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US 2019/0336759 A1Published application
Functional electrical stimulation ergometer including automatic spasm control
AssigneeRestorative Therapies, Inc.
InventorMichael Duncan
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
This invention controls stimulation levels and cycling cadence on an FES ergometer to minimize or prevent the occurrence of spasm in spinal cord injured or other neurologically impaired patients.
Claims13
A functional electrical stimulation device comprising:
- a left extremity support and a right extremity support, wherein both extremity supports are connected to a primary drive motor that causes the extremity supports to move in a reciprocal motion;
- said left extremity support further connected to a left extremity support servo motor and said right extremity support connected to a right extremity support servo motor, wherein each of said right and left extremity support servo motors causes its respective extremity support to rotate about an axis;
- a control unit connected to the left and right extremity support servo motors and which controls the actuation of the left and right extremity support servo motors, wherein the control unit further comprises functional electrical stimulation leads attached to skin adhesive electrodes and wherein said adhesive electrodes deliver electrical stimulation to a patient's muscles, said device further comprising an automatic spasm control system comprising a monitor configured to continuously monitor a torque required to rotate one or both of said left and right extremity supports and a controller configured to calculate a rate of change of said torque, and to calculate a maximum electrical stimulation, a maximum stimulation ramp-up rate, a maximum servo-motor speed and a maximum servo-motor ramp-up rate.
A therapeutic muscle exercise device, comprising:
- a cycling base configured to accept a subject's upper or lower extremities and assist a subject in exercising the subject's muscles;
- the cycling base comprising a first extremity support and a second extremity support, wherein said extremity supports are driven or resisted by a motor controlled by a controller, the device further comprising a functional electrical stimulation controller, wherein the functional stimulation controller and the first and second extremity supports and cycling base are configured to assist a subject in moving his or her upper or lower extremities;
- said device further comprising an automatic spasm control system comprising a monitor configured to continuously monitor a torque required to rotate one or both of said left and right extremity supports, said controller configured to calculate a rate of change of said torque, a maximum servo-motor speed and a maximum servo-motor ramp-up rate, said functional electrical stimulation controller configured to calculate a maximum electrical stimulation, a maximum stimulation ramp-up rate.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.