Investigation of over-the-skin electrical stimulation parameters for different normal muscles and subjects

The signal parameters for over-the-skin electrical stimulation of the left finger flexor muscles of one subject have been reported by the authors in a previous paper ( J. Biomechanics 14, 579–585). This paper presents results of similar tests on the right finger flexor, biceps and calf muscles of the same subject. Comparative results from tests on twenty-three different subjects are given. It is found that the optimal stimulation patterns are the same for all the performed tests. The muscle force response to the stimulation, however, is considerably different for the different subjects and muscles and is highly dependent on the area of the electrodes and their location over the muscle.