An electrode configuration technique using an electrode matrix arrangement for FES-based upper arm rehabilitation systems

An upper limb electrical stimulation technique has been developed which features a novel self-configuration approach, to obtain an ideal wrist response from the patient. The system uses an analogue de-multiplexer in conjunction with an electrode matrix so that different electrode sites can be tested using only one channel of stimulation. A twin axis goniometer is attached to the patient's wrist and flex sensors are attached to the patient's fingers so that the control algorithm can assess the wrist response. A data acquisition unit logs the data for further analysis. A clinical investigation on healthy subjects was conducted to test the proposed system. The results show a high variation in hand response across different subjects. In addition, for all subjects tested an ideal response was found which shows some justification for the use of the proposed technique.