An easy-to-build transcutaneous electrical stimulator for spinal cord stimulation therapy

Abstract

Transcutaneous electrical spinal cord stimulation, a non-invasive, reversible spinal cord neuromodulation method holds tremendous promise and hope for the people with paralysis resultant of spinal cord injury (SCI) and other neurological conditions. Yet, there are not many options of such stimulation device compared to other successful electrical stimulators such as neuromuscular electrical stimulator (NMES) and functional electrical stimulator (FES), especially for most people around the world. In this report, a simple design and step-by-step prototyping of a transcutaneous electrical stimulator (TES) is presented to facilitate anyone with the modest technological knowledge to develop their own stimulator for the spinal cord stimulation treatment. It is, however, warned to handle the stimulator with highest caution and care as it can generate high voltage which can have adverse health effects, if not handled carefully. The entire design and source-code are shared online on GitHub repository: https://github.com/OpenXstim/OpenVstim