Assessment of Bicep muscle Fatigue using a low-cost microcontroller-based EMG System

Abstract

The world of sports medicine is constantly advancing with new treatments and studies to help athletes stay healthy and perform better. One way we can prevent injury is by monitoring the electrical signal of athletes’ muscles. A known effect of muscle fatigue is associated with a change in electrical signaling and activity. By using an electromyography (EMG) sensor this change in activity can be measured and is used to show the current state of fatigue in the muscle. In this study, muscle-fatigue of the bicep from 3 subjects (2 male, 1 female), was measured using a low cost EMG-sensor. I utilized the Root-mean-square (RMS) and the average-rectified-value (ARV) to quantify the results of this experiment and assess the degree of fatigue of the muscle. Using this procedure, I was able to identify the state of fatigue in the bicep muscle.