The electromyogram (EMG) as a control signal for functional neuromuscular stimulation. II. Practical demonstration of the EMG signature discrimination system

For pt.I see ibid., vol.35, no.4, p.230-7, 1988. The successful application of functional neuromuscular stimulation to the muscles of paraplegics depends to a large extent on the adequate provision of a means by which the subject can exercise control over the resulting movement. The use of above-lesion electromyographic signals as a solution to the control problem is considered. A practical demonstration of signature discrimination of electromyographic signals, based on the parameters of an autoregressive time series, is presented. The success of this method is dependent on the choice of electrode location. Various experiments to determine such an electrode location are described.