A portable multichannel FES system for control of paralyzed extremities

마비된 말단근육의 제어를 위한 휴대용 다중 채널의 기능적 전기자극(FES) 장치

A portable multichannel functional electrical stimulation(FES) system for the fine control of the paralyzed extremities in spinal cord injury patients is described. This system is composed of a stimulation data creating system, a serial communication device, a 16-bit microprocessor, D/A converter of 32 channels and a display device. Stimulation patterns are created from analytical results of integrated EMGs during motion in normal subjects and are stored in the stimulation data creating system as data files. And then the stimulation patterns are sent to the memory in the portable multichannel FES system through serial communication interfacing device. Sophisticated fine control of paralyzed extrimities was realized by transmitting multichannel stimulation patterns to percutaneous intramuscular electrodes, which stimulate the motor function of paralyzed muscle simultaneously. Advantages of this system are as follws: 1) It is possible to modify stimulation patterns in accordance with the patient's situation. 2) This system is small and light.