Normal myoelectric signal and its use in functional electrical stimulation in spinal cord injury patients

The aim of ­this ­study was to derive a nor­mal myoe­lec­tri­cal sig­nal ­using sur­face elec­trodes and admin­is­ter it, ­after suit­able amplifi­ca­tion, as a stimulation wave to the ­same ­source mus­cle, eval­u­at­ing the mechan­i­cal ­response. We ­used an elec­tro­myo­graph con­nect­ed to an ampli­fi­er and we posi­tioned the elec­trodes ­onto the ­skin ­layers ­above the mus­cle ­mass of the ­left arm ­biceps in a sub­ject who was ­asked to car­ry out a ­series of vol­un­tary con­trac­tions in isom­e­try ­using the great­est pos­sible exer­tion. The surface EMG (EMG_S) pattern ­that pro­duced the great­est ­increase in ­peak ­force was select­ed, mul­ti­plied n ­times and inject­ed ­into the ­source mus­cle in ­order to admin­is­ter a stim­u­la­tion ­trace ­using ­more “phys­io­log­i­cal” meth­ods, ­thus avoid­ing the use of exces­sive­ly fatigu­ing ­wave pack­ets ­when car­ry­ing out the ges­ture. The EMG_S ­wave ­derived and sub­se­quent­ly admin­is­tered to the mus­cle pro...