Musculoskeletal modeling to assess the feasibility of neuroprosthesis for high cervical spinal cord injury

A musculoskeletal model of the human shoulder and elbow was adapted to reflect the paralysis of an individual with a C4 level spinal cord injury. Simulations were then performed to determine the minimum number of muscles needed to restore a small set of simple but functionally important arm movements. We found that six was the minimum number of muscles and that the forces required of these muscles was typically modest. These results indicate that a neuroprosthesis for restoring arm movements in individuals with high tetraplegia should be feasible using existing technology.