an attempt has been made to understand the effect of dynamic nonlinear variations in the characteristics of the signal to develop a reliable fatigue index. The methodology involves the acquisition of myoelectric signals from the biceps brachii muscle of 52 healthy participants during dynamic contractions. The acquired signals are preprocessed and are analyzed with symbolic transition networks. Features such as symbolic entropy, network entropy, uniformity, and, minimum and maximum effective degrees (EDs) are extracted for further analysis. Appropriate decision boundaries are established for each feature using receiver operator characteristics (ROCs) and machine learning algorithms. The results indicate a decrease in signal complexity with fatigue. All the extracted features show a statistically significant difference (p < 0.05) between both conditions. Symbolic entropy achieves an accuracy of 89%, and the maximum ED yields an accuracy of 90% based on thresholds estimated with ROC. Furthermore, only a marginal improvement is observed with the combination of these features and the Naive Bayes classifier. It appears that the proposed maximum ED could be used as a reliable fatigue index in real-time applications for the improvement of rehabilitation efficacy.