FUNCTIONAL ELECTRICAL STIMULATION OF EXTREMITIES: ITS BASIS, TECHNOLOGY AND ROLE IN REHABILITATION.

FES has numerous advantages over other orthotic methods. In cerebro - vascular diseases, craniocerebral trauma, in paraplegia and in peripheral nerve lesions resulting in plegic and paretic muscles, only the control is damaged, while the ″mechanical motors″ themselves remain unaffected until after the damage. They are potentially able to perform functional movements. But due to inactivity, they quickly degenerate after the failure of control mechanisms. In traditional orthotics these natural motors are not utilized (in terms of function). The advantages of the concept in which the natural mechanical motors - the muscles - are utilized to perform functional movements, by substituting electrical stimulation for the damaged nervous control, are evident. Due to regained activity, muscles and joints do not degenerate. As only a very small portion of the released mechanical energy (1 part in 200,000) is necessary for electrical stimulation, the problem of energy, and with it that of the patient's autonomy, becomes easy to solve. FES only triggers natural energy release through metabolism. The compactness of components of contemporary electronic technology, together with implantable stimulators, enables highly cosmetic orthotic devices to be constructed. The regained activity of plegic muscles produces, it appears, also qualitatively new therapeutic effects.