## 3 Results
### Electromyographic Data Analysis Results
#### 3.2.3 Temporal Analysis of Muscular Activation  
Table 4 shows the results for the two temporal analyses conducted on muscular activation. For healthy participants, muscular activation showed significant differences due to test condition in wrist flexion and ulnar deviation (sensor 1), wrist flexion and radial deviation (sensor 2), thumb movement (sensor 4), and wrist extension and ulnar deviation (sensor 7). Time influenced all sensors (there is a temporal pattern), except for thumb movement (sensor 4). This time effect was significantly influenced by whether the test is performed in real or virtual, meaning that there is a distinct temporal pattern depending on test condition, except for wrist flexion and ulnar deviation (sensor 2) and finger extension (sensor 5). For patients, the test condition affected only wrist flexion and ulnar deviation (sensor 2) and digit flexion, and as for kinematic synergies, no temporal patterns were observed in muscular activation (time had no effect), unlike in healthy participants, likely due to pathology or limited sample size. Figure 6: (**a**) Box-and-whiskers plots of the two cycle-averaged sEMG parameters based on signal waveform (_NZC_, _EWL_) for each of the seven sensors for healthy (**left**) and patients (**right**) groups. (**b**) Box-and-whiskers plots of the same parameters for real (**left**) and virtual (**right**) BBT. Sensor locations approximately corresponded to (1) wrist flexion and ulnar deviation, (2) wrist flexion and radial deviation, (3) digit flexion, (4) thumb extension and abduction/adduction, (5) finger extension, (6) wrist extension and ulnar deviation, and (7) wrist extension and radial deviation [22]. Significant differences (\(p<0.05\)) are indicated by an asterisk (*) following the corresponding variable name. In RBBT, significant differences due to health condition were found only for finger extension (sensor 5) and for wrist extension and ulnar deviation (sensor 7). No temporal pattern was identified for any muscular activation (time had no effect on them), except for wrist extension and ulnar deviation (sensor 7), with this time effect significantly influenced by health condition. In VBBT, health condition differences were noted only in wrist flexion and ulnar deviation (sensor 2) and digit flexion (sensor 3). A temporal pattern was identified for muscular activation in wrist flexion and ulnar deviation (sensor 2), digit flexion (sensor 3), thumb movement (sensor 4), and wrist extension and ulnar deviation (sensor 7), with this time effect influenced by health condition. Figures 8 and 9 illustrate the temporal evolution (mean and SD) of muscular activation, alongside post-hoc results for differences at each frame between groups for the two temporal analyses performed. The same four phases as in kinematics are considered. For healthy participants, the temporal evolutions of the muscle activation shown in Figure 8 align with a muscular activation pattern for each test condition (RBBT and VBBT), except for thumb movement (sensor 4), as reported in Table 4. For patients, the muscular activation evolution shown in Figure 8 does not correspond to any specific temporal pattern. However, the figure shows that the temporal evolutions of the patients differ from those of the healthy individuals not only in the waveform, but also in their smoothness with signals with peaks, specially for the VBBT. Figure 7: (**a**) Box-and-whiskers plots of the two cycle-averaged muscular activation parameters (Median, Range) for the seven sensors for healthy (**left**) and patient (**right**) groups. (**b**) Plots of same parameters for real (**left**) and virtual (**right**) BBT. Significant differences (\(p<0.05\)) are marked with an asterisk * after the name of the variable. Figure 8: Mean and standard deviation of muscular amplitude over time for each health condition group. To indicate statistical differences at each frame, a small green asterisk (*) is shown in the upper area of the figure in accordance with the legend.