Development of Functional Recovery Training Device for Hemiplegic Knee Flexion Based on Repetitive Facilitation Exercise

Abstract

This paper proposes a functional recovery training device for hemiplegic knee flexion based on the Repetitive Facilitation Exercises, which can realize plasticity of the brain by a special procedure. Based on the Repetitive Facilitation Exercises, a muscle-rapidly-extended facilitating stimulus is proposed to induce knee flexion stretch reflex and cause voluntary knee flexion. Then a power assist control is given to help the voluntary movement and a mechanism is devised to realize the knee rehabilitation. Furthermore, facilitation assistant stimuli such as vibration stimulation, electrical stimulation, visual and hearing stimulation are proposed to improve the training effect. The performance and effectiveness of the device are shown by some results from able-bodied and hemiplegic subjects.