Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
1.2 WHY STUDY BIOMECHATRONICS?
Biomechatronics in health care and medicine covers the interdisciplinary field of
interaction with the human neuromusculoskeletal (NMS) system with the objec-
tive to assist impaired human motor control. In this field technology is developed
that integrates neuroscience, robotics, sensor technology, electronics and control
theory together to improvement human motor performance or regain the ability.
1.2.1 An Overview of the Neuromusculoskeletal System
The neuromusculoskeletal (NMS) system can be considered as a controlled motion
system within the body. The NMS is composed of nervous control systems
(central nervous system and peripheral nervous system), the muscular and skele-
tal systems. The central nervous system (CNS) processes the sensory information,
generates the motor commands, and sends the motor commands to skeletal muscle
via the efferent division to execute the effectors (Martini, (1995)). Millions of
nerves, hundreds of muscles and bones are delicately integrated within the human
body to react together and form the functional chain of human biomechanics.
A schematic diagram of the neuromusculoskeletal system is shown in
Fig. 1.1.
There is also a feedback mechanism in the NMS system. The sensory information
from muscle spindles and tendons will feedback to CNS and regulate the central
descending commands. This system can be impaired because of disease or trauma,
which can affect several parts of the motor system. For example, the mechanical
system is affected in the case of amputations, and actuators are affected in the
case of muscular dystrophy, and sensors may be affected as a result of long term
diabetes. Spinal cord injury (SCI) affects the control part of spinal circuits by the
brain, while stroke, Parkinson and cerebral palsy (CP) directly affect the brain.
1.2.2 The Role of Biomechatronics
Biomechatronincs could be used in rehabilitation and one successful example is
the assisted-robotic training in stroke.
Rehabilitation after stroke is important for releasing the uncomfortable
symptoms and partially restoring motor functions. Traditionally, physical train-
ing programs in poststroke rehabilitation are usually time consuming and labor
demanding to both therapist and patient with one-to-one manual interaction.
The controversy in the current rehabilitation treatments implies that conven-
tional rehabilitation approaches need to be improved for better outcome and the
improvement should depend on increased understanding of brain plasticity and
also on the development of rehabilitation devices. It is important to enhance motor
function in the early rehabilitation period (Langhammer and Stanghelle (2003)).
On the other hand, long term regular physical training is also needed in order
to maintain the function improvement after hospitalization. Therefore, the two
important issues that we should focus are how to help the patients after stroke
