A Personal User's View of Functional Electrical Stimulation Cycling

Abstract

Two years of functional electrical stimulation cycling (FESC) as a researcher and subject have given me an insight into the direction that future FESC should take as well as providing me with significant health benefits and an enjoyable and functional ability to cycle. If FESC is to benefit spinal cord injured persons (SCIPs), researchers must turn their attention to making the activity convenient and enjoyable. What follows is a personal view and will be less scientifically rigorous than other presentations but hopefully still of value. It calls upon my experience as a general medical practitioner with a special interest in the value of exercise, a human powered vehicle enthusiast, an amateur FES researcher, but most importantly, an SCIP and FES cyclist.