TY - GEN
T1 - Measuring Torque Production with a Robotic Exoskeleton during Cervical Transcutaneous Spinal Stimulation
AU - Mahan, Erin
AU - Dunkelberger, Nathan
AU - Oh, Jeonghoon
AU - Simmons, Madison
AU - Varghese, Blesson
AU - Sayenko, Dimitry
AU - O'Malley, Marcia K.
N1 - Funding Information:
*This work was supported by Craig H. Neilsen Foundation (733278) and Houston Methodist Academic Institute - Neurospark-2021 grants.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 IEEE.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - Spinal cord injury (SCI) affects a large number of individuals in the United States. Unfortunately, traditional neurorehabilitation therapy leaves out clinical populations with limited motor function, such as severe stroke or spinal cord injury, as they are incapable of engaging in movement therapy. To increase the numbers of individuals who may be able to participate in robotic therapy, our long-term goal is to combine two validated interventions, transcutaneous spinal stimulation (TSS) and robotics, to elicit upper limb movements during rehabilitation following SCI. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to quantify the contributions of each intervention to realizing arm movements. Electromyography is typically used to assess the response to TSS, but the robot itself offers an additional source of data since the available sensors on the robot can be used to directly assess resultant actions of the upper limb after stimulation. We explore this approach in this paper. We showed that the effects of cutaneous TSS can be observed by measuring the holding torque required by the exoskeleton to keep a user's arm in a neutral position. Further, we can identify differences in resultant action based on the location of the stimulation electrodes with respect to the dorsal roots of the spinal cord. In the future, we can use measurements from the robot to guide the action of the robot and TSS intervention.
AB - Spinal cord injury (SCI) affects a large number of individuals in the United States. Unfortunately, traditional neurorehabilitation therapy leaves out clinical populations with limited motor function, such as severe stroke or spinal cord injury, as they are incapable of engaging in movement therapy. To increase the numbers of individuals who may be able to participate in robotic therapy, our long-term goal is to combine two validated interventions, transcutaneous spinal stimulation (TSS) and robotics, to elicit upper limb movements during rehabilitation following SCI. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to quantify the contributions of each intervention to realizing arm movements. Electromyography is typically used to assess the response to TSS, but the robot itself offers an additional source of data since the available sensors on the robot can be used to directly assess resultant actions of the upper limb after stimulation. We explore this approach in this paper. We showed that the effects of cutaneous TSS can be observed by measuring the holding torque required by the exoskeleton to keep a user's arm in a neutral position. Further, we can identify differences in resultant action based on the location of the stimulation electrodes with respect to the dorsal roots of the spinal cord. In the future, we can use measurements from the robot to guide the action of the robot and TSS intervention.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85138906071&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85138906071&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/ICORR55369.2022.9896477
DO - 10.1109/ICORR55369.2022.9896477
M3 - Conference contribution
C2 - 36176117
AN - SCOPUS:85138906071
T3 - IEEE International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics
BT - 2022 International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics, ICORR 2022
PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
T2 - 2022 International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics, ICORR 2022
Y2 - 25 July 2022 through 29 July 2022
ER -