Modulation of Bilateral Muscle Synergy Amplitudes Can Reduce the Metabolic Cost of Walking Post-Stroke

As an important application of musculoskeletal modeling, researchers design personalized treatments for movement impairments such as stroke. This study uses the NMSM Pipeline software to generate a dynamically consistent gait simulation of a post-stroke subject and design a treatment to reduce energy expenditure while walking at the subject’s fastest comfortable speed. The NMSM Pipeline achieved the desired reduction in metabolic cost while finding new synergy controls for the subject more symmetric in amplitude. The NMSM Pipeline will continue to be useful in developing personalized treatments for stroke and other impairments.