Biceps fatigue estimation with an E-textile headband

Muscle fatigue monitoring is important for injury prevention in sports. Previous studies have shown that wearable electromyography (EMG) sensors on limb muscles can be used to monitor the level of muscle fatigue continuously. However, there are two main problems in using these sensors for sports. One is that users wearing them create motion artifacts that affect the sensor data. The other is that the sensors disturb limb motion. To address these problems, we propose a method for estimating biceps fatigue with an e-textile headband. There is a strong correlation between frowning and jaw clenching muscle activity and the physical efforts made when exercising. Our method uses both of EMG signals of the temporal muscles and motion artifacts. The former indicate jaw clenching and the latter indicate frowning. Experimental results show that the root mean square values calculated from the headband sensor values significantly increased when biceps were fatigued.