Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) Study for Foot Drop Rehabilitation Using Arduino Nano Atmega328p

A foot drop occurs when a person’s foot muscles are too weak or paralyzed to lift their foot. This disorder damages the tibialis anterior, extensor hallucis longus, and extensor digitorum longus. Electromyography (EMG) records muscular activity. When a muscle contracts, blood flow increases to it. This project proposed a proof of concept of FES device using an Arduino Nano ATmega328p and a Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) unit. The aim of the proposed device is to helps people with foot drops to afford an FES device. FES focuses on the tibialis anterior muscle, which causes foot drop. Real-time EMG of tibialis anterior (TA) muscle is recorded and filtered using the 2nd order low pass Butterworth filter. Next is the EMG detection and classification. The preprocessed EMG signal used to control the microcontroller’s response. The device’s ability to detect and activate muscles are tested. Four subjects with different ages, weights, heights, and BMIs are chosen. This research has led to the effective application of the FES device since the TENS shocks the TA when it relaxes and automatically switch off when the muscle contracts.