Neuroprosthesis system for lower limbs action based on functional electrical stimulation

This paper proposed a neuroprosthesis system for lower limbs action based on functional electrical stimulation (FES) to facilitate patient-responsive ambulation by paralyzed patients with the sequelae of strokes and spinal cord injure. This neuroprosthesis system had four independent channels and seven modules in its hardware including controller, D/A converter, constant-current source, wave shaper, function keys, display device and power supply. To evaluate the system performance to assist standing, knee joint angular velocity were measured during hip stimulation on twelve subjects. Both the basic kinematics indicators of step index and time and knee joint angle under the best step threshold during lower leg stimulation were compared with those during normal walking. Experimental results showed the proposed system was reliable and may be widely used in rehabilitation clinics. © 2011 IEEE.