A noninvasive functional electrical stimulation system with patient-driven loop for hand function restoration.

In this study, a noninvasive functional electrical stimulation (FES) system is proposed to restore hand functions. The control strategy of this system is based on the patient-driven control loop. The patient can use his sound extremity to control FES system to generate the electrical stimulation so that the paralyzed muscles will be excited. In addition, electromyographic (EMG) signals, which are recorded by the sensors in the electrical stimulator, can serve as the trigger for the initialization of the system and the adjustment of the electrical stimulation parameters. From the preliminary results, they show that the subjects can successfully control the proposed system. We hope that patients will benefit a lot from this kind of FES system with patient-driven control loop.