The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 17, 1991
Filed:
Jan. 02, 1991
Steven H Petrofsky, Dayton, OH (US);
Therapeutic Technologies, Inc., Tampa, FL (US);
Abstract
A method and apparatus are provided for electrically stimulating muscle of individuals having little or no nerve damage so the muscle can be power contracted with little pain to the individual. A therapeutic current is applied to the muscle which includes alternating desensitizing and stimulus currents. The desensitizing current is a high frequency, low amplitude current to desensitize the muscle and the stimulus current is a low frequency, high amplitude current to stimulate the muscle. The currents alternate at a point where the amplitude and slope of the two currents are substantially identical to avoid abruptions in the current. An onset failure monitor circuit is also provided to detect an increase in skim/electrode impedance indicative of possible subsequent failure of the skin-electrode connection or electrode failure.