Medecine's great strides
Résumé
Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) technology for movement restoration is currently under research and continues to evolve. In the early 1980s, implanted FES appeared through well-known applications such as the cochlear implant, and, more recently deep brain stimulation. FES is the only way to restore motor function for some diseases, although should not be considered as a competitor of spinal cord regeneration as both approaches could become complementary. Such a complex system needs advanced control theory tools coupled with a deep under standing of the underlying neurophysiological processes. The possibility to interface the sensory motor system, both activating neural structure with implanted FES (neural prosthetics), and sensing through implanted neural signal recordings opens a wide application area for us. This includes restoring motor function, such as grasping for quadriplegic patients and standing and walking for paraplegic and hemiplegic patients. These applications can be used in a clinical environment to provide physiotherapists with a new efficient FES-based therapy.