Effectiveness of lower limb controlled surface functional electrical stimulation in SCI — Review of evidence

Central nervous system (CNS) is composed of the brain and the spinal cord. Any impairment in the functionality of these parts can cause serious disabilities such as movement impairment and urinary incontinence. Spinal cord injury (SCI) and stroke are two conditions affected by injury of the CNS. This article presents a systematic review of the efficiencies as well as the inefficiencies of the Surface-Functional Electrical Stimulation (S-FES) that benefits from closed loop and control strategies to be engaged in rehabilitative interventions for paraplegic SCI patients. This study resulted in nine papers for review. To evaluate the evidence, the feasibility, fatigue resistance, safety and tracking error factors of each reported study were considered. From this study, it was concluded that the integration of control system into S-FES can promote rehabilitation process while minimize or control counterproductive elements such as fatigue and spasm as well as monitoring the activity for better safety measures during the S-FES intervention.