Establishing Bionic Prosthetic Control in Individuals Receiving Targeted Muscle Reinnervation for Pain Prevention
Abstract
Targeted muscle reinnervation for the prevention of neuromas and phantom pain (N-TMR) is rapidly emerging as standard surgical intervention. The efficacy of N-TMR for pain treatment and the low complexity of the nerve redirection procedure at the time of amputation have been a key aspect of its widespread adoption. However, N-TMR was not developed for prosthetic control. Unlike the original prosthetic-focused targeted muscle reinnervation surgeries, N-TMR often redirected nerves to less accessible muscles. Therefore, using surface electromyography to measure the activity of the deeper reinnervated muscles for prosthetic control is very difficult especially since muscle orientation, signal separation, and electrical crosstalk are also not considered during N-TMR surgery. To address these limitations, we investigated the feasibility of applying sonomyography, a prosthesis control technique that is capable of measuring reinnervated muscle activity across the depths of the residuum. We applied ultrasound imaging techniques paired with image processing and machine learning algorithms to classify patterns of muscle activity according to the motor intentions of participants' missing limbs. In two participants with transhumeral amputation and N-TMR surgery we demonstrated that 4-6 functionally relevant missing hand and wrist movements could be classified with 82% to nearly 100% accuracy. We suggest that like the original prosthetic-focused targeted muscle reinnervation surgeries, N-TMR provides opportunities to establish bionic interfaces with advanced prostheses. We see a significant opportunity to improve prosthetic motor outcomes for the growing number of individuals with high-level amputations that are receiving this procedure for pain prevention.
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Published
2022-08-09
How to Cite
[1]
J. Schofield, J. Fitzgerald, M. Battraw, P. Marasco, and W. Joiner, “Establishing Bionic Prosthetic Control in Individuals Receiving Targeted Muscle Reinnervation for Pain Prevention”, MEC Symposium, Aug. 2022.
Conference Proceedings Volume
Section
Myo Control and Sensory Feedback Implementations
