Background

This paper describes the design and test of an automated functional electrical stimulation (FES) system for poststroke rehabilitation training. The aim of automated FES is to synchronize electrically induced movements to assist residual movements of patients.

Methods

In the design of the FES system, an accelerometry module detected movement initiation and movement performed by post-stroke patients. The desired movement was displayed in visual game module. Synergy-based FES patterns were formulated using a normal pattern of muscle synergies from a healthy subject. Experiment 1 evaluated how different levels of trigger threshold or timing affected the variability of compound movements for forward reaching (FR) and lateral reaching (LR). Experiment 2 explored the effect of FES duration on compound movements.

Results

Synchronizing FES-assisted movements with residual voluntary movements produced more consistent compound movements. Matching the duration of synergy-based FES to that of patients could assist slower movements of patients with reduced RMS errors.

Conclusions

Evidence indicated that synchronization and matching duration with residual voluntary movements of patients could improve the consistency of FES assisted movements. Automated FES training can reduce the burden of therapists to monitor the training process, which may encourage patients to complete the training.

中文翻译：

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用于卒中后患者上肢功能恢复的自动化功能性电刺激训练系统。

背景

本文介绍了用于中风后康复训练的自动功能性电刺激 (FES) 系统的设计和测试。自动化 FES 的目的是同步电感应运动以帮助患者进行残余运动。

方法

在 FES 系统的设计中，加速度计模块检测中风后患者的运动开始和运动。所需的动作显示在视觉游戏模块中。使用来自健康受试者的正常肌肉协同模式制定基于协同作用的 FES 模式。实验 1 评估了不同级别的触发阈值或时间如何影响前伸 (FR) 和横向伸 (LR) 复合运动的可变性。实验 2 探讨了 FES 持续时间对复合运动的影响。

结果

将 FES 辅助运动与剩余的随意运动同步产生更一致的复合运动。将基于协同作用的 FES 的持续时间与患者的持续时间相匹配，可以帮助患者进行更慢的运动，并减少 RMS 误差。

结论

有证据表明，同步和匹配患者剩余随意运动的持续时间可以提高 FES 辅助运动的一致性。自动化 FES 培训可以减轻治疗师监控培训过程的负担，这可能会鼓励患者完成培训。