Multiple Sclerosis victim wants to use robotics to walk again
BUSYMOM
My husband has M.S. and has been in an electric wheelchair for 2 years
now. He has recently organized a research team to try and devise a system
in which he could stand upright and walk. The purpose of walking in his
case isn't to get from point A to point B, but to keep the circulation in
his body up to par. He can stand if he has something to hold onto and can
slide his feet a couple of feet.
If you have any ideas or resources you could recommend, it would be
greatly appreciated.
Please email me at BUS...@aol.com
Thank You.
Richard Steven Walz
There has been a bunch of work with that in periplegics lately, both
with external and internal electrodes. But this MAY be something that
is not adaptable to MS. I am unsure if the nerves in the legs of
periplegics that are cut at the spine are still needed to be in
proper working order in the muscles for the electrodes to contract them!
In MS that may not work, as I believe MS may have a de-myelinating
effect as its mode of operation as a disorder. I think you can pursue
it, but if he wishes to keep his leg muscles in tone for a time when
the MS might leave his legs alone for a while, there are external
muscle stimulators already on the market for that. The extreme form of
overtraining the muscles with these external or internal electrodes
may not work with MS, but you may be able to retain muscle bulk. You
will have to talk to people doing research in neuro-electric assist
devices for that information. Your physician or physical therapy
department should be able to find those folks for you.
Good luck, but as always with these sorts of disorders, don't hold
your breath. We are still medically backward or we could likely cure
this condition!
Take care,
-Steve
--
-Steve Walz rst...@armory.com ftp://ftp.armory.com/pub/user/rstevew
mirrored: ftp://ieee.cas.uc.edu/pub/electronics/faqs/ftp.armory.com
and Europe: ftp://ftp.cised.unina.it/pub/electronics/ftp.armory.com
and Oz: ftp://ftp.peninsula.apana.org.au/pub/electronics/ftp.armory.com
RKM
> In MS that may not work, as I believe MS may have a de-myelinating
> effect as its mode of operation as a disorder.
While it is certainly the case that current theories point to
a degradation of the myelin sheeth (sp) as a component in MS
(my wife was a researcher in the area of re-mylelination, but I
must state right here that I am a lowly EE/CS and not an expert
in any way shape or form in this area) I think that direct
trans-dermal stimulation with contact patchescould be
used to cause muscle contraction. While it would
never allow fine enough control for any type of true walking
a patient with good upper body strength might use such a
system to assist in physical therapy.
To: BUSYMOM
-----------
I am sure that you have already done so, BUT I would like to
urge you to contact a licensed physical therapist to discuss
exercises, stimulation, and technologies to help your husband
maintain his physical conditioning.
Best wishes and godspeed
Randy More
Senior Researcher
Synectics Corporation
Frank Miles
As a bioengineer (but certainly no expert in this area) I have attended seminars
in which electrical stimulation was used to try to reduce the incidence
of skin sores that commonly develop in chair-bound patients. That was
10 years ago. So at the very least you should be able to do something
on this level. There are several companies (at least) that sell devices
for muscle stimulation. Not all PT's are expert in using these, however.
To stimulate strongly enough for "useful" contractions is much more difficult,
since there needs to be much more careful/direct feedback in order not to
over-stimulate and have some sort of accident. This is an active area of
research.
Best of luck to you. I sympathize -- MS runs in my family.
-frank
COUGER GORDON
Frank Miles <f...@u.washington.edu> wrote:
>In article <3170F5...@future.dreamscape.com>,
>RKM <mor...@future.dreamscape.com> wrote:
>>Richard Steven Walz wrote:
>>
>>> In MS that may not work, as I believe MS may have a de-myelinating
>>> effect as its mode of operation as a disorder.
>>
>
>To stimulate strongly enough for "useful" contractions is much more difficult,
>since there needs to be much more careful/direct feedback in order not to
>over-stimulate and have some sort of accident. This is an active area of
>research.
Having been diagnosed at verious times with possible MS, probabal MS,
stroke, migrain induced stroke and who the hell knows over the last
15 years I have made a serious study of MS.
It is a de-myeliating disease that effect the central nervous system and to
my knoledge not the perifial nervs. It should be an excelent canidate for
electrical stimulation.
A much simpler setup than trying to walk with is would be to tie the affected
parts down and excite the neves with a little juice. This will take a signal
generator with about 15 volts, maby 30 volts and current limited.
Good luck
Gordon
Gordon Couger
Biosystems & Agricultural Engineering. 114 AG Hall Stillwater, OK 74075
gco...@master.ceat.okstate.edu 405 744 8392 day 625-2855 evenings