Monitoring muscle fatigue using novel wireless sensors

(4 year MRes + PhD studentship)

EARLY APPLICATIONS ARE ADVISED; applications will be considered as they are received, until the position is filled.

This project is on offer in the Imperial College EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Neurotechnology for Life and Health. See https://www.findaphd.com/search/PhDDetails.aspx?CAID=2386&LID=112 for all projects available.

Supervisors: Paul Strutton (Surgery & Cancer), Pantelis Georgiou (Electrical & Electronic Engineering)

Low back pain (LBP) is a huge problem, with 4 out of 5 people suffering from it at some point in their lives. It often resolves without treatment, but for many people, it persists and becomes chronic. Back pain alone accounts for almost 20% of the UK’s health expenditure and it is a major cause of work absence and disability.

There is evidence that there are changes in the way the muscles of the trunk are controlled in people with chronic LBP. These muscles have been shown, through recording of their electromyographic (EMG) activity, to be more easily fatigable and have poorer endurance. Fatigued muscles are more prone to injury and injuries tend to occur towards the end of prolonged periods of use. Almost all activities of daily living (e.g. sitting, walking, bending, reaching and breathing) involve trunk muscles and changes in their function are seen during the above activities in people with LBP. Monitoring of muscle activity and fatigue over prolonged periods of time is both challenging and impractical in the laboratory setting and there is an obvious need for portable devices to achieve this which enable use in a free living environment. The aim of this project is to advance wearable sensing technology using integrated microelectronics to allow for the first time the monitoring back muscle activity through surface EMG (sEMG) in addition to performing on-node computation to extract parameters of muscle fatigue in real time during activities of daily living outside of the laboratory setting.

The CDT programme is not a standard PhD programme. Throughout the 4 years, there is considerable emphasis upon multidisciplinary and transferable skills, through centre activities beyond the individual research project. The programme cannot be taken without the first (MRes Neurotechnology) year, as it is an integral part of the overall programme.

Applicants should have (or be expecting) a first or upper second class degree (or non-UK equivalent) in an engineering or physical science subject. Students with a biological and medical sciences background may be considered, but candidates must have sufficient quantitative skills to thrive in the programme. You should be looking for a challenging, multi-disciplinary PhD at the interface of neuroscience and engineering.

Applications will be considered as received and will be accepted until the position is filled. Potential candidates are therefore urged to contact the supervisors, attaching a CV, as soon as possible.