Physical and mathematical model of a three-dimensional double physical pendulum being coupled by two universal joints is studied. Upper joint of this pendulum is periodically rotated in its axial direction. Damping forces and torques inside joints as well as an influence of the gravitational field and damping forces and torques inside joints are taken into account during derivation of the ODEs of this mechanical system. The work consists of mathematical modelling, computer simulation and parts of the experimental analysis to confirm the numerical simulations. The experimental setup realizes kinetic excitation by an non-constant periodic torque of servomotor, controlled by the computer. Four incremental encoders are mounted on pendulum joints, so the angles of rotation of the pendulum are measured in real-time and analysed by an originally developed acquisition software. Future plans of the mathematical and experimental model are also discussed. Presented exemplary results showed a number of non-linear effects, including chaos, quasi-periodic and periodic dynamics.

(1) Background: This study presents a new method for the motion quantitative analysis of Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients (DMD) performing functional tasks in clinical conditions. (2) Methods: An experimental study was designed to define how different levels of external mass (light and heavy) influence the performance of the upper limbs of a tested DMD and reference subject (RS) during horizontal movements (level of the waist) under natural conditions (NC) and passive manipulator conditions (PMC); the kinematic data and muscle activity of four chosen superficial muscles (EMG) were recorded. (3) Results: A piecewise linear multi-regression analysis revealed high statistically significant results (R² ≥ 0.75) between the tested muscle activities and kinematic data in the tested DMD patient and RS. These results were used to define whether the neural control of the four tested muscles (processed EMG data) was correlated more with the displacement of the wrist joint or the center of mass of the tested upper limb while performing functional tests with a given external weight in a horizontal plane under NC or PMC. (4) Conclusions: The proposed approach can be used to estimate the contributions of the tested muscles to patients’ motion performance and define whether this contribution is correlated with the kinematics or dynamics of the tested arm.

(1) Background: The aim of this study is to present the results of experiments in which surface electromyography (sEMG) and thermal imaging were used to assess muscle activation during gait and to verify the hypothesis that there is a relationship in the case of low fatigue level between sEMGmeasured muscle activation, assessed in the frequency domain, and thermal factors calculated as minimum, maximum, kurtosis, mean, median and mode from the area of interest. (2) Methods: Comparison of activity calculated from the recorded sEMG data for rectus femoris, biceps femoris, tibialis anterior and gastrocnemius medialis with thermal data obtained from the infrared vision. (3) Results: Data of fourteen healthy volunteers obtained during 10 minutes of treadmill gait are presented and analyzed. The analysis revealed statistically significant: linear correlations for rectus femoris (five moderate relationships) and gastrocnemius medialis (one good relationship); moderate nonlinear correlations for all examined muscles. Also, a detailed protocol for precise, repeatable thermal examination is presented. (4) Conclusions: Estimated moderate linear and non-linear correlations between thermal and electromyographic parameters are found for low level of muscle fatigue, which suggests that the presented method is useful in the analysis of muscle activation with the use of a thermal imaging as a complement to sEMG.