Electrical stimulation for compensation of impaired lower limb sensation

This paper proposes an electrical stimulation method that provides a movement trajectory feedback for paraplegic patients who lost the sensory function of lower body. The paraplegic patient is completely or partially lost the motor or sensory function of lower legs due to spinal cord injury. Wearable robotic exoskeletons apply torques on hip and knee joints to enable the paraplegic patient walk again. The electrical stimulation integrates 55 stimulation points, which 22 are stimulation point and 33 are ground points. These stimulation points are fitted into a coordinate and projected onto a plane space. The effectiveness of the electric stimulation is verified through a ‘trajectory reproduction’ experiment. The experiment result shows a certain accuracy of the proposed electrical stimulation pattern.