FES Standing: The Effect of Arm Support on Stability and Fatigue During Sit-to-Stand Manoeuvres in SCI Individuals

Abstract

Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) has been widely used as part of physiotherapy for spinal cord injury (SCI) patients. The ability to do sit to stand (STS) manoeuvre is an important and practical indicator of functional independence in SCI individuals. One of the factors that contributes to STS movement is arm support. The objective of this study is to instrument an arm support with pressure sensors, and to analyse the impact of using standing frame during FES-assisted STS movement to the SCI patients’ stability and rate of fatigue throughout multiple STS movements. FlexiForce sensors were used to analyse the force exerted on the frame’s handle. Experiments on STS activity with two SCI subjects were completed in two consecutive days (with and without assistance of FES) in a motion analysis laboratory. The instrumented standing frame (SF) was calibrated via a series of hanging test with ten healthy subjects with different body weights to provide an insight on the weight distribution along the SF. This test demonstrates the instrumented standing frame’s ability to measure the force exerted on the frame with minimum accuracy of 85% to total body weight. Both SCI subjects showed shorter time taken to complete a STS cycle without the assistance of FES. They showed early stage of fatigue with assistance of FES thus longer time taken recorded in performing STS activity. SCI subjects’ centre of force slightly inclined to the right side of the standing frame in both sessions without and with FES to compensate several conditions of lower limb joint contractures.