Medical Engineering & Physics
Volume 28, Issue 2 , Pages 177-186, March 2006

A system for the delivery of programmable, adaptive stimulation intensity envelopes for drop foot correction applications

Biomedical Electronics Laboratory, Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, University of Limerick, National Technological Park, Limerick, Ireland

Received 11 December 2003; received in revised form 4 March 2005; accepted 8 April 2005. published online 01 June 2005.

Abstract 

We describe the design of an intelligent drop foot stimulator unit for use in conjunction with a commercial neuromuscular electrical nerve stimulation (NMES) unit, the NT2000. The developed micro-controller unit interfaces to a personal computer (PC) and a graphical user interface (GUI) allows the clinician to graphically specify the shape of the stimulation intensity envelope required for a subject undergoing drop foot correction. The developed unit is based on the ADuC812S micro-controller evaluation board from Analog Devices and uses two force sensitive resistor (FSR) based foot-switches to control application of stimulus. The unit has the ability to display to the clinician how the stimulus intensity envelope is being delivered during walking using a data capture capability. The developed system has a built-in algorithm to dynamically adjust the delivery of stimulus to reflect changes both within the gait cycle and from cycle to cycle. Thus, adaptive control of stimulus intensity is achieved.

Keywords: Functional electrical stimulation (FES), Drop foot stimulator, Stimulation intensity envelope

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PII: S1350-4533(05)00086-X

doi:10.1016/j.medengphy.2005.04.008

Medical Engineering & Physics
Volume 28, Issue 2 , Pages 177-186, March 2006

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