Ten thousand steps and more. Rediscover the sensations of movement and the benefits of physical activity, thanks to a technology that electrically stimulates paralyzed or weakened muscles during rowing sessions. Launched a few weeks ago at the Cercle de Aviron de Lyon, the Avistim project is aimed at people with a motor disability of the lower limbs, linked to spinal cord injury, stroke, multiple sclerosis or even Parkinson disease. Developed jointly by the French Rowing Federation, the Association des paralysés de France and an association, Stimule ton handicap, it should gradually spread to all regions.
The device, which includes a battery of electrodes placed on the skin, is similar to consumer or professional stimulators used to strengthen muscle tone, but with a particularity. “This is functional electrostimulation (FES), which, beyond muscle contractions, consists of reproducing movements such as walking or pedaling, says researcher Amine Metani (physics laboratory at ENS de Lyon), scientific director of Kurage, the start-up that develops these connected rowers. The essence of our work in this project is to control the movements obtained so that the exercise is as beneficial as possible. “ To send the stimuli at the right time, the rowers are equipped with sensors that communicate with the stimulator. The training sessions are personalized according to the pathology and the objectives of the user. The intensity of stimulation is thus adapted according to the sensations of the user, to avoid reaching the pain threshold. The start-up Kurage is also working to simplify the equipment, with a clothing system integrating the electrodes, to do away with manual installation.
Over ten years of research
For Gaëlle Deley, lecturer at the Faculty of Sports Sciences in Dijon and researcher at the Inserm CAPS 1093 laboratory, Avistim is the culmination of more than ten years of research. It was in 2008, during a postdoctoral fellowship in Boston, that she discovered the principle of rowers assisted by electrostimulation. “I saw people arriving in wheelchairs, then paddling as if nothing had happened”, she remembers enthusiastically. Convinced of the potential benefits of this approach for patients with motor deficits, the young researcher decides to invest in it upon her return to France.
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