Feasibility of pronosupination control by functional neuromuscular stimulation in tetraplegia: experimental and biomechanical evaluation

Since individuals with C5/C6 tetraplegia lack voluntary control of the forearm pronators, the authors evaluated the feasibility of restoring forearm pronation/supination control using an electrically activated pronator opposed by voluntary supination. To this end, the authors measured the electrically produced pronation moments of subjects with tetraplegia. The maximal pronation moment achieved by stimulating the pronator quadratus ranged from 30-100 N/spl middot/cm in 3 forearms of 2 subjects. Voluntary control of pronosupination during constant pronator stimulation was achieved by having the subject voluntarily supinate or relax to change the balance of rotational torques acting on the forearm. In all cases, the subjects were able to supinate voluntarily against the continuously stimulated pronator, producing intermediate angles between full pronation and full supination. The authors also observed under some conditions that subjects could voluntarily pronate and supinate even without pronator stimulation. Using a biomechanical model, the authors show how pronation can be initiated from a supinated position using the brachioradialis, with gravity completing the pronation. This method of pronation without stimulation is extremely sensitive to the orientation of the forearm in the gravitational field, and thus is not a widely applicable technique.