A new cycle ergometer with functional electrical stimulation as a tool for rehabilitation after spinal cord injury

Abstract

The Spinal Cord injury is an injury with deep social and economic complications affecting mainly adults and young adults during their active age, compromising their future lives. The Rehabilitation process in this type of injuries has a crucial role in the improvements of people’s quality of life. The Functional Electrical Stimulation in Spinal Cord Injury people arises as one tool with proven results in the rehabilitation process, particularly the Cycle Ergometer with Electrical Stimulation. The objective of this thesis is to describe the design and construction from scratch of a new, cheaper and easier to assemble Cycle Ergometer with Electrical Stimulation. This new Cycle Ergometer is part of a bigger project that aims to study the importance of the synchrony between the voluntary muscle contraction and the external muscle contraction from the Electrical Stimulation in the improvement of the Rehabilitation outcomes.

Date of Award	2013
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Nick Donaldson (Supervisor) & Pedro Encarnação (Co-Supervisor)