Vorwort

Surface EMG for Non-Invasive Assessment of Muscles (SENIAM) is one of the concerted actions funded by the European Commission (BIOMED II-Program). The aim of these concerted actions is to enhance international co-operation in a given field of interest. A mere fact that the EC has decided to fund this concerted action on Surface ElectroMyoGraphy (SEMG), should be regarded as a real acknowledgement of the maturity and potential benefits of SEMG. This deliverable contains the proceedings of the third general SENIAM workshop, which took place in Aachen at May 15 and 16, 1998. At the time of this workshop SENIAM has almost completed its second year. Looking back it is becoming very clear that SENIAM has been developed into a powerful means to enable scientists and clinicians working with SEMG to exchange knowledge and experience on basic and applied aspects of SEMG. In addition consensus is being created with respect to the most important aspects that determine the methodology of SEMG recording and signal analysis. This will facilitate the exchange of knowledge and experience, necessary to create a European common body of knowledge. Within these lines the Aachen workshop can be considered as a very successful one. Special attention was given to the parameters and signal processing methods used in the specific application areas. The workshop was focused on the state of the art of signal processing methods which are used in different applications of surface electromyography. Contributions from the fields of Orthopaedics, Rehabilitation, Sports, Neurology and Ergonomics gave an overview of the variety and the differences of the signal processing methods, parameter extraction techniques and parameters used in the different fields. (gekürzt und geändert)