ETHZ-ParaCare System

The ETHZ-Para Care System was developed collaboratively between ParaCare, the University Hospital Zurich, the Rehabilitation Engineering Group at Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich and Compex SA, Switzerland. The system was designed to improve grasping and walking function in SCI and stroke patients. Surface stimulation FES system is programmable, with 4 stimulation channels and can be interfaced with any sensor or sensory system. The system provides both palmar and lateral grasps. The device has some reported disadvantage that includes a lengthy time to don and doff the device (7-10 minutes) and it is not commercially available. The next generation of the device will be called the Compex Motion (Popovic et al. 2001; Popovic et al. 2006). The Compex Motion device is currently available in clinical trials with approximately 80 units available. The Compex Motion stimulator was designed to serve as a hardware platform for the development of diverse FES systems that apply transcutaneous (surface) stimulation technology. One of the main designs in this system is that it is easily programmable (Popovic et al. 2006).