EMG-based biofeedback system for motor rehabilitation: A pilot study

The study aim was to test, in a clinical context, a compact surface electromyography (sEMG) sensor and a sEMG biofeedback protocol driven by a specifically designed graphic user interface (GUI). The system was tested on 5 healthy subjects and 3 post-stroke patients. The complete system evaluation was conducted considering the device setup time, the calibration procedure duration and the capability of the patients to understand and complete the proposed exercises. Furthermore, a set of two different therapy outcomes was calculated in order to quantify the capability to modulate the muscle contraction from patients and healthy subjects. The pilot results revealed both the suitability of the system in a clinical environment and the effective extraction of quantitative outcomes during the therapy, showing differences between patients and healthy subjects.