Patient-specific functional electrical stimulation strategy based on muscle synergy and walking posture analysis for gait rehabilitation of stroke patients

Abstract

Objective To evaluate a novel multi-channel functional electrical stimulation (FES) rehabilitation method based on the evaluation of patient-specific walking dysfunction. Methods This study investigated a novel multi-channel FES-based rehabilitation method that analysed the patient’s muscle synergy and walking posture. A patient-specific FES profile was produced in the pre-evaluation stage by comparing the muscle synergy and walking posture of the patient with those of healthy control subjects. During the rehabilitation phase, this profile was used to determine an appropriate FES pulse width and amplitude for stimulating the patient’s muscles as they walked across a flat surface. Results Two stroke patients with hemiplegic symptoms participated in a clinical evaluation of the proposed method involving a 4-week course of rehabilitation. An evaluation of the rehabilitation results based on a comparison of the pre- and post-rehabilitation muscle synergy and walking posture revealed that the rehabilitation enhanced the muscle synergy similarity between the patients and healthy control subjects and their quantitative walking performance, as measured by a 10-m walk test and walking speed, by up to 23.38% and 30.00%, respectively. Conclusion These results indicated that the proposed rehabilitation method improved walking ability by improving muscle coordination and adequately supporting weakened muscles in stroke patients.

Unbiased estimation of the population-level motor module

“…Characterizing motor modules at the population level is a crucial step towards translating experimental findings into clinical applications. For example, evaluation of intervention effects on motor function before and after intervention [38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49] , and large cross-sectional clinical studies 38,50,51 need to capture effects as a population. The present study is the first to investigate the motor module estimation algorithm from a population-level perspective.…”

Using Logistic Multivariate Analysis to Explore the Effects of Nursing and Psychological Factors on Motor and Cognitive Rehabilitation in Patients with Stroke: Based on a Retrospective Case-Control Study

“…In 2008, the third survey of the cause of death of residents in China indicated that cerebrovascular disease (mainly stroke) became the leading cause of death in the country. erefore, the epidemiological situation of stroke in China is grim, and the responsibility for effective prevention and treatment of stroke is urgent and significant [21]. Rehabilitation training is the most effective way to enhance poststroke dysfunction in the treatment and rehabilitation of stroke.…”

Improvement in lower extremity hemiplegia in a post-operative brain tumor patient by applying an integrated volitional control electrical stimulator

“…In accordance with the modular organization of motor control, muscle synergy has been proposed as a physiological model for flexible movement with minimal neural processing of motor output 12 , 13 ) . Recent neurophysiological studies have recommended the analysis of muscle synergies to assess the individual impairment of the patient, to design personalized rehabilitation, and to evaluate the efficacy 14 , 15 , 16 ) . A multi-channel FES-based personalized treatment for post-stroke patients increased the number of muscle synergies and improved muscle coordination in gait 15 ) .…”

“…A multi-channel FES-based personalized treatment for post-stroke patients increased the number of muscle synergies and improved muscle coordination in gait 15 ) . The FES-based walking rehabilitation alleviated the problems of muscle coordination and the weakness of specific muscles in stroke patients 16 ) . We calculated and evaluated tVAF 1 values, and these values showed lower after treatment in normal and affected sides.…”