Electrical stimulation of muscle
First Claim
1. Apparatus for the stimulation of muscle fibre by the application of a stimulating electrical signal to the muscle fibre or to overlying tissue, comprising control means, pulse generating means for generating an electrical signal for use as said stimulating electrical signals and whose waveform carries information which affects the response of said muscle fibre to its stimulation by said signal and at least one pair of electrodes to be placed, in use, in electrical contact with the muscle fibre or overlying tissue, the pulse generating means being responsive in use to the control means to generate as said stimulating electrical signal a sequence of electrical pulses whose characteristics code for electrotrophic information thereby to convey electrotrophic information to the muscle fibre to bring about an electrotrophic response in said muscle fibre for effecting change in the muscle fibre to cause desired structural and/or functional adaptation of the muscle, and to supply the sequence of electrical pulses so generated to the said at least one pair of electrodes, which electrodes transmit the sequence of electrical pulses supplied by the pulse generating means to the muscle fibre or overlying tissue to impart thereto the electrotrophic stimulation to effect the desired structural and/or functional adaptation of the muscle.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus are disclosed for the electrotrophic stimulation of muscle, that is, stimulation using pulses trains onto which information which will cause long-term functional and/or structural changes in the muscle tissue. This information is coded onto the interval between successive pulses of the series. Also disclosed is a method and apparatus for acquiring trophic data from motor unit action potential series.
157 Citations
37 Claims
- 1. Apparatus for the stimulation of muscle fibre by the application of a stimulating electrical signal to the muscle fibre or to overlying tissue, comprising control means, pulse generating means for generating an electrical signal for use as said stimulating electrical signals and whose waveform carries information which affects the response of said muscle fibre to its stimulation by said signal and at least one pair of electrodes to be placed, in use, in electrical contact with the muscle fibre or overlying tissue, the pulse generating means being responsive in use to the control means to generate as said stimulating electrical signal a sequence of electrical pulses whose characteristics code for electrotrophic information thereby to convey electrotrophic information to the muscle fibre to bring about an electrotrophic response in said muscle fibre for effecting change in the muscle fibre to cause desired structural and/or functional adaptation of the muscle, and to supply the sequence of electrical pulses so generated to the said at least one pair of electrodes, which electrodes transmit the sequence of electrical pulses supplied by the pulse generating means to the muscle fibre or overlying tissue to impart thereto the electrotrophic stimulation to effect the desired structural and/or functional adaptation of the muscle.
- 8. Apparatus for the stimulation of muscle fibre by the application of a stimulating electrical signal to the muscle fibre or to overlying tissue, comprising control means, pulse generating means for generating an electrical signal for use as stimulating electrical signals and whose waveform carries information which affects the response of said muscle fibre to its stimulation by said signal and at least one pair of electrodes to be placed, in use, in electrical contact with the muscle fibre or overlying tissue, the control means selectively controlling, in use, the pulse generating means to generate as said stimulating electrical signal a sequence of electrical pulses whose charateristics code electrophic information thereby to convey electrotrophic information to the muscle fibre to bring about an electrotrophic response in said muscle fibre for effecting change in the muscle fibre to cause desired structural and/or functional adaptation of the muscle, or a sequence of electrical pulses whose characteristics code Faradic information to convey Faradic information to the muscle fibre to bring about a Faradic response in said muscle fibre and to supply the sequence of electrical pulses so generated and coding the stimulating information to the said at least one pair of electrodes, which electrodes transmit the sequence of electrical pulses supplied by the pulse generating means to the muscle fibre or overlying tissue to effect the desired structural and/or functional adaption of the muscle or the Faradic stimulation respectively.
- 19. A method of applying stimulating pulses to muscle fibre comprising generating and applying to the muscle fibres, or to overlying tissue, a stimulus pulse sequence, the pulse sequence being so selected that its waveform carries information which affects the response of said muscle fibre to its stimulation by said stimulating pulse sequence and its characteristics convey electrotrophic information to the muscle fibre for causing a desired structural and/or functional adaptation of muscle fibre of which a muscle is comprised and applying said sequence of pulses to the muscle, or to overlying tissue whereby an electrotrophic response is brought about in said muscle fibre to effect the desired structural and/or functional adaptation.
- 25. A method of applying stimulating pulses to muscle fibre comprising the steps of generating and applying to the muscle fibres, or to overlying tissue, two or more stimulus pulse sequences, a first one of the pulse sequence being so selected that the pulse sequence conveys electrotrophic information for causing a desired structural and/or functional adaptation of muscle fibre of which a muscle is comprised and applying said sequence of pulses to the muscle, or to overlying tissue and a second one of the pulse sequences being so selected as to cause a desired faradic stimulation of the muscle fibre.
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33. A method of generating a sequence of muscle stimulating pulses in accordance with pulse interval data held a memory comprising the steps of
(A) reading out an item of pulse interval data from said memory; -
(B) initializing the contents of a memory location with data representing a count; (C) periodically incrementing or decrementing said contents; (D) periodically testing said contents and repeating (C) until said contents have a value determined in relation to the pulse interval data such that the number of repeats of (C) is determined by the pulse interval data; and (E) generating a stimulating pulse when said value occurs; steps (A) to (E) inclusive being executed for each of a series of items of pulse interval data. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36, 37)
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Specification