Welcome to the FES Rowing website

The underlying aim of the FES Rowing project is to develop new technology that enables paraplegics to participate in a mainstream activity for health, leisure and sport. Over the next few months we will be adding fuller detail information on the project's history, collaborators, research and development team members, FES rowers, sponsors and our future plans.

FES – functional electrical stimulation

Following a spinal cord injury most paraplegics cannot voluntarily exercise enough muscle mass to gain the full benefits of a regular whole body workout. However, paralysed muscles can be made to contract by applying electrical pulses through skin electrodes – a technique called functional electrical stimulation (FES). Our group has pioneered the use of FES to produce rowing motion. So far some of our FES rowers have achieved unprecedented work out rates of 3 litres of oxygen per minute – a level associated with heavy workload.

The team are now exploring FES rowing as a possible sports and leisure activity. In the future we aim to further increase participation through internet rowing and on-water events – watch this space!

FES Rowing at the British Indoor Rowing Championships