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A gender comparison of electromyography (EMG) during repetitive arm work with and without mental stress
Author(s) -
Crenshaw Albert,
Fahlstrom Martin,
Lyskov Eugene
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.27.1_supplement.1152.21
Subject(s) - electromyography , work (physics) , task (project management) , relaxation (psychology) , stroop effect , root mean square , stress (linguistics) , physical medicine and rehabilitation , trapezius muscle , psychology , audiology , mathematics , physical therapy , medicine , social psychology , physics , psychiatry , engineering , cognition , linguistics , philosophy , systems engineering , quantum mechanics , thermodynamics
EMG of the trapezius muscle was monitored throughout a 45 min arm work task that included without (on one occasion) and with stress (another occasion) for 8 males and 8 females. The work task involved raising and lowering the arm, constituting one cycle, at a rate of 30 cycles per min. The stress session included periodic implementation of the Stroop color word task and mathematical equation solving concurrent with the work. EMG signal response was on/off representing raising (contracting) and lowering (relaxing) the arm, respectively. The root mean square (RMS) was calculated, and overall RMS and RMS during the arm lowering phase (RMS‐relax) were determined over time. The overall RMS increased significantly over time, and the increase was greater for females than males. However, these data were not dependent on work type (i.e. with vs. without stress). RMS‐relax also increased significantly over time with females increasing greater than males; there was no difference due to type of work. Thus, over the 45 min work task females showed more fatigue (based on RMS increase) and less relaxation (based on RMS‐relax) than males; stress had no impact on these data.