Researchers identify several factors that prevent use of sEMG in clinical neurorehabilitation
Kessler Foundation researchers have identified several practical and technical barriers to the widespread use of surface electromyography (sEMG) in clinical neurorehabilitation. Based on their holistic analysis of these factors, the researchers suggest a collaborative, interdisciplinary, and unified approach to enable rehabilitation professionals to routinely use sEMG. The article, Use of Surface EMG in Clinical Rehabilitation of Individuals With SCI: Barriers and Future Considerations (doi: 10.3389/fneur.2020.578559), was published December 18, 2020, in
Frontiers in Neurology. It is available open access at https:/
/
PMC7780850/
The authors are Rakesh Pilkar, PhD, Kamyar Momeni, PhD, Arvind Ramanujam, Manikandan Ravi, Erica Garbarini, and Gail F. Forrest, PhD, affiliated with the Center for Mobility and Rehabilitation Engineering Research and the Tim and Caroline Reynolds Center for
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The proverbial story of overcoming paralysis tends to start with the legs: Superman vows to walk again; a soap opera character steps out of their wheelchair. âI think society has a tendency to focus solely on the walking aspect of disability,â says Ian Ruder, a magazine editor with the United Spinal Association, a nonprofit advocacy group for people with spinal cord injuries and disorders. But Ruder, who has used a wheelchair following an injury 23 years ago, says even restoring just a fraction of his hand function would improve his quality of life more than walking. âThe difference between being able to pinch with my thumb and not be able to pinch with my thumb is hard to understand for most people,â Ruder says. âThat would unlock a whole new level of independence.â
Stroke survivors who had ceased to benefit from conventional rehabilitation gained clinically significant arm movement and control by using an external robotic device powered by the patients' own brains.
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ONWARD, formerly known as GTX Medical, today announced the first patient has been enrolled in a pivotal trial evaluating the Company s ARC Therapy
TM. The pivotal trial, known as Up-LIFT, will evaluate the safety and effectiveness of ARC Therapy in restoring hand and arm function in people with spinal cord injury (SCI). Up-LIFT is the first large-scale pivotal trial of non-invasive spinal cord stimulation technology. The first patient was enrolled at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, GA, USA. For individuals with impaired arm and hand function due to spinal cord injury, improved hand function directly translates into meaningful gains in terms of quality of life being able to eat, dress or perform other day-to-day activities, said Edelle Field-Fote, PT, PhD, FAPTA, FASIA, co-PI of the Up-LIFT trial and Director of Spinal Cord Injury Research and Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine at Emory University School of Medicine.
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IMAGE: Testing showed most patients retained the benefits for at least two months after the therapy sessions ended, suggesting the potential for long-lasting gains. view more
Credit: University of Houston
Stroke survivors who had ceased to benefit from conventional rehabilitation gained clinically significant arm movement and control by using an external robotic device powered by the patients own brains.
The results of the clinical trial were described in the journal
Jose Luis Contreras-Vidal, director of the Non-Invasive Brain Machine Interface Systems Laboratory at the University of Houston, said testing showed most patients retained the benefits for at least two months after the therapy sessions ended, suggesting the potential for long-lasting gains. He is also Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Distinguished Professor of electrical and computer engineering.