On/off control in FES-induced standing up: a model study and experiments

Control of paraplegic standing up was studied with respect to the limitation of the end-velocity of the knee joint when the patient reaches the upright position. Closed-loop on/off control of knee extensor muscle was compared with open-loop controlled standing up both in a model study and in paraplegic patients in a controlled model situation. Criteria were knee-end-velocity and knee extensor muscle activation time. Sensitivity of the system to additional arm support and (in the model study) to the dynamics of knee extensor muscle was studied. It is concluded that the control scheme may reduce knee-end velocity to about 40 per cent and knee extensor activation time to near 70 per cent of the respective open-loop values.