Summary: | 碩士 === 中原大學 === 醫學工程研究所 === 90 === Abstract
This study proposed a integrated system of knee lock controller and functional electrical stimulation (FES) for cerebral vascular accident (CVA) patients showed the symptoms of drop foot and kneeback during locomotion. The knee lock controller unlocked the knee electrically and allowed knee joint flexion during the swing phase of the gait. When the knee was extended by electrical stimulation of the hip flexor, the knee was automatically locked by the weight of the locking bar, and the stimulation of the hip flexor stopped.
We compared this device with the FES, knee lock controller and assistance. In each of these four trainings, we measured and recorded step length, stride length, walking velocity and various angles of lower limbs respectively.
Four patients were recruited in this study and trained for four weeks. After four weeks of training with this system, three of them have abetter improvement on the symptoms of drop foot and kneeback.
This system is advantageous because it is easy to put on and take off and has a good cosmetic appearance. In the near future, we hope to make this device into a portable type. However, we still need more patients for clinical evaluation to verify these results.
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