ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on peripheral nerve stimulation, where we will provide a broad overview of functional electrical stimulation (FES) applications and also a detailed example of electrical neuromodulation applied to restoring and/or treating symptoms of urinary dysfunction. Neural engineering aims to take advantage of this simple input-output relationship by strategically applying electrical pulses at various anatomical locations to restore or markedly improve lost or deteriorated functions in individuals impacted by neurological impairments such as spinal cord injury (SCI) and stroke. One of the oldest and most widely studied applications in neural engineering is called FES, where electrical stimulation is used to restore motor functions by directly/indirectly activating motor nerves. Since the first successful reports of electrically restoring micturition function by intraspinal microstimulation, advances in implantable microelectrode technology and their applications in neural engineering have supported this approach as a potential long-term therapy for restoring urinary function.
