A wearable multi-pad electrode prototype for selective functional electrical stimulation of upper extremities.

In this paper, a surface multi-pad stimulation electrode with selective characteristics was designed, it was safe to use and easy to mount. Then a wearable and distributed multi-pad functional electrical stimulation (FES) prototype combined with sensing, communication and smart technology was designed, which can achieve a fast, intelligent optimization to determine stimulation electrode sites and comfortable stimulation. In addition, in order to improve the application and convenience of FES in the rehabilitation at clinical and home-setting, an Android application (APP) based on smart phone was designed for running an algorithm of searching optimal stimulation site. The prototype has been validated by performing selective stimulation on one healthy subject, and showed that the FES system can automatically determine the stimulation site.