title: Translating Research on Myoelectric Control into Clinics-Are the Performance Assessment Methods Adequate?
abstract: Missing an upper limb dramatically impairs daily-life activities. Efforts in overcoming the issues arising from this disability have been made in both academia and industry, although their clinical outcome is still limited. Translation of prosthetic research into clinics has been challenging because of the difficulties in meeting the necessary requirements of the market. In this perspective article, we suggest that one relevant factor determining the relatively small clinical impact of myocontrol algorithms for upper limb prostheses is the limit of commonly used laboratory performance metrics. The laboratory conditions, in which the majority of the solutions are being evaluated, fail to sufficiently replicate real-life challenges. We qualitatively support this argument with representative data from seven transradial amputees. Their ability to control a myoelectric prosthesis was tested by measuring the accuracy of offline EMG signal classification, as a typical laboratory performance metrics, as well as by clinical scores when performing standard tests of daily living. Despite all subjects reaching relatively high classification accuracy offline, their clinical scores varied greatly and were not strongly predicted by classification accuracy. We therefore support the suggestion to test myocontrol systems using clinical tests on amputees, fully fitted with sockets and prostheses highly resembling the systems they would use in daily living, as evaluation benchmark. Agreement on this level of testing for systems developed in research laboratories would facilitate clinically relevant progresses in this field.
authors.affiliation: Clinic for Trauma Surgery, Orthopaedic Surgery and Plastic Surgery, Research Department for Neurorehabilitation Systems, University Medical Centre GöttingenGoettingen, Germany; Department of Bioengineering, Imperial College LondonLondon, UK.
authors.forename: Ivan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Vujaklija
authors.affiliation: Christian Doppler Laboratory for Restoration of Extremity Function, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna Austria.
authors.forename: Aidan D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Roche
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine, Rehabilitation and Occupational Medicine, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna Austria.
authors.forename: Timothy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hasenoehrl
authors.affiliation: Christian Doppler Laboratory for Restoration of Extremity Function, Medical University of Vienna, ViennaAustria; Master Degree Program "Health Assisting Engineering", University of Applied Sciences FH Campus Wien, ViennaAustria.
authors.forename: Agnes
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sturma
authors.affiliation: Otto Bock Healthcare Products GmbH, Vienna Austria.
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Amsuess
authors.affiliation: Department of Bioengineering, Imperial College London London, UK.
authors.forename: Dario
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Farina
authors.affiliation: Christian Doppler Laboratory for Restoration of Extremity Function, Medical University of Vienna, ViennaAustria; Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Department of Surgery, Medical University of Vienna, ViennaAustria.
authors.forename: Oskar C
authors.initials: OC
authors.lastname: Aszmann
keywords: SHAP; box and blocks; myoelectric control; myoelectric prosthesis; prosthetic assessment