Non-invasive muscle force assessment apparatus for use in the intensive care unit

Muscle function assessment is important for diagnosing muscular disorders, developing treatment plans, and tracking patient progress over time. The muscle force assessment system (MFAS) can provide quantitative results versus the traditional qualitative results that are obtained from manual tests. A new MFAS was developed for measuring force in the tibialis anterior muscle in response to electrical stimulation. The system is small, portable, and can be used in an ICU setting. Preliminary experiments were conducted to compare the new system to an existing force assessment system. The results demonstrated that the new system is repeatable and reliable.