title: Brain-controlled functional electrical stimulation for lower-limb motor recovery in stroke survivors.
abstract: Despite the prevalence of stroke-induced gait impairment due to foot drop, current rehabilitative practices to improve gait function are limited, and orthoses can be uncomfortable and do not provide long-lasting benefits. Therefore, novel modalities that may facilitate lasting neurological and functional improvements, such as brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), have been explored. In this article, we assess the feasibility of BCI-controlled functional electrical stimulation (FES) as a novel physiotherapy for post-stroke foot drop. Three chronic stroke survivors with foot drop received three, 1-hour sessions of therapy during 1 week. All subjects were able to purposefully operate the BCI-FES system in real time. Furthermore, the salient electroencephalographic (EEG) features used for classification by the data-driven methodology were determined to be physiologically relevant. Over the course of this short therapy, the subjects' dorsiflexion active range of motion (AROM) improved by 3°, 4°, and 8°, respectively. These results indicate that chronic stroke survivors can operate the BCI-FES system, and that BCI-FES intervention may promote functional improvements.
authors.forename: Colin M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: McCrimmon
authors.forename: Christine E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: King
authors.forename: Po T
authors.initials: PT
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Steven C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Cramer
authors.forename: Zoran
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Nenadic
authors.forename: An H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Do
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D062207:Brain-Computer Interfaces; D016002:Discriminant Analysis; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005684:Gait / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007866:Leg / Q000502:physiology*; D026741:Physical Therapy Modalities; D016059:Range of Motion, Articular; D059629:Signal-To-Noise Ratio; D020521:Stroke / Q000503:physiopathology*