Title:Post-stroke Engagement-sensitive Balance Rehabilitation Under An Adaptive Multi-level Electrotherapy: Clinical Hypothesis and Computational Framework
Volume: 2
Issue: 2
Author(s): Anirban Dutta, Deepesh Kumar, Uttama Lahiri, Abhijit Das and Madakasira Vasantha Padma
Affiliation:
Keywords:
Neuromuscular electrical stimulation, neurorehabilitation, non-invasive brain stimulation, stroke.
Abstract: Stroke is caused due to burst or clot in an artery carrying blood from heart to an area in the
brain. This prevents delivery of oxygen and nutrients to neurons thereby causing their death and leading
to disability. Since about half of the stroke survivors are left with some degree of disability so innovative
methodologies for restorative neurorehabilitation are urgently required to reduce long-term disability. Here, the
ability of the nervous system to respond to stimuli by reorganizing its structure, function and connections may play an important
role which is called neuroplasticity. Beneficial neuroplastic changes can be facilitated early in post-stroke rehabilitation
using sensory and motor stimulation towards sensorimotor integration where electrical stimulation of the neural tissue
may play an important role. Furthermore, active cortical participation may be required for such sensorimotor integration
where volitional effort, detected with electromyogram- (EMG) and electroencephalogram- (EEG) derived biopotentials,
may be assisted with non-invasive electrotherapy, such as neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) and noninvasive
brain stimulation (NIBS). In this article, we discuss this novel concept for an engagement-sensitive interactive
system consisting of a low-cost static posturography system with adaptive response non-invasive electrotherapy technology
for post-stroke balance rehabilitation that integrates a multi-level (central and peripheral nervous system) electrotherapy
paradigm to assist volitional postural control.
