Kinematic and Electromyographic Assessment of Upper Limb Repetitive Movements in an Artisanal Pastry Workshop

Abstract

The aim of the study was to assess, using kinematic and electromyographic equipment, artisanal production of traditional Italian confectionery. Five young male skilled workers, all right-handed, were enrolled in the study. For each worker we did three acquisitions consisting in the production of five pastries. We compared production of custard confectionery using plastic piping bags versus canvas piping bags and the use of canvas piping bags while producing almond confectionery versus custard ones. For both almond cream and custard we used a 16 channel Wi-Fi surface electromyography system (FreeEMG, BTS SpA, Milan, Italy) for sEMG recordings. We investigated the following muscles on the right side of the body: deltoideus anterior, long head of the triceps brachii, short head of the biceps brachii, brachioradialis, flexor carpi radialis and inter osseus. Maximal voluntary isometric contraction from each muscle was performed according to the SENIAM recommendations. The mean activation of each studied muscle was then computed. An optoelectronic motion analysis system (SMART DX6000, BTS, Milan, Italy) was used for kinematic assessment. We investigated neck, trunk, and left and right elbow flexion. The results suggest the use of plastic piping bags rather than canvas piping bags while producing custard confectionery. Furthermore, because of the higher density of almond cream production of almond confectionery showed higher muscle effort with respect to custard processing while using canvas piping bags. Production of almond confectionery using canvas piping bags versus production using plastic piping bags was not investigated because of the breakdown of the plastic piping bags dues to the high density of almond cream. Lastly, on the basis of our experience we suggest the use of electromyography to objectively quantify muscle effort in this kind of task.