Control of Skeletal Muscle Fatigue During Electrical Stimulation

Technology Description: Neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) offers numerous benefits in physical therapy and is widely used today to maintain or increase muscle strength. The most efficient use of NMES requires continual feedback to adjust the electrical stimulation as the muscle changes during the course of the workout. While previous studies have shown that muscle tension can be used as a feedback parameter, scientists now know that muscle tension does not change in a completely predictable way during electrical stimulation.

A scientist at UCSD has developed a new method to control NMES that does not rely on tension as the only feedback parameter. This new method is much more stable, more reproducible between different individuals, and permits more powerful feedback to control stimulation parameters.

Advantages:

  • More stable than muscle controllers that use muscle tension as the feedback parameter.
  • More reproducible between individuals, automatically adjusting to differences in muscle-fiber type.
  • More powerful feedback for control of stimulation parameters.

State of Development: A working prototype can be demonstrated, and there is an issued US patent 5,507,788.

Case Number : SD1993-303
Keywords: physical therapy
Inquiries To : invent@ucsd.edu