With Nerve and Muscle

The past ten years have witnessed the introduction of several new methods . for chronic recording o f electrical activity in peripheral nerves, single nerve fibers and muscles, and for monitoring mechanical events correlated with muscular action. Although these methods were developed as research tools in the study o f movements of unrestrained, intact animals, such implantable interfaces with nerve and muscle also promise to be o f value in clinical applications; some novel clinical efforts are already being pursued. A review is given o f various new techniques that may be clinically applicable and the issues o f surgical constraints, quality o f signal isolation, and long-term reliability o f implantable devices, which ultimately determine the usefulness o f each method, are discussed. Experimental devices reviewed include nerve cuff electrodes, floating single-unit electrodes, EMG electrodes, length gauges, and force gauges. General considerations for potential clinical applications are then given.