Engineering evaluation of the energy-storing orthosis FES gait system

A system to restore walking in the vicinity of a wheelchair for people with paraplegia resulting from spinal cord injury is under development. The approach combines single channel surface electrical stimulation with an orthosis. The orthosis is spring loaded and contains a pneumatic system that stores energy during knee extension caused by quadriceps stimulation and transfers it to hip joint for hip extension. A laboratory version of the prototype of the gait system has been fabricated and engineering bench tests were performed. The paper presents the design of the wearable prototype and results of bench testing.