Phantom movements from physiologically inappropriate muscles: A case study with a high transhumeral amputee

Abstract

Individuals with high-level amputation have a great need for functional prostheses because of their vast functional deficits. Conventional techniques are considered inappropriate for high-level amputees due to the lack of physiologically appropriate muscles. This study investigates how accurate phantom movements (PMs) can be classified from physiologically inappropriate muscles. The study involves a case study of a 42-year-old transhumeral amputee. Suitable PMs and best electrode configuration were identified using the sequential forward selection method and brute-force technique. Using linear discriminant analysis, the best PMs (elbow extension/flexion, wrist supination/pronation) and rest were classified with error ranging from 3% to 0.18% when using 3 to 8 EMG channels respectively. A completion rate of 93 % was obtained during a targeted achievement control test in a virtual reality environment. This case indicates that a proximal transhumeral amputee can generate muscle activation patterns related to distinct PMs; and these PMs can be decoded from physiologically inappropriate muscles.

Comparison of Conventional and Virtual Reality Box and Blocks Tests in Upper Limb Amputees: A Case-Control Study

“…VR has been used in the prosthetic field as a prosthetic training and assessment tool to monitor amputee performance [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35], alternative treatment for phantom limb pain [36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44], and virtual prototyping and testing of new prosthetics hand control system [45][46][47][48]. This medium has demonstrated its efficiency in improving the traditional method of training and makes it easy for people to learn [13].…”