Electrical Stimulation of the Neuromuscular System

Abstract

Patients with paralysis or disease of the nervous system can have severe functional deficits. Although rehabilitation and neural regeneration can provide some improvement (Grill and Kirsch, 2000; McDonald and Sadowsky, 2000), there is still a large gap to close in order to restore function. Functional electrical stimulation (FES) of neural tissue can be successfully applied to provide additional functional restoration to neurologically impaired individuals. By placing electrodes within excitable neural tissue and passing current through these electrodes, it is possible to activate pathways to the brain or to muscles. The activated pathways can then excite or inhibit their intended target. Neural prostheses refer to applications for which electrical stimulation is used to replace a previously lost or damaged neural function.cr]