A basic study on an FES control method considering fast and slow muscle characteristics

The authors propose a control method of paralyzed muscle considering fast and slow muscle characteristics for a functional electrical stimulation (FES) system in order to improve control abilities. The differences between fast and slow muscle responses at various stimulus frequencies were investigated with rabbits. Results of this study suggest the consideration of the muscle properties is useful for FES. A few ideas of FES control methods considering these properties are discussed.