Abstract
Astronauts are at risk for low back pain and injury during extravehicular activity because of the deconditioning of the lumbar region and biomechanical demands associated with wearing a spacesuit. To understand and mitigate injury risks, it is necessary to study the lumbar kinematics of astronauts inside their spacesuit. To expand on previous efforts, the purpose of this study was to develop and test a generalizable method to assess complex lumbar motion using 10 fabric strain sensors placed on the torso. Anatomical landmark positions and corresponding sensor measurements were collected from 12 male study participants performing 16 static lumbar postures. A multilayer principal component and regression-based model was constructed to estimate lumbar joint angles from the sensor measurements. Good lumbar joint angle estimation was observed (<9° mean error) from flexion and lateral bending joint angles, and lower accuracy (13.7° mean error) was observed from axial rotation joint angles. With continued development, this method can become a useful technique for measuring suited lumbar motion and could potentially be extrapolated to civilian work applications.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
