Journal of Rehabil itation Research & Development Effects of stimulation pattern on electrical stimulation-induced leg cycling performance

Abstract—Electrical stimulation-induced leg cycling (ES-LC) is beneficial for individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI), but cycling performance is often limited because of rapid fatigue of the stimulated muscles. This study evaluated whether a stimulation pattern with a catchlike-inducing pulse train increased force production and hence cycling performance. Five men with SCI performed ES-LC using different stimula-tion patterns: (1) the standard pattern with ramp modulation, (2) a pattern with no ramp modulation, (3) a pattern with no ramp modulation but with an initial doublet, and (4) a pattern with a middle doublet. None of the experimental patterns resulted in significantly improved cycling performance com-pared with the standard pattern. However, during the first 3 min of cycling, the current amplitude was significantly higher with the standard stimulation, suggesting that stimula