Clinical Efficacy of Functional Electrical Stimulation-assisted Rehabilitation Cycling on the Function of Lower Limbs in Patients with Stroke

Abstract

Objective: To explore the efficacy of functional electrical stimulation (FES)-assisted rehabilitation cycling on the functional recovery of lower limbs in patients with hemiplegic stroke and the assessment value of surface electromyography (sEMG). Methods: A total of 66 patients with stroke accompanied by hemiplegia of the lower limbs were enrolled in the present prospective study and randomly divided into the experimental group and control group, with 33 patients in each group. FES-assisted rehabilitation cycling was applied in the experimental group, while only rehabilitation cycling was performed without setting the stimulation parameters in the control group. sEMG and the Fugl–Meyer assessment (FMA) were carried out, and the modified Barthel index (MBI) of the lower limbs was assessed before treatment and after 4 weeks and 8 weeks of treatment. Results: There were no significant differences in the evaluation results of sEMG, FMA, and MBI of the lower limbs between the two groups of patients before the treatment (p > 0.05). After 4 weeks of treatment, compared with the control group, there were significant differences in the results of sEMG, FMA, and MBI of the lower limbs in the experimental group (p < 0.05). In the experimental group, the difference in sEMG was statistically significant (p < 0.05). After 8 weeks of treatment, compared with the control group, there were significant differences in the results of sEMG, FMA, and MBI of the lower limbs in the experimental group (p < 0.05). In the experimental group, the differences in the results of sEMG, FMA, and MBI of the lower limbs were statistically significant (p < 0.05). The inter-group comparison of the results of sEMG, FMA and MBI of the lower limbs was statistically significant (p < 0.05) in the control group. Conclusion: FES-assisted rehabilitation cycling might promote the recovery of the motor function of the lower limbs in patients with stroke and improve the sEMG signal of the lower limbs.

Robot-assisted support combined with electrical stimulation for the lower extremity in stroke patients: a systematic review

“…with mild limitations (high mobility) [25,34,39,41]. One article had an experimental group that had high mobility and a control group with low mobility [35]. For three articles it was unable to determine the limitation of the included study population as they did not measure any of the three baseline characteristics (gait velocity, FAC or FMA) [26,28,43].…”

Functional Electrical Stimulation Therapy to improve motor function and activity in post-stroke individuals in early subacute phase: a systematic review with meta-analysis

“…The mean age of the participants ranged from 56 to 74 years of age. All studies [20,21,31,32,33] included participants in the early subacute post-stroke stage, the time of stroke ranged from 16 to 60 days. Mean baseline strength ranged from 22.5 to 79.9 points on the Motricity Index and one study [33] did not report baseline strength of participants.…”

“…The experimental intervention in all trials was FEST. Three studies [20,21,33] investigated the effect of FEST combined with exercise programs. Two studies [31,32] investigated the effectiveness of FEST.…”

“…Motor function analyses consisted of two studies [20,31] that measured strength using the Motricity Index, one study [32] that measured balance using the Berg Balance Scale, and one study [20] that measured trunk control by the Trunk Impairment Scale. Activity analyses consisted of four studies [20,21,31,32] that measured walking speed, three studies [20,21,32] measured walking distance using the Six Minute Walk Test, and three studies [21,32,33] measured activity of daily living.…”

“…The effect of FEST combined with exercise programs on activities of daily living compared to exercise programs was examined by pooling outcomes from two trials [21,33] involving 82 participants. Low-quality evidence suggested that the mean difference of activities of daily living in the Functional Independence Measure (18 to 126) was 1.93 points (95% CI -6.19 to 10.04, I²=0%), which indicates that FEST combined with exercise programs has similar bene t compared to exercise programs on activities of daily living (Fig.…”