When an individual has suffered from a stroke, one of the most frequent impairments results in muscle weakness, affecting their ability to use their limbs. A way to help these individuals recovering from such disabilities due to the stroke’s effects is to stimulate their limb muscles through the use of electrical signals.

 

During stroke rehabilitation, it is also important for the individual to exert voluntary effort and practice using their impaired limbs. However, providing limb movement assistance using neuromuscular electrical stimulation during rehabilitation may cause people with stroke to reduce their voluntary effort. Currently, there are no effective ways to estimate voluntary effort during stimulation.

 

Our goal with the current research project is to estimate the voluntary effort made by the individual during electrical stimulation and prevent them from relying only on the stimulation itself, as it might hinder their motor relearning.