246 results about "Functional electrical stimulation" patented technology

A universal closed-loop functional electrical stimulation system comprising at least one electrode assembly adapted to deliver an electrical stimulation signal to the central nervous system, peripheral nervous system, or muscles of a user, a sensor system adapted to detect a mechanical response to a muscle stimulation signal of at least one muscle associated with a muscle group stimulated through the nervous system or proximate to the electrode assembly. An electrical stimulation device operably coupled to at least one electrode assembly and the sensor system, the electrical stimulation device including a control system to automatically receive feedback from at least one characteristic of the muscle from the detected muscle response and adjust at least one parameter of the muscle stimulation signal in real-time and in response thereto and a programmed microprocessor for controlling said electrical stimulation and receiving input from said sensor system.

Described are implantable devices and methods for treating various disorders of the pelvic floor by means of electrical stimulation of the pudendal or other nerves, and optional means for delivering drugs in association therewith. A method of precisely positioning and implanting a medical electrical lead so as to provide optimal stimulation of the pudendal nerve or a portion thereof is also described. Placement of a stimulation lead next to or on the pudendal nerve may be performed using conventional prior art techniques through gross anatomical positioning, but usually does not result in truly optimal lead placement. One method of the present invention utilizes neurophysiological monitoring to assess the evoked responses of the pudendal nerve, and thereby provide a method for determining the optimal stimulation site. Additionally, one or more electrical stimulation signals are applied, and optionally one or more drugs are infused, injected or otherwise administered, to appropriate portions of a patient's pelvic floor and pudendal nerve or portions thereof in an amount and manner effective to treat a number of disorders, including, but not limited to, urinary and/or fecal voiding dysfunctions such as constipation, incontinence disorders such as urge frequency and urinary retention disorders, sexual dysfunctions such as orgasmic and erectile dysfunction, pelvic pain, prostatitis, prostatalgia and prostatodynia.

An electrical stimulation device for a body part of a person comprises an orthotic with sensor and electrodes and a controller. The controller receives a sensor signal, compares the sensor signal to a threshold value and generates an electrical output from the electrodes if the sensor signal exceeds the threshold value. A docking station facilitates connection of the electrodes and sensors to a computer. The docking station including a first processor for measuring values of the sensor signal and the electrical outputs and a second processor for generating electrical outputs on the electrodes.

In one aspect the present disclosure provides a method of rehabilitating a person who has suffered central nervous system damage including the steps of providing exercise equipment capable of exercising a person's limbs, providing functional electrical stimulation to the person's limbs to be exercised in order to operate the exercise equipment, increasing the level of functional electrical stimulation; decreasing a resistance provided by the exercise equipment or providing assistance to maintain an acceptable speed of the exercise equipment as the person's muscles tire; finally completely removing functional electrical stimulation to the person's limbs and providing assistance to maintain an acceptable speed of the exercise equipment; and continuing passive exercise of the person's limbs for a period of time greater than two minutes. Also provided are apparatuses to carry out the method.

A non-invasive device for assisting the treatment of any kind of musculoskeletal disorder, including but not exclusive of those of joint, limb, and spine disorders, includes a brace, sleeve, flexible pad, or any combination of the three, a plurality of electrodes disposed thereon, wherein the plurality of electrodes transmit at least three electrophysical modalities, and a stimulation control unit having interactive software to establish a controlled sequence of transmission of the at least three electrophysical modalities and communicating the controlled sequence to the electrodes. The at least three electrophysical modalities are chosen from a group consisting of neuromodulating functional electrical stimulation, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, pulsed electromagnetic field stimulation, and heat therapy stimulation. The stimulation control unit also provides feedback data using the electrodes for monitoring and integration with the interactive software to analyze and assess biomechanical, neuromuscular, and neurological responses to the device.

The invention provides rehabilitation training system and method combined with functional electric stimulation and a robot. The system comprises a functional electric stimulation part, a robot part and a control unit which is respectively connected with the functional electric stimulation part and the robot part, wherein the control unit is used for receiving bioelectric signals and controlling the functional electric stimulation part and the robot part at real time according to the mode of adjustable auxiliary proportion of the functional electric stimulation part and the robot part or the mode of adjustable tracking error so that the functional electric stimulation part can stimulate the corresponding muscle groups of a joint of a patient and the robot part can provide a joint auxiliary torque for the patient. The invention can be applied to progressive interactive rehabilitation of elbow joints, wrist joints, knee joints, ankle joints and shoulder joints and can help patients carry out active rehabilitation training in an improved movement space, thereby greatly accelerating the recovery of movement function of joints of affected sides.

A modality of electrical twitch obtaining intramuscular stimulation pain relief therapy utilizes a surface probe with a conductive tip to apply surface electrical stimulation of relatively high voltage locally and focally to muscle motor points and regions of adjacent motor end plate zones. The surface-applied electrical stimulation through intact skin readily facilitates the elicitation of forceful twitch responses from muscle fibers associated with the stimulated motor points and motor end plate zones, without requiring needle penetration into the patient's flesh. Rapid movement between multiple treatment sites is possible allowing treatment of a larger number of muscle motor point areas in afflicted muscles and more muscles to be treated in a single treatment session. The therapeutic effect of the twitches increases with the force and number of the twitches. In addition, since physical insertion of the needle electrode is totally unnecessary, patients experience little to no pain during and after the procedure, and the risk of repetitive stress injury to the therapist is reduced. Additionally, significantly less skill is required to effectively elicit pain relieving twitch responses, thus facilitating training of medical and para-medical personnel to perform the procedure.

A method and system which provides wireless, noninvasive electrical stimulation to different muscle groups to allow the user to conduct physical activities, such as walking, by stimulating various muscle groups in the body at the correct times of activation or by stimulating muscle groups in a simulation mode when standing, sitting or lying down, whereby walking is not required to stimulate the various muscle groups. The system provides a small portable wearable system which utilizes available software, including Bluetooth technology, to provide electrical nerve stimulating pulses with low current, minimal phase charge which is controlled remotely and induce desired muscle contraction with increased comfort for the user. The present method and system applies electrical stimulation with accurate timing, based on a three-dimensional motion sensor, as a trigger to initiate stimulation and which is adapted to turn itself on and off when not walking.

The invention discloses a sitting and lying type lower limb rehabilitation robot, which can respectively carry out a passive training, an assisted training or an active training according to the damage degree or the rehabilitation stage of a patient. The robot comprises a seat, a mechanical arm, a main industrial control box, a man-machine interaction interface, an electrical stimulation handheld switch, an electrical stimulation electrode plate, an electromyographic signal acquisition electrode plate, a functional electrical stimulation instrument and an electromyographic signal acquisition industrial control box. During the passive training, the lower limb of the patient is trained according to a set movement locus; during the assisted training, the main muscle group of the lower limb of the patient is applied with electrical stimulation pulse; according to the movement locus of a tail end, the electrical stimulation pulse is subjected to sequential control to finish the assisted training; during the active training, the electromyographic signal of the corresponding muscle of the patient is collected; and according to different control algorithms, the patient drives robot to realize the active training. According to the sitting and lying type lower limb rehabilitation robot disclosed by the invention, the traditional physical therapy, occupational therapy and kinesitherapy are organically combined, so that the patient rehabilitation effect can be effectively improved, and the desire of the patient to actively participate is enhanced.

A functional electrical stimulation step and stand system comprising two footplates (left and right) connected to a primary drive motor that cause the footplates to move in a reciprocal motion. The footplates are further connected to corresponding servos, which allow for control of the movement of the footplate with respect to an axis. system comprises an electrical stimulation control unit. The stimulation step and stand system further comprises a control unit that has electrical stimulation leads connected to electrodes that deliver an electrical impulse to a patient's muscles. In a further embodiment, the control unit has one or more wireless stimulators.

Apparatus for tremor reduction including a sensor for sensing muscle movements, a stimulation/recording electrode unit for providing Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) to a muscle, the stimulation/recording electrode unit including a filter for filtering around a tremor frequency to ignore slow movements and high frequency noise associated with the muscle movements that were sensed, and a processor for generating a set of relationships of muscle response to the FES, called FES-muscle-response relationships, and for selecting a new FES for application to the muscle in accordance with acquired knowledge of the FES-muscle-response relationships. An apparatus and a helmet for effecting proper alignment and application of a stimulation/recording electrode to a patient's arm and neck region, respectively, are also described.

The invention discloses a mirror movement neuromodulation system, which comprises a plurality of lead biological signal amplifiers, a microcomputer controller, a plurality of lead functional electric stimulators and a micro-current direct-current constant-current stimulator. The principle that functional electric stimulation and transcranial direct-current electric stimulation techniques and mirror movement neurons participate in movement control is applied comprehensively, the biological signal amplifiers, the functional electric stimulators for simulating integrated electromyography envelope signal control, and the micro-current direct-current constant-current stimulator are integrated through the microcomputer controller, myoelectric activity envelope signals are generated by processing myoelectric signals of a plurality of muscle groups which move functionally by using an uninjured side limb, and the plurality of functional electric stimulators are modulated and controlled, so that the same mirror action is generated by the plurality of muscle groups of an injured limb on an opposite side according to uninjured side myoelectric information, brain functional regulation and reconstruction are realized, the plasticity of neuronal synapsis and the recovery of neurological functions are facilitated, and the treatment effect of sports rehabilitation is achieved.

A system and apparatus for enabling independent, highly reliable and accurate self-application of an anti-tremor means by a disabled patient, without requirement for application fixtures, wherein anti-tremor means comprises a single unit, self adhesive stimulation and recording electrode with an integrated supply of energy and a control unit, further comprising an alignment, and application means for applying said anti-tremor means configured to enable independently self application by a severely handicapped patient, wherein system and method for tremor reduction is by means of closed-loop functional electrical stimulation, including a sensor for sensing muscle movements, and Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) apparatus for providing FES to a muscle, the FES apparatus being in communication with the sensor via a band pass filter for filtering around a tremor frequency to ignore slow movements and high frequency noise.

An electrical stimulation system and method for generating a stimulation signal for at least two electrodes coupled to a body part in a functional electrical stimulation system. One example embodiment includes a controller unit operable for receiving stimulation parameters and a trigger signal, and in response to receiving the trigger signal, outputting control signals based on the stimulation parameters. A voltage conversion module coupled to the unit receives the control signals and converts a supply voltage based on the received control signals. A switch receives the converted supply voltage at a first terminal and outputs a simulation signal at a second terminal. Outputting of the converted supply voltage at the second terminal by the switch is controlled by a driver module based on the received control signals.

Disclosed herein is a functional electrical stimulation (FES) device and system. In one embodiment, sequential bipolar pulse stimulation may be provided to an area of a living body via one or more electrode leads applied to the area via a FES device comprising a current pulse generating circuit comprising output nodes for operative coupling to the one or more electrode leads, and configured for operative coupling to a voltage supply. The current pulse generating circuit generally comprises positive and negative stimulation paths drawing from the voltage supply to respectively apply positive and negative currents through the area via the one or more electrode leads. In one example, the stimulation paths comprise respective capacitive elements, a capacitance ratio of which dictating, at least in part, an amplitude ratio of the positive and negative currents, wherein periodic alternative activation of the stimulation paths provides the sequential bipolar pulse stimulation. In another example, each path comprises a respective charging element and a respective activation switch, wherein each respective charging element is charged by the voltage supply and discharged upon activation of the respective activation switch to generate positive and negative current pulses respectively, such that a pulse rise time of the positive and negative current pulses is predominantly dictated by a switching speed of each respective switch. Systems and uses for these devices, and FES in general, are also described.

The invention belongs to the technical field of rehabilitation devices, relating to artificial neural networks and the precise control of functional electrical stimulation (FES), in particular to a PID-adjusting FES precise control method based on BP neural network. In order to improve the accuracy and stability of an FES system, the invention adopts a technical proposal as follows: first assigning weighting coefficient initial values for each layer and selecting proper learning rate eta; then taking initial output value yout, input and output error and preset input value rin as the input values of the BP neural network; calculating the final output values of the neural network, namely coefficients Kp, Ki and Kd of PID; calculating the output value yout and error between the output value and the input value of the system under new PID coefficients and then carrying out next step of self-learning and weighting coefficient self-adjusting of the neural network; repeating the processes to finally realize on-line adjusting of self-adaptation of the PID control parameters and using the PID control parameters in the FES system. The method is primarily used for FES control.

Methods, apparatus, and systems for transcutaneously treating tissue located beneath a skin surface with electromagnetic energy delivered from a treatment electrode. A portion of the treatment electrode is contacted with the skin surface. While maintaining the contact between the portion of the treatment electrode and the skin surface, the electromagnetic energy is delivered from the treatment electrode in a plurality of power pulses through the skin surface to the tissue over a treatment time with a time gap between each consecutive pair of the pulses to lower a level of pain perceived by a patient.

A non-invasive apparatus for rehabilitating a joint, limb, and muscles of a patient recovering from surgery on the joint, includes a continuous passive motion device having at least one support member for supporting the limb, at least one hinge coupled to the at least one support member, and at least one actuator for providing reciprocating motion of the at least one support member about the at least one hinge, a plurality of electrodes transmitting at least four modalities chosen from a group consisting of functional electrical stimulation (FES), transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), temperature therapy stimulation, deep vein thrombosis (DVT) prophylactic stimulation, venous blood flow monitoring, and pain monitoring, and a control unit controlling the at least one actuator and the plurality of electrodes according to a coordinated sequence of the reciprocating motion and transmission of the at least four modalities.

The present disclosure provides a functional electrode stimulation (FES) apparatus for use with prosthetic limbs. FES may provide the benefits of pain management, muscle building, prevention of muscle atrophy, and muscle re-education of residual limb and/or peri-residual limb muscles. The FES apparatus comprises a portable electrical stimulator; means to carry a current between the electrical stimulator and a prosthetic limb liner or socket; a plurality of elastic conductors integrated with the prosthetic limb liner or socket and capable of carrying the current from the means; a plurality of thin planar conductive fabric electrodes capable of carrying the current from the elastic conductors; and a plurality of thin electrodes capable of carrying the current between the thin planar conductive fabric electrodes and the skin of a patient.

The invention discloses a rehabilitation system for disabled persons based on virtual reality, which comprises a functional electrical simulation module, a motion capture module and a virtual reality module; wherein the motion capture module is respectively connected with the functional electrical simulation module and the virtual reality module. By stimulating the nerves and muscles of human body and simultaneously recording the limb movement after stimulation, the rehabilitation system for disabled persons based on virtual reality adjusts a functional electrical stimulation parameter through closed loop control, and presents the movement to a user by utilizing a virtual reality technology. For the reconstruction of limb movement function, the closed loop control is a more natural optimal control method which realizes the stationarity of limb movement and better conforms to human movement characteristics. Real-time visual feedback can effectively promote the reconstruction of limb movement function and improve the efficiency of rehabilitation training. The three-dimensional interactive immersing environment of the virtual reality can provide multi-mode feedback information such as visual feedback information, acoustic feedback information and the like of movement process and movement effect for patients, arouse and maintain the motivation of the patients for repetitive practice.