초록 ▼

A muscle stimulation system which stimulates muscles with electrical pulses supplied to electrodes applied to the skin overlying the muscle comprises a system controller and one or more personally portable stimulator units, each provided with electrodes. The system controller stores data relating to

A muscle stimulation system which stimulates muscles with electrical pulses supplied to electrodes applied to the skin overlying the muscle comprises a system controller and one or more personally portable stimulator units, each provided with electrodes. The system controller stores data relating to the characteristics of pulses to be applied to the muscle e.g. Trophic or functional or a combination thereof, and is adapted to down-load this data to a personal stimulator unit either by an infra-red link or by programming a programmable memory module which is then connected into the stimulator unit. The electrodes are applied to the skin of the patient and supplied with the pulses programmed into the stimulator unit, the stimulator unit being carried by the patient. The system controller may be adapted to be controlled by a personal computer and may also be provided with its own muscle stimulator.

대표청구항 ▼

A muscle stimulator system for the electrical stimulation of muscles by the application of electrical pulses to the skin overlying the muscle, comprising at least one muscle stimulator apparatus for generating the said electrical pulses, an electrode arrangement to be applied to the skin overlying t

A muscle stimulator system for the electrical stimulation of muscles by the application of electrical pulses to the skin overlying the muscle, comprising at least one muscle stimulator apparatus for generating the said electrical pulses, an electrode arrangement to be applied to the skin overlying the muscle and connected to the stimulator apparatus to receive the said electrical pulses and a system controller, wherein the system controller is provided with at least one of (a) means for storing data representative of stimulation treatment regimes; and (b) user operable means for defining a stimulation treatment regime and means for generating therefrom data representative of the stimulation treatment sequence, and wherein the system controller further comprises means for transferring to the stimulator apparatus the data representative of the thus defined characteristics of the stimulation treatment to program the stimulator apparatus with a treatment regime and wherein the system controller and muscle stimulator apparatus are separate units, the muscle stimulator apparatus having receiving means for receiving said data from the system controller, the system controller including at least one receptacle into which the muscle stimulator apparatus is adapted to fit, the transferring means of the system controller and the receiving means of the muscle stimulator apparatus being mutually adapted such that said data can be transferred to the muscle stimulator apparatus when the muscle stimulator apparatus occupies the receptacle and in a manner which does not require electrical connection of the means for transferring to the receiving means, the muscle stimulator apparatus comprises a self-contained unit comprising a meory for storing the stimulation data transferred from the system controller, pulse generating means for generating said stimulation pulses in response to and in accordance with the stored data and a power supply, and is of such a size and shape that it is personally portable by the patient and includes means allowing the stimulator apparatus to be worn by the patient so that it may be carried about by the patient, whereby the stimulator apparatus may be operated to administer the programmed treatment regime remote from the system controller.