FES-based upper-limb stroke rehabilitation with advanced sensing and control

Functional electrical stimulation (FES) has shown effectiveness in restoring movement post-stroke when applied to assist participants' voluntary action during repeated, motivating tasks. Recent clinical trials have used advanced controllers that precisely adjust FES to assist functional reach and grasp tasks, showing significant reduction in impairment. The system reported in this paper advances the state-of-the-art by: (1) integrating an FES electrode array on the forearm to assist complex hand and wrist gestures; (2) utilising non-contact PrimeSense and Kinect sensors to accurately record the arm, hand and wrist position in 3D; and (3) employing an interactive touch table to present motivating virtual reality (VR) tasks. Feasibility of the system has been evaluated in clinical trials with 4 hemiparetic, chronic stroke participants. Results show that performance error reduced across all tasks and confirm the feasibility of applying precisely controlled FES to multiple muscle groups in the upper limb using advanced sensors, controllers and array hardware. This low-cost, compact technology hence has potential to be transferred to participants' homes in order to reduce upper-limb impairment following chronic stroke.