Mickael Begon

Mickael Begon
Université de Montréal | UdeM · Ecole de Kinésiologie et des Sciences de l'Activité Physique

PhD

About

304
Publications
94,706
Reads
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3,563
Citations
Additional affiliations
September 2001 - June 2002
Claude Bernard University Lyon 1
Position
  • Master's Student
September 2008 - present
Université de Montréal
Position
  • Professor (Associate)
October 2006 - July 2008
Loughborough University
Position
  • PostDoc Position

Publications

Publications (304)
Article
Full-text available
Purpose Long-term static stretching is commonly employed in elderly rehabilitation to enhance range of motion (RoM), which is crucial for fall prevention and improving gait parameters. A RoM increase can result from enhanced stretch tolerance and/or musculotendinous (MTU) adaptations. Previous studies have also shown muscle hypertrophy following lo...
Preprint
Full-text available
Background: Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries frequently lead to altered gait biomechanics and muscle activation patterns, increasing the risk of osteoarthritis. Knee braces are commonly used to address these issues although a lack of consensus remains regarding their clinical benefits. The recent emergence of 3D-printed braces, lighter and...
Presentation
The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of applying FES to the plantarflexor muscles, either individually or simultaneously on joint contributions compared to control conditions without stimulation at comparable walking speeds.
Preprint
Full-text available
Biomechanical biofeedback may enhance rehabilitation and provide clinicians with more objective task evaluation. These feedbacks often rely on expensive motion capture systems, which restricts their widespread use, leading to the development of computer vision-based methods. These methods are subject to large joint angle errors, considering the upp...
Article
The rotator cuff is prone to injury, remarkably so for manual wheelchair users. To understand its pathomechanisms, finite element models incorporating three-dimensional activated muscles are needed to predict soft tissue strains during given tasks. This study aimed to develop such a model to understand pathomechanisms associated with wheelchair pro...
Poster
Full-text available
INTRODUCTION: Stretching exercises are used in training and rehabilitation. Many studies have focused on measuring muscle mechanical stress during static stretching in controlled laboratory settings involving isokinetic dynamometers and slow-speed movements, notably without neuromuscular activation [1]. During stretching exercises performed under f...
Article
Full-text available
Background: To limit exposures to occupational heat stress, leading occupational health and safety organizations recommend work–rest regimens to prevent core temperature from exceeding 38°C or increasing by ≥1°C. This scoping review aims to map existing knowledge of the effects of work–rest regimens in hot environments and to propose recommendation...
Poster
Full-text available
Objectifs: Une revue récente a montré la capacité de la stimulation électrique fonctionnelle (SÉF) à améliorer la propulsion à la marche chez des personnes saines. Néanmoins les effets isolés et combinés de la stimulation du Soléaire et des Gastrocnémiens et les adaptations biomécaniques restent vagues. Question de recherche: La stimulation du Tr...
Article
Background: Foot type, especially cavus foot, is associated with foot and ankle soccer injuries, such as ankle sprains, ankle instability, and foot and ankle lateral injuries. The aim of this study was to identify risk factors for foot and ankle injuries among soccer players. Methods: Male and female soccer players, from beginners to semiprofession...
Article
Full-text available
The Lokomat provides task-oriented therapy for patients with gait disorders. This robotic technology drives the lower limbs in the sagittal plane. However, normative gait also involves motions in the coronal and transverse planes. This study aimed to compare the Lokomat with Treadmill gait through three-dimensional (3D)-joint kinematics and inter-j...
Article
Full-text available
Background: This systematic review aimed to provide a comprehensive overview of the effects of functional electrical stimulation (FES) on gait characteristics in healthy individuals. Methods: Six electronic databases (PubMed, Embase, Epistemonikos, PEDro, COCHRANE Library, and Scopus) were searched for studies evaluating the effects of FES on sp...
Chapter
This invited special session of IGS 2023 presents the works carried out at Laboratoire Scribens and some of its collaborating laboratories. It summarises the 17 talks presented in the colloquium #611 entitled « La lognormalité: une fenêtre ouverte sur le contrôle neuromoteur» (Lognormality: a window opened on neuromotor control), at the 2023 confer...
Article
Full-text available
During fatiguing piano tasks, muscle fatigue develops differently between expert pianists. Differences in neuromotor strategies employed could explain a slower rate of fatigue development. The objective was to compare muscle activation and kinematic variabilities between ShortDuration (i.e., pianists with less endurance) and LongDuration groups. Re...
Preprint
Full-text available
Background: This systematic review aimed to provide a comprehensive overview of the effects of Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) on gait characteristics in healthy individuals. Methods: Six electronic databases (PubMed, Embase, Epistemonikos, PEDro, COCHRANE Library, Scopus) were searched for studies evaluating the effects of FES on spatiotem...
Article
Aim. Predict the rate of perceived exertion (RPE) of pianists using inertial measurement units (IMUs)-based kinematic descriptors. Method. Fifty expert pianists played Digital (right-hand 16-tone sequence) and Chord (right-hand chord sequence) excerpts in a continuous loop for 12 min or until exhaustion. Partial least square regression was used...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
For non-convex trajectory optimization, it is rarely possible to know if the optimal so- lution found using gradient descent corresponds to the global optimum. While search- ing for the global minimum, it is possible to use a multi-start approach by randomly initializing the problem. The initial guesses generated with this method might be far from...
Article
Full-text available
Human-robot interaction based on real-time kinematics or electromyography (EMG) feedback improves rehabilitation using assist-as-needed strategies. Muscle forces are expected to provide even more comprehensive information than EMG to control these assistive rehabilitation devices. Measuring in vivo muscle force is challenging, leading to the develo...
Article
JMRI Audio slides: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LvwYVPjPp0 Background: The societal cost of shoulder disabilities in our aging society keeps rising. Providing biomarkers of early changes in the microstructure of rotator cuff (RC) muscles might improve surgical planning. Elevation angle (E1A) and pennation angle (PA) assessed by ultrasound cha...
Preprint
Full-text available
Predictive simulation of human motion could provide insight into optimal techniques. In repetitive or long-duration tasks, these simulations must predict fatigue-induced adaptation. However, most studies minimize cost function terms related to actuator activations, assuming it minimizes fatigue. An additional modeling layer is needed to consider th...
Article
Repetitive movements are considered a risk factor for developing practice-related musculoskeletal disorders. Intra-participant kinematic variability might help musicians reduce the risk of injury during repetitive tasks. No research has studied the effects of proximal motion (i.e., trunk and shoulder movement) on upper-limb movement variability in...
Article
Muscle fatigue is a primary risk factor in developing musculoskeletal disorders, which affect up to 93% musicians, especially violinists. Devices providing dynamic assistive support (DAS) to the violin-holding arm can lessen fatigue. The objective was to assess DAS effects on electromyography median frequency and joint kinematics during a fatiguing...
Article
Full-text available
Iliofemoral ligament strains have been assessed in a circumscribed portion, limiting the information regarding the strains in the proximal, mid and distal portions. The purpose of this study is to describe the longitudinal and transversal strain within the proximal, mid and distal portions of the lateral and medial bands of the iliofemoral ligament...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Predictive simulation of human motion using optimal control theory can provide insight into optimal techniques for a given task by simulating motion according to a minimized cost function. In biomechanics, minimizing actuation, such as torque, or muscle activities during sustained tasks, is often interpreted as minimizing fatigue. However, this cos...
Preprint
Full-text available
Repetitive movements are considered a risk factor for developing practice-related musculoskeletal disorders. Intra-participant kinematic variability might help musicians reduce the risk of injury during repetitive tasks. No research has studied the effects of proximal motion (i.e., trunk and shoulder movement) on upper-limb movement variability in...
Preprint
Full-text available
Direct multiple shooting (DMS) and direct collocation (DC) are two common transcription methods for solving optimal control problems (OCP) in biomechanics and robotics. They have rarely been compared in terms of solution and speed. Through five examples of predictive simulations solved using five transcription methods and 100 initial guesses in the...
Article
Background Flexion-abduction-external-rotation (FABER) test is one of the most used tests during the clinical assessment of the hip joint. The limited range of motions reached could be due to iliofemoral ligament tightness, but no study has assessed capsular ligament strain during this test. The main objective of this study is to report strains wi...
Preprint
Full-text available
During fatiguing piano tasks, muscle fatigue develops differently between expert pianists. Differences in neuromotor strategies employed could explain a slower rate of fatigue development. The objective was to compare muscle activation and kinematic variabilities between ShortDuration (i.e., pianists with less endurance) and LongDuration groups. Re...
Presentation
The biomechanics of twisting somersaults is not intuitive since it involves high-rate rotations about multiple axes simultaneously. Therefore, computer predictive simulation seems appropriate to help coaches innovate without injury risks. Optimal control was combined with joint torque-actuated skeletal models to generate optimal acrobatics. From th...
Article
Background Additive manufacturing enables to print patient-specific Foot Orthotics (FOs). In FOs featuring lattice structures, the variation of the cell’s dimensions provides a locally variable stiffness to meet the therapeutic needs of each patient. In an optimization problem, however, using explicit Finite Element (FE) simulation of lattice FOs w...
Article
Full-text available
Muscle fatigue is a risk factor for developing musculoskeletal disorders during low-load repetitive tasks. The objective of this study was to assess the effect of muscle fatigue on power spectrum changes of upper limb and trunk acceleration and angular velocity during a repetitive pointing task (RPT) and a work task. Twenty-four participants equipp...
Preprint
Full-text available
We proposed a 2D-mesh representation of the deltoid muscle to improve a realism of forces and moments predictions in a multibody shoulder model. Our 2D-mesh model was qualitatively compared to a commonly used via-point model during an arm elevation in the scapular plane and to previous in-vitro studies in terms of deltoid moment arms. The most nota...
Article
Comparison of bow-side kinematics in violinists is hindered by the scarcity of studies available. This makes meta-analysis impossible. This paper assesses the effect of music-based variables (bow stroke, tempo, and string played) on intra- and inter-participant variability in joint kinematics. The joint kinematics of nine high-level violinists were...
Article
Musculoskeletal simulations are useful in biomechanics to investigate the causes of movement disorders, estimate nonmeasurable physiological quantities, or study the optimality of human movement. We introduce Bioptim , an easy-to-use Python framework for biomechanical optimal control based on both direct multiple shooting and direct collocation, ha...
Article
When estimating full-body motion from experimental data, inverse kinematics followed by inverse dynamics does not guarantee dynamical consistency of the resulting motion, especially in movements where the trajectory depends heavily on the initial state, such as in free-fall. Our objective was to estimate dynamically consistent joint kinematics and...
Preprint
Full-text available
The Lokomat provides task-oriented therapy for patients with gait disorders. This robotic technology drives the lower limbs in the sagittal plane. However, unconstrained gait involves motions also in the coronal and transverse planes. This study aimed to compare the Lokomat with Treadmill gait through 3D-joint kinematics and inter-joint coordinatio...
Article
Background Moment arms are an indicator of the role of the muscles in joint actuation. An excursion method is often used to calculate them, even though it provides 1D results. As shoulder movement occurs in three dimensions (combination of flexion, abduction and axial rotation), moment arms should be given in 3D. Our objective was to assess the 3D...
Article
Background Foot orthotics (FOs) are frequently prescribed to provide comfortable walking for patients. Finite element (FE) simulation and 3D printing pave the way to analyse, optimize and fabricate functionally graded lattice FOs where the local stiffness can vary to meet the therapeutic needs of each individual patient. Explicit FE modelling of la...
Article
In acrobatic sports, twisting fast before piking allows athletes to enlarge their scoring potential. Since planning the arm and hip movements to twist fast is unintuitive, optimal control appears as a powerful and risk-free tool. To our knowledge, predictive simulations of human motion did not include self-collision avoidance constraints resulting...
Article
Full-text available
La paralysie cérébrale (PC) est la principale cause des troubles de la locomotion chez l'enfant [4]. Cette pathologie est caracté-risée, entre autres, par des troubles de tonus et de faiblesse musculaire qui affectent le contrôle moteur et ont un impact sur la marche. L'évaluation objective de la force et du tonus musculaire est donc primordiale af...
Article
Full-text available
Background The 3D printing technology allows to produce custom shapes and add functionalities to foot orthoses which offers better options for the treatment of flatfeet. This study aimed to assess the effect of 3D printed foot orthoses stiffness and/or a newly design posting on muscle activity, plantar pressures, and center of pressure displacement...
Article
Full-text available
Purpose The techniques used previously to assess intracapsular pressures did not allow the assessment of pressure variations in both compartments throughout the entire range of motion without puncturing the capsular tissue. Our hypothesis was that the intra-capsular pressure would be different in the lateral and acetabular compartment depending on...
Article
This paper presents a verification and validation analysis of Finite Element (FE) models predicting the mechanical response of linearly elastic honeycomb structures. We have studied three main models, namely: analytical models based on beam theories, explicit FE models where the cell geometry is explicitly meshed with 3D elements, and numerical hom...
Article
Background The Kinematic Theory and its Sigma–Lognormal model have been used extensively in motor control analyses. It has recently shown promise in its ability to detect neuromuscular fatigue in the shoulder. The use of an ergonomic setup composed of a vertically oriented tablet offers a good demonstration for use in future clinical applications....
Article
Full-text available
Little is known about how bow mechanical characteristics objectively and quantitatively influence violinists' preferences and performance. Hypothesizing that the bow shape (i.e., camber) and mass distribution modifications would alter both violinists' appreciations of a bow and objective assessments of their performance, we recruited 10 professiona...
Article
Background Flexion-Abduction-External-Rotation and Flexion-Adduction-Internal-Rotation tests are used to reproduce pain at the hip during clinical assessment. As pain can be elicited by high intracapsular pressure, no information has been provided regarding intracapsular pressure during these pain provocative tests. Methods Eight hip joints from fo...
Article
Background Foot orthoses (FOs) are one of the most common interventions to restore normal foot mechanics in flatfoot individuals. New technologies have made it possible to deliver customized FOs with complex designs for potentially better functionalities. However, translating the individuals’ biomechanical needs into the design of customized FOs is...
Article
The aims of this study were to i) evaluate proximal-to-distal sequencing (PDS) in pianists’ attack and release movements during pressed-staccato keystrokes, and ii) investigate if trunk motion facilitates PDS of upper-limb movements. Nine expert pianists performed a series of loud pressed-staccato keystrokes. Kinematic data was recorded with a 3 D...
Article
Full-text available
Objective Assessing violinists’ motor and musical performance adaptations to dynamic assistive support (DAS) provided by a passive device, using a force-field adaptation paradigm. Background Up to 93% of instrumentalists are affected by musculoskeletal injuries and particularly violinists. The repetitive nature of their work may lead to muscle fat...
Article
Full-text available
This study aimed to investigate the effects of knee flexion during the preparation phase of a serve on the tennis serve performance, using inertial sensors. Thirty-two junior tennis players were divided into two groups based on their maximum knee flexion during the preparation phase of serve: Smaller (SKF) and Greater (GKF) Knee Flexion. Their rack...
Article
Muscle fatigue is a risk factor for developing shoulder musculoskeletal disorders. The aim of this study was to identify shoulder electromyographic indicators that are most indicative of muscle fatigue during a laboratory simulated manual handling task. Thirty-two participants were equipped with electromyographic electrodes on 10 shoulder muscles a...
Article
The mobility of the healthy shoulder depends on complex interactions between the muscles spanning its glenohumeral joint. These interactions ensure the stability of this joint. While previous studies emphasized the complexity of the glenohumeral stability, it is still not clear how the kinematics and muscles interact and adapt to ensure a healthy f...
Article
Non-invasive methods still need to better estimate scapular kinematics because of soft tissue artifact issue. This study aimed to develop and assess new procedures to estimate scapular kinematics by combining closed kinematic chain optimization and double calibration. Sixteen healthy volunteers performed static postures mimicking analytical and dai...
Article
Full-text available
Looking for new arm strategies for better twisting performances during a backward somersault is of interest for the acrobatic sports community while being a complex mechanical problem, due to the non-linearity of the dynamics involved. As the pursued solutions are not intuitive, computer simulation is a relevant tool to explore a wider variety of t...
Presentation
Présentation orale pour la 21ème réunion biennale du congrès de la Société Canadienne de Biomécanique Oral presentation for the 21st Biennial Meeting of the Canadian Society for Biomechanics