Published Paper Details:

Muscle Strength Detection (MSD) system is a diagnostic device that helps in capturing muscle or electromyogram (EMG) signals. The electrical signals are generated as a result of contraction and relaxation of muscle fibers. EMG signal serves as a diagnostic tool for many muscle related disorders namely myasthenia gravis, muscular dystrophy, muscle stiffness, muscle weakness. The system obtains EMG signal from surface electrodes in bipolar lead configuration attached to the biceps through the leads attached to the arm band along with a ground lead placed in wrist region. This raw signal is sent into the detection system, that consists of three units namely pre-amplification, filtering and microcontroller units. The system uses an instrumentation amplifier, a passive low pass filter and an Arduino UNO microcontroller. The major factor of interest in the measurement system is to capture the Maximum Voluntary Isometric Contraction (MVIC) of the particular muscle that describes the muscle strength. The obtained muscle signal is given as input to Arduino microcontroller for detecting muscle strength using different colored feedback Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs). Each corresponding LED indicate a specific muscle strength: very low, low, medium, high and very high respectively. Thus, the MSD system is useful to a great extent for the following applications such as muscle diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation, and measuring physical fitness. Above mentioned EMG signals, muscle anomalies, principle behind signal acquisition, objective, novelty, various blocks, maneuver for obtaining signal, steps for usage, future scope will be discussed in greater detail in the upcoming sections.