Speaker: Justin Golabek
Advisor: Dr. Nathan Makowski
Title: Synchronization of Assistance with User Movement in a Post-Stroke Gait Neuroprosthesis
Abstract: Stroke is the leading cause of disability in the United States, affecting approximately 9.4 million people. Hemiparesis is a common effect following stroke and is characterized by weakness and reduced motor control on one side of the body. As a result, around 30% of stroke survivors experience significant walking impairment and require assistance to walk. Neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) has been demonstrated as a promising assistive technology (i.e., neuroprosthesis) for improving post-stroke gait. In these devices, NMES patterns must be synchronized with the user’s movements to maximize assistive benefit. Most synchronization methods use timers that are triggered by detecting discrete events in the gait cycle. While these approaches have long standing usage, a potentially superior approach is to continuously track the motion of the user. In this talk, I present preliminary results comparing the effectiveness of conventional synchronization of NMES with novel cyclic-motion tracking in a post-stroke gait neuroprosthesis. These findings highlight benefits and drawbacks to these approaches, motivating further work in their design and evaluation