A group of researchers from Assistant Professor Yuichi Nishikawa, Professor Toshihiko Komatsuzaki, and Associate Professor Takanori Chihara of the Faculty of Frontier Engineering, Institute of Science and Engineering, Professor Shinobu Tanaka of the Faculty of Transdisciplinary Sciences, Institute of Philosophy in Interdisciplinary Sciences and Professor Jiro Sakamoto of the Advanced Manufacturing Technology Institute at Kanazawa University, Chief Researcher Kenji Kawano, Chief Staff Hidetaka Nagayasu, and Assistant Manager Kyoko Mori of Toyota Boshoku Corporation,? Professor Kohei Watanabe of Chukyo University,? Associate Professor Noriaki Maeda of Hiroshima University, Professor Ale? Holobar of the University of Maribor, Slovenia and Professor Allison Hyngstrom of Marquette University, USA, successfully developed a seat that uses vibration to activate motoneurons, which transmit commands from the brain to the muscles, while the user is seated.
Aging is known to cause atrophy of the muscles in our bodies and a decrease in activity, and countermeasures need to be established to extend healthy life expectancy. Generally, it is recommended to maintain and improve muscle strength through muscle-strengthening training, but this is a heavy burden on the elderly, and it is important to devise methods and develop devices that can "activate physical functions" in a simple and passive manner from the perspective of sustainability.
The purpose of this study was to develop a seat that can activate the neural activity of the quadriceps muscle (one of the muscles that make up the thigh), which is important in preventing falls and other problems while sitting down. The quadriceps muscle is one of the most common muscles that atrophy with age. The research team jointly stimulated the muscles on the back side of the thigh (biceps femoris) with a vibration stimulation device of a certain frequency and amplitude to activate the muscle activity on the front side of the thigh (quadriceps femoris). As a result, they found that adding vibration stimulation to the biceps femoris muscle on the back side of the thigh, rather than the quadriceps muscle, immediately activated the muscle activity of the quadriceps muscle, and that the greater the change in neural activity, the greater the increase in muscle strength.
These findings can be applied to wheelchair seats, automobile and aircraft seats, and office chairs in the future, and are expected to contribute as a new tool for preventing frailty.
This research was published online in the European Journal of Applied Physiology on August 7, 2024 at 14:00 (London time).
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Figure 1: (A) developed seat, (B) seated image, (C) developed the vibration device, (D) the vibration device was applied to the biceps femoris muscle tendon.
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Click here to see the press release【Japanese only】
Journal：European Journal of Applied Physiology
Researcher's Information：?Yuichi Nishikawa
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※ This report?was picked up by?the English website ?"Science Japan"? of Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), in its Latest News (published on September 25, 2024)?.
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