Abstract
BackgroundNeurotraumas or neurodegenerative diseases often result in proprioceptive deficits, which makes it challenging for the nervous system to adapt to the compromised sensorimotor conditions. Also, in human machine interactions, such as prosthesis control and teleoperation, proprioceptive mismatch limits accuracy and intuitiveness of controlling active joints in robotic agents. To address these proprioceptive deficits, several invasive and non-invasive approaches like vibration, electrical nerve stimulation, and skin stretch have been introduced. However, proprioceptive modulation is still challenging as the current solutions have limitations in terms of effectiveness, usability, and consistency. In this paper, we propose a new way of modulating proprioception using transcutaneous electrical stimulation. We hypothesized that transcutaneous electrical stimulation on elbow flexor muscles will induce illusion of elbow joint extension.MethodEight healthy human subjects participated in the study to test the hypothesis. Transcutaneous electrodes were placed on different locations targeting elbow flexor muscles on human subjects and experiments were conducted to identify the best locations for electrode placement, and best electrical stimulation parameters, to maximize induced proprioceptive effect. Arm matching experiments and Pinocchio illusion test were performed for quantitative and qualitative analysis of the observed effects. One-way repeated ANOVA test was performed on the data collected in arm matching experiment for statistical analysis.ResultsWe identified the best location for transcutaneous electrodes to induce the proprioceptive illusion, as one electrode on the muscle belly of biceps brachii short head and the other on the distal myotendinous junction of brachioradialis. The results for arm-matching and Pinocchio illusion tests showed that transcutaneous electrical stimulation using identified electrode location and electrical stimulation parameters evoked the illusion of elbow joint extension for all eight subjects, which supports our hypothesis. On average, subjects reported 6.81° angular illusion of elbow joint extension in arm-matching tests and nose elongated to 1.78 × height in Pinocchio illusion test.ConclusionsTranscutaneous electrical stimulation, applied between the the synergistic elbow flexor muscles, consistently modulated elbow joint proprioception with the illusion of elbow joint extension, which has immense potential to be translated into various real-world applications, including neuroprosthesis, rehabilitation, teleoperation, mixed reality, and etc.
Highlights
Neurotraumas or neurodegenerative diseases often result in proprioceptive deficits, which makes it challenging for the nervous system to adapt to the compromised sensorimotor conditions
The results for arm-matching and Pinocchio illusion tests showed that transcutaneous electrical stimulation using identified electrode location and electrical stimulation parameters evoked the illusion of elbow joint extension for all eight subjects, which supports our hypothesis
Transcutaneous electrical stimulation, applied between the the synergistic elbow flexor muscles, consistently modulated elbow joint proprioception with the illusion of elbow joint extension, which has immense potential to be translated into various real-world applications, including neuroprosthesis, rehabilitation, teleoperation, mixed reality, and etc
Summary
Neurotraumas or neurodegenerative diseases often result in proprioceptive deficits, which makes it challenging for the nervous system to adapt to the compromised sensorimotor conditions. In human machine interactions, such as prosthesis control and teleoperation, proprioceptive mismatch limits accuracy and intuitiveness of controlling active joints in robotic agents. To address these proprioceptive deficits, several invasive and non-invasive approaches like vibration, electrical nerve stimulation, and skin stretch have been introduced. Proprioception is a perception or awareness of the position or movement of one’s own body [1] It includes both the sense of body position in space and the sense of force applied to each joint, as the somatosensory cortex. Proprioceptive deficit in the arm muscles can disrupt the inter-joint coordination and degrade following control accuracy in arm reaching for human subject [7]. A local deficit of proprioception in one of the leg muscles induced the cats to select inefficient locomotor strategy [8]
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