Muscular Weakness of Legs
The Neuroengineering Lab is recruiting participants for several research studies for clinical applications. Please contact us if you are interested to participate and fit the inclusion criteria for any of the studies listed below!
NCCR Grassroot Project – REINFORCE
Sensory-motoR nEurostImulation to eNhance myosuit perFORmanCE (REINFORCE), a collaboration between our Neuroengineering Lab, the TNE Lab (EPFL), and the SMS Lab (ETHZ) has been awarded funding by NCCR Robotics.
The project proposes cooperative Myosuit-NMES-TENS systems for enhanced robot-assisted training. The Myosuit (EXO) will be complemented by NeuroMuscular Electrical Stimulation (NMES), to support limb advancement in swing, and by Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS), to boost kinaesthetic gait cues to its user.
Complementing robotic support from a soft wearable robot with electrical stimulation will enlarge the population that can benefit from the combined technologies. We hypothesize that an increase in walking speed, walking endurance, stability of walking and confidence will be shown when combining mechanical assistance to electrical stimulation.
Inclusion for impaired participants
- Subjects > 18 years and < 80 years of age
- Height between 160cm and 190 cm
- Weight between 45 kg and 110 kg
- Able to stand up from a chair and walk 10 m without the assistance of a person (Compensation and traditional assistive devices will be allowed excepted knee orthosis (e.g. cane/crunch, ankle foot orthosis)
- Confirmed diagnosis of a pathalogy that leads to muscle weakness of the legs (e.g. muscle dystrophies, neurological pathalogies.)
Exclusion for impaired participants
- Guardianship/trusteeship
- Pregnant or nursing women
- Unstable cardiomyopathy
- Severe respiratory insufficiency
- Recent trauma
Contact Information
Dr. Giacomo Valle, Postdoctoral researcher,
Lauren Chee, PhD Student,
Prof. Dr. Stanisa Raspopovic, Assistant Professor,
Ethical Approval Number: EK-2021-N-141