Functional electrical stimulation and reciprocating gait orthosis for ambulation exercise in a tetraplegic patient: A case study

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to report the cardiopulmonary stresses (as indicated by heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen consumption and task cost) for a tetraplegic individual when walking with electrical stimulation and a gait orthosis as opposed to walking with a gait orthosis alone. Functional electrical stimulation (FES), when interfaced with a reciprocating gait orthosis (RGO), resulted in walking exercise for a C-7 level tetraplegic subject, who was 8 years post-injury. Cardiopulmonary measurements were made and task costs calculated on this individual during progressive velocity walking with the FES-RGO and the orthosis alone (without FES). Results for the tetraplegic individual indicate that there were no significant changes in heart rate at the various walking velocities with respect to the two systems. However, systolic blood pressure was significantly reduced at the three highest walking velocities (T2, 1-6 and 2'0 kph) when using the FES and orthosis system as compared to orthosis-alone walking (p