Electromyogram provides information on neural activities of a muscle and may be used to detect movement intention 13. In order to engage a user during FES a method of triggering the stimulation following the detection of a set level of electromyogram (EMG) has previously been studied 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. The reason for this could be due to the passive nature of the technique as neurophysiological theories and evidence suggest that active engagement is integral to optimal effect of FES 4, 5, 6, 7. Current literature suggests that this application technique shows inconclusive results in movement rehabilitation 3. Instead a preprogramed pattern is used which allows the user to only switch on/off the FES device.

Conventionally FES is applied passively such that a user has no control over an ongoing activation of a muscle. It can be used to activate muscles allowing paralysed people with conditions such as spinal cord injury (SCI) and stroke to perform functional tasks in a manner that may lead to motor recovery 2. The Active FES system may inspire further research in neurorehabilitation and assistive technology.įunctional electrical stimulation (FES) is a technique used for movement rehabilitation 1, 2. Results showed that FES intensity modulated by the Active FES system was proportional to intentional movement. Active FES, the resulting EMG-FES system was validated in a typical use case among fifteen patients with tetraplegia. We demonstrated that unlike the classic comb filter approach, the signal extracted with the present technique was coherent with its noise-free version. Here we show an implementation of an entirely software-based solution that resolves the current problems in real-time using an adaptive filtering technique with an optional comb filter to extract voluntary EMG from muscles under FES. Previous attempts to date either poorly extract the voluntary EMG from the artefacts, require a special hardware or are unsuitable for online application. Electrical artefact contamination of voluntary electromyogram (EMG) during FES application makes the technique difficult to implement. Proportional control of FES using voluntary EMG may be used for this purpose. Neurophysiological theories and past studies suggest that intention driven functional electrical stimulation (FES) could be effective in motor neurorehabilitation.

Functional electrical stimulation