Generation of movement patterns for stroke patients by means of controlled electrical stimulation
Research report (imported) 2008 - Max Planck Institute for Dynamics of Complex Technical Systems
Summary
Rehabilitation after stroke requires repetitive exercising of impaired movements to relearn lost motor functions. Functional electrical stimulation (FES) represents one possibility to generate movements in the presence of paresis. Using this method, paretic muscles are activated. This provides efficient stimuli for the central nervous system to enhance motoric facilitation. However, precise movements can only be realized by electrical stimulation if the latter is embedded into a feedback control loop, where the stimulation intensity is permanently adapted depending on the continuously measured state of the movement.