使用蹲式馬桶經常造成下肢痠麻與不易控制平衡等問題,而對於老年人或未曾使用過蹲式馬桶之國外旅客也導致使用上的不方便。本研究目的為探討使用腳踝支撐輔助工具對於使用蹲式馬桶時之影響,並期望了解壓力中心點(COP)與肌電訊號(EMG)的分析中,歸納出較適合運用與分析此情境的方法。研究中共有32位自願參與實驗之年輕人,並進行蹲姿、蹲姿有輔具與站姿試驗,同時測量一分鐘的COP平衡訊號與左右側脛骨前肌與股直肌之肌電訊號。COP訊號與EMG訊號透過經驗模態分解法將訊號拆解,選取適當之本質模態函數(IMF)進行希伯特-黃轉換與多尺度熵(MSE)分析,並與傳統分析方法進行比較。 研究結果顯示,COP傳統指標之有輔具的平均移動速度比蹲姿減少約22%。而經過IMF2至IMF4訊號重建之複數面積,以AP方向之蹲姿有輔具面積統計上顯著小於蹲姿(女性:P-value=0.05,男性:P-value=0.06),經訊號重建之MSE分析中,男性與女性結果從數值上觀察,男性使用輔具後平衡力提升6%,女性則下降6%。EMG訊號分析中,蹲姿肌肉負荷最大、蹲姿有輔具負荷最小,其中以脛骨前肌之變化較為明顯,使用輔具後之%MVC約可下降25%至50%,希伯特總能量與複數面積也可得一致性結果並達統計上顯著。使用輔具後,重心往前,使其脛骨前肌肌肉負荷減小50至80%MVC、股直肌負荷增加約46至57%MVC。性別與日常習慣可能是導致肌肉負荷與平衡能力產生差異的原因。
It usually causes lower limbs numbness and difficulty in maintaining balance when people use squat toilet. This study aims to see if using an ankle- assisted tool for squat toilet can reduce numbness in legs and enhance balance function. There are thirty-two young subjects participated in this study. Three conditions for each subject were involved: squat(q), squat with a 22.5° slope assistant-tool(qa) and stand(s), the center of pressure(COP) signals and the Electromyography (EMG) signals were collected simultaneously for each condition. The COP signals can be examined in two parts: medio-lateral (ML) and anterior-posterior (AP). The EMG signal were collected in four muscle groups, including two-side of tibialis anterior (TA) and rectus femori s(RF). This study uses traditional indeces of the COP signals and the EMG signals in order to compare with the results with other studies in literature. This research applies empirical mode decomposition (EMD) to decompose each part of the COP signal and the EMG signal. The appropriate frequency signals are selected to adopt for Hilbert transform (HT) and complex plane area analyses (AreaC). Further analyses of using multi-scale entropy (MSE) analysis were also conducted for determining the Complexity Index. The results showed that using assistant-tool can increase the balance ability and decrease the muscle strength in most analyses in this study. In the COP signal analyses, the mean velocity of qa decrease 22% than q and the AreaC of qa were significant lower than q (female P-value:0.05, male P-value:0,06) in AP direction. In MSE analysis, the balance function raises 6% in male but reduce 6% in female. The results were consistent in EMG signal analyses. The load of q is largest and after using assistant-tool the tibialis anterior muscle decrease to 25%~50% of percent maximal voluntary contraction (%MVC). The reasons of the difference between muscle strength and balance function were affected by gender and daily living style.