Neuroprostheses for Movement Restoration

International audienceFor people suffering complete paralysis of muscles such as spinal cord injured patients, using FES is still of great interest. However, very few solutions went through daily use. Indeed, even though FES allows obtaining movements in a simple way, complex but multi-joint movements are needed and can hardly be designed empirically. Closed loop control based on modeling and theory, fatigue compensation, muscle synergies and patient interface should be considered but further increase the complexity of the problem. Moreover, FES is frequently combined with other approaches (drugs, surgery...) and technologies (orthotics, robotics...) so that the global problem is even more difficult to understand as a whole. Finally technology issues, in particular for implantable or portable systems are not yet fully mature and ready for a daily use. Few important issues will be discussed through examples from state of the art to try to draw the global picture and trends for the future