A new and innovative therapy for restoration of dropped-foot with a 2-channel electrical stimulation implant: description and outcome in twenty patients

Dropped foot is a condition often found in several patient groups, including Multiple Sclerosis, incomplete spinal cord lesion and most notably, stroke. a dropped foot occurs when the muscles of the lower leg are not able to voluntary lift the foot during the swing phase of walking because they are no longer under control of the central nervous system. as a result, the patient's gait pattern is inefficient, unstable and uncoordinated. This results in a higher chance of stumbling and falling, a low walking speed, and pain in the joints and muscles around the hip

Three dimensional inertial sensing of foot movements for automatic tuning of a two-channel implantable drop-foot stimulator

A three dimensional inertial sensing system for measuring foot movements during gait is proposed and tested. It can form the basis for an automated tuning system for a two-channel implantable drop-foot stimulator. The foot orientation and position during the swing phase of gait can be reconstructed on the basis of three-dimensional measurement of acceleration and angular velocity, using initial and final conditions during mid-stance. The foot movements during gait of one stroke person using the implanted two-channel stimulator were evaluated for several combinations of stimulation parameters for both channels. The reconstructed foot movements during gait in this person indicated that the channel stimulating the deep peroneal nerve contributes mainly to dorsiflexion and provides some reduction of inversion seen without stimulation, while the channel activating the superficial peroneal nerve mainly provides additional reduction of inversion. This agrees with anatomical knowledge about the function of the muscles activated by both branches of the peroneal nerve. The inertial sensor method is expected to be useful for the clinical evaluation of foot movements during gait supported by the two-channel drop-foot stimulator. Furthermore, it is expected to be applicable for the automated balancing of the two stimulation channels to ensure optimal support of gait