Kinematics, dynamics, and muscle-synergy analysis of single-leg Yoga postures

This paper compares ten regular Yoga practitioners with ten nonpractitioners while performing two single-leg support Yoga postures: Vrksasana (tree posture) and Natarajasana (dancer posture). Thirty-three reflective markers’ trajectories, ground-reaction forces, and EMGs from eleven muscles were reg...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Multibody system dynamics 2023-06, Vol.58 (2), p.137-155
Main Authors: Menegaldo, Luciano Luporini, Pinto, Dafne Pires, Clemente de Oliveira, Henrique Lelis, Moreira, Pedro Vieira Sarmet
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Automotive Engineering
Center of pressure
Control
Coordination
Dynamical Systems
Electrical Engineering
Engineering
Inverse kinematics
Kinematics
Mechanical Engineering
Multibody systems
Muscles
Optimization
Posture
Trajectory control
Vibration
Yoga
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Summary:This paper compares ten regular Yoga practitioners with ten nonpractitioners while performing two single-leg support Yoga postures: Vrksasana (tree posture) and Natarajasana (dancer posture). Thirty-three reflective markers’ trajectories, ground-reaction forces, and EMGs from eleven muscles were registered. Inverse kinematics and dynamics analyses were performed using an OpenSim multibody model. Muscle synergies were extracted from the EMG signals using nonnegative matrix factorization. The required number of synergies to reconstruct the original signal was estimated using a variability-threshold criterion. An additional analysis was performed using the synergy-coordination-index estimation from a minimum global set of eight synergies selected using a similarity index. The Yoga group adopted a more abducted hip at the support leg associated with a higher lumbar bending in the Vrksasana posture. They also used fewer muscle synergies than controls, which correlated positively with the center of pressure rambling trajectory variability, suggesting decreased control complexity. For the Natarajasana, Yoga practitioners showed higher average hip-flexion angle and hip-flexion torque but no differences in synergy parameters. When both groups were combined, the synergy coordination index for Natarajasana was smaller than for Vrksasana, indicating that Natarajasana requires a larger synergy space and is a more challenging task.
ISSN:1384-5640
1573-272X
DOI:10.1007/s11044-023-09887-8