Characterization of the electrically excited flexion withdrawal response used in restoration of locomotion in spinal cord injured paraplegics

The flexion withdrawal reflex has been studied in order to improve the usability of this action in generating electrically stimulated gait in paraplegics. The hip angle of eight paraplegic subjects was continuously monitored while electrical stimulation was intermittently applied at various sites through surface electrodes. The magnitude of the response was assessed, and a measure of the variability between successive stimulations was obtained. The main difficulties in using this response in stimulated gait are the variability, the latency and the habituation. Habituation is shown to be reduced by using a multiplexed stimulation regime on two different sites.<>