Surface EMG analysis of tibialis anterior muscle in walking with FES in stroke subjects

In this work we have examined the effect of functional electrical stimulation (FES) in the management of drop foot in stroke subjects with surface electromyographic (sEMG) analysis from the tibialis anterior (TA) muscle. Ten subjects were assigned to FES therapy combined with conventional stroke rehabilitation program 5 days a week, 60 min a day, for 12-weeks in clinical settings. Baseline and post-treatment measurements were made for temporal and spectral parameters of EMG signals of TA muscle. The evaluation results reported an increase in mean-absolute-value (MAV), root-mean-square (RMS) and also improved the amplitude and median frequency (MF) of the sEMG power spectrum in monitoring the improvement of the tibialis anterior muscle during maximum voluntary contractions (MVC). We conclude that walking with FES system combined with a conventional rehabilitation program improves the muscle strength in stroke survivors.