Efficacy and safety of functional electrical stimulation of lower limb muscles in elderly patients with chronic heart failure: A pilot study

Abstract

In this pilot study, FES effectively improved functional status, quality of life, motional stress and endothelial function in elderly chronic heart failure patients and warrants further investigation in this particular group of patients.

Tai Chi exercise and functional electrical stimulation of lower limb muscles for rehabilitation in older adults with chronic systolic heart failure: a non-randomized clinical trial

“…Patients who did not receive any kind of intervention were included in the control group (n=271). Patients who received 30 min a day (individually), 5-days/week FES for 12 weeks (9) were included in the FES group (n=271). Patients who received 1-h group classes of TC exercise twice weekly for 12 weeks (12) were included in the TCE group (n=271).…”

“…Eight 60-mm adhesive electrodes were placed on the skin over the lower medial and upper lateral parts of the quadriceps muscle and over the lower and upper portions of the gastrocnemius muscles. A direct electrical current at 25 Hz was applied for 5 s. A 5-s interval was allowed between the two currents (9). RehaMove ® FES Cycling instrument (HASOMED GmbH, Germany) was used for all patients.…”

“…In China, heart failure is the leading cause of death in older patients (7) and Tai Chi (TC) (Tai Chi Chuan or Taijiquan) meditative programs are used for secondary prevention in heart failure patients (8). Functional electrical stimulation of lower limb muscles (FES) has improved Zung Self-Rating Depression scale scores (9), flow-mediated dilation (10), Beck Depression Inventory score (9), and 6-minute walking distance test results (11) in CHF patients. After doing a thorough literature search, one randomized trial with TC exercise (non-pharmacological intervention) on older CHF patients was found (12), and to our knowledge, only one study has evaluated the effect of FES on Chinese patients but not on older CHF patients (13).…”

Acute heart failure syndrome in the elderly

“…The multifactorial pathophysiology of HFpEF needs to be investigated in depth. Particularly, therapies targeting skeletal muscle dysfunction warrant further evaluation . Furthermore, industrial research should set a high priority in developing and evaluating new pharmaceutical agents for these patients.…”

Functional electrical stimulation of lower limb muscles as an alternative mode of exercise training in chronic heart failure: practical considerations and proposed algorithm

“…In this particular CHF population, who are unable to perform conventional exercise, FES may serve as an alternative mode of training. As previously emphasized, FES is an easily applicable, well‐tolerated and safe modality in a wide range of HF patients, including elderly ones and those with severe symptoms [New York Heart Association (NYHA) class III or IV] . In addition, it has been shown that FES might exert a greater benefit on clinical and neurohormonal parameters in NYHA III–IV patients compared with NYHA II patients .…”