[Effects of functional electrical therapy on upper extremity functional motor recovery in patients after stroke--our experience and future directions].
2011
Introduction. New neurorehabilitation together with conventional techniques
provide methods and technologies for maximizing what is preserved from the
sensory motor system after cerebrovascular insult. The rehabilitation
technique named functional electrical therapy was investigated in more than
60 patients in acute, subacute and chronic phase after cerebrovascular
insult. The functional sensory information generated by functional electrical
therapy was hypothesized to result in the intensive functional brain training
of the activities performed. Functional Electrical Therapy. Functional
electrical therapy is a combination of functional exercise and electrical
therapy. The functional electrical therapy protocol comprises voluntary
movement of the paretic arm in synchrony with the electrically assisted hand
functions in order to perform typical daily activities. The daily treatment
of 30 minutes lasts three weeks. The outcome measures include several tests
for the evaluation of arm/hand functionality: upper extremity function test,
drawing test, modified Aschworth scale, motor activity log and passive range
of movement. Results of Functional Electrical Therapy Studies. Results from
our several clinical studies showed that functional electrical therapy, if
applied in acute and subacute stroke patients, leads to faster and greater
improvement of functioning of the hemiplegic arm/hand compared to the control
group. The outcomes were significantly superior at all times after the
treatment for the higher functioning group. Discussion. Additional
well-planned clinical studies are needed to determine the adequate dose of
treatment (timing, duration, intensity) with functional electrical therapy
regarding the patient’s status. A combination with other techniques should be
further investigated.
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