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Electrical Stimulation and Methods to Manipulate the Motor and Sensory System: Current Settings and Applications II

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A special issue of Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220). This special issue belongs to the section "Biomedical Sensors".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2022) | Viewed by 5487

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Special Issue Editor

Dr. Dimitrios A. Patikas

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Guest Editor

School of Physical Education and Sports Science at Serres, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 621 10 Thessaloniki, Greece
Interests: neuromuscular control; balance; training; electrical stimulation; electromyography; reflexes; fatigue; aging
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Electrical stimulation is an old, but still-developing and popular, technique used to manipulate the function of the neuromuscular system. Rehabilitation, training, ageing, and virtual reality are only some of the fields in which electrical stimulation has been applied in different areas of the body, stimulating the skin, muscles, nerves, and the brain. Indicative pathologies that are treated with such techniques are Parkinson's disease, cerebral palsy, Alzheimer's disease, as well as symptoms such as spasticity or pain that are common in patients with multiple sclerosis or stroke. On the other end of the spectrum, electrical stimulation may be used as a tool to enhance or maximize the performance of athletes.

In recent decades, we have learned more about the plasticity of the central nervous system and the capacity of the muscles to adapt to external stimuli, and several other methods have been developed and used to stimulate the neuromuscular system and document its responses. Haptic stimulation or vibration (tendon or whole body) are additional techniques that can be used standalone or in combination with other stimulation methods to create illusions or to regulate the sensory flow.

This Special Issue focuses on the current methods and techniques used to manipulate the sensory inflow of information and the motor output of the neuromuscular system, placing particular emphasis on the devices and applications that are currently available and their perspectives for the future. Both review articles and original research papers are solicited.

Dr. Dimitrios A. Patikas
Guest Editor

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Keywords

neuromuscular electrical stimulation
nerve stimulation
tendon vibration
whole body vibration
functional electrical stimulation
TENS
galvanic vestibular stimulation
transcranial magnetic stimulation
sensory stimulation
spinal excitability
H-reflex
motor evoked potentials (MEPs)
electroencephalography
resistance training
rehabilitation
elderly

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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14 pages, 2291 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Electrotactile Communication via Matrix Electrode Placed on the Torso Using Fast Calibration, and Static vs. Dynamic Encoding

by Jovana Malešević, Miloš Kostić, Fabricio A. Jure, Erika G. Spaich, Strahinja Došen, Vojin Ilić, Goran Bijelić and Matija Štrbac

Sensors 2022, 22(19), 7658; https://doi.org/10.3390/s22197658 - 9 Oct 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1539

Abstract

Electrotactile stimulation is a technology that reproducibly elicits tactile sensations and can be used as an alternative channel to communicate information to the user. The presented work is a part of an effort to develop this technology into an unobtrusive communication tool for first responders. In this study, the aim was to compare the success rate (SR) between discriminating stimulation at six spatial locations (static encoding) and recognizing six spatio-temporal patterns where pads are activated sequentially in a predetermined order (dynamic encoding). Additionally, a procedure for a fast amplitude calibration, that includes a semi-automated initialization and an optional manual adjustment, was employed and evaluated. Twenty subjects, including twelve first responders, participated in the study. The electrode comprising the 3 × 2 matrix of pads was placed on the lateral torso. The results showed that high SRs could be achieved for both types of message encoding after a short learning phase; however, the dynamic approach led to a statistically significant improvement in messages recognition (SR of 93.3%), compared to static stimulation (SR of 83.3%). The proposed calibration procedure was also effective since in 83.8% of the cases the subjects did not need to adjust the stimulation amplitude manually. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electrical Stimulation and Methods to Manipulate the Motor and Sensory System: Current Settings and Applications II)

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17 pages, 1775 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Fully Integrated, Power-Efficient, 0.07–2.08 mA, High-Voltage Neural Stimulator in a Standard CMOS Process

by David Palomeque-Mangut, Ángel Rodríguez-Vázquez and Manuel Delgado-Restituto

Sensors 2022, 22(17), 6429; https://doi.org/10.3390/s22176429 - 26 Aug 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1464

Abstract

This paper presents a fully integrated high-voltage (HV) neural stimulator with on-chip HV generation. It consists of a neural stimulator front-end that delivers stimulation currents up to 2.08 mA with 5 bits resolution and a switched-capacitor DC-DC converter that generates a programmable voltage supply from 4.2 V to 13.2 V with 4 bits resolution. The solution was designed and fabricated in a standard 180 nm 1.8 V/3.3 V CMOS process and occupied an active area of

2.34

m

m

^{2}

. Circuit-level and block-level techniques, such as a proposed high-compliance voltage cell, have been used for implementing HV circuits in a low-voltage CMOS process. Experimental validation with an electrical model of the electrode–tissue interface showed that (1) the neural stimulator can handle voltage supplies up to 4 times higher than the technology’s nominal supply, (2) residual charge—without passive discharging phase—was below 0.12% for the whole range of stimulation currents, (3) a stimulation current of 2 mA can be delivered with a voltage drop of 0.9 V, and (4) an overall power efficiency of 48% was obtained at maximum stimulation current. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electrical Stimulation and Methods to Manipulate the Motor and Sensory System: Current Settings and Applications II)

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Review

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16 pages, 710 KiB

Open AccessReview

Protocols Targeting Afferent Pathways via Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation for the Plantar Flexors: A Systematic Review

by Anastasia Papavasileiou, Anthi Xenofondos, Stéphane Baudry, Thomas Lapole, Ioannis G. Amiridis, Dimitrios Metaxiotis, Themistoklis Tsatalas and Dimitrios A. Patikas

Sensors 2023, 23(4), 2347; https://doi.org/10.3390/s23042347 - 20 Feb 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1783

Abstract

This systematic review documents the protocol characteristics of studies that used neuromuscular electrical stimulation protocols (NMES) on the plantar flexors [through triceps surae (TS) or tibial nerve (TN) stimulation] to stimulate afferent pathways. The review was conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) statement, was registered to PROSPERO (ID: CRD42022345194) and was funded by the Greek General Secretariat for Research and Technology (ERA-NET NEURON JTC 2020). Included were original research articles on healthy adults, with NMES interventions applied on TN or TS or both. Four databases (Cochrane Library, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science) were systematically searched, in addition to a manual search using the citations of included studies. Quality assessment was conducted on 32 eligible studies by estimating the risk of bias with the checklist of the Effective Public Health Practice Project Quality Assessment Tool. Eighty-seven protocols were analyzed, with descriptive statistics. Compared to TS, TN stimulation has been reported in a wider range of frequencies (5–100, vs. 20–200 Hz) and normalization methods for the contraction intensity. The pulse duration ranged from 0.2 to 1 ms for both TS and TN protocols. It is concluded that with increasing popularity of NMES protocols in intervention and rehabilitation, future studies may use a wider range of stimulation attributes, to stimulate motor neurons via afferent pathways, but, on the other hand, additional studies may explore new protocols, targeting for more optimal effectiveness. Furthermore, future studies should consider methodological issues, such as stimulation efficacy (e.g., positioning over the motor point) and reporting of level of discomfort during the application of NMES protocols to reduce the inherent variability of the results. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electrical Stimulation and Methods to Manipulate the Motor and Sensory System: Current Settings and Applications II)

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