Prospects of neurorehabilitation technologies based on robust decoding of the neural drive to muscles following targeted muscle reinnervation

Book chapter, 2017

Latest advances in neurorehabilitation technologies provide users with reliable mechatronic devices. Nonetheless, the control capabilities of these systems are limited to techniques that rely on indirect measures of neural information using EMG signals. We foresee that the combination of targeted muscle reinnervation (TMR) and high-density EMG electrodes supported by advanced blind source separation techniques (BSS) can substantially enhance current neurorehabilitation solutions. TMR provides access to the nerve activity by connecting nerves to muscles, used as biological amplifiers. Control would benefit from richer information content directly related to spinal motor neuron activity. The motor neuron firing statistics is obtained by applying advanced decomposition algorithms on the multi-channel EMGs from the targeted reinnervated muscles. It is expected that the control of these systems will be more dexterous and precise.