• 한국의류산업학회지
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• 제25권2호
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• pp.210-220
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• 2023

Recently, smart wearable products, including electromyography (EMG) measurement devices and clothing, have been developed to monitor users' exercise levels, muscle activation, and muscle balance more effectively during fitness activities. However, technical and socioeconomic barriers, such as flexibility and durability, still pose challenges in terms of comfort, ease of wear, and wearability of smart clothing, which includes devices and circuits. To address these issues, this study developed a wearable EMG device integrated with clothing to collect valid EMG signals from desired muscles while maintaining comfort, functionality, and ease of wear. After deriving a combined structure that could stably position the wearable device within the clothing, a prototype was manufactured and evaluated for fit, compression, comfort, and exercise comfort test by ten participants (height = 176.2 cm, weight = 76.4 kg, chest circumference = 101.2 cm). The study found that the prototype had smaller circumferences around the chest, waist, and abdomen compared to commercial products, resulting in lower ratings for wearing comfort and ease of wear. However, the prototype received high ratings for fitting, pressure, and the exercise comfort test. Valid signals were obtained when the EMG device was combined to the prototype for the rectus femoris muscle, indicating stable positioning of the device during exercise.

• 한국의류산업학회지
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• 제18권6호
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• pp.755-765
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• 2016

Recently, interest in monitoring health and sports is growing because of the emphasis on wellness, which is accelerating the development and commercialization of smart clothing for biosignal monitoring. In addition to exerciseeffect monitoring clothing that tracks heart rate and respiration, recently developed clothing makes it possible to monitor muscle balance using electromyogram (EMG). The electrode for EMG have to attached to an accurate location in order to obtain high-quality signals in surface EMG measurement. Therefore, this study develops monitoring clothing suitable for different types of human bodies and aims to extract suitable range of EMG according to movements in order to develop self-fitness monitoring clothing based on EMG measurement. This study identified and attached electrodes on six upper muscles and two lower muscles of ten males in their 20s. After selecting six main motions that create a load on muscles, the 8-ch wireless EMG system was used to measure amplitude value, noise, SNR and SNR (dB) in each part and statistical analysis was conducted using SPSS 20.0. As a result, the suitable range for EMG measurement to apply to clothing was identified as four parts in musculus pectoralis major; three parts in muscle rectus abdominis, two parts each in shoulder muscles, backbone erector, biceps brachii, triceps brachii, and musculus biceps femoris; and four part in quadriceps muscle of thigh. This was depicted diagrammatically on clothing, and the EMG-monitoring sensing locations were presented for development of self-fitness monitoring.