Effectiveness of functional electrical stimulation machine in managing neurological diseases - A retrospective study

Neurological diseases often result in motor and sensory deficits like hemiplegia or tetraplegia, commonly stemming from stroke or spinal cord injury. Stroke, a major cause, occurs due to blocked or ruptured arteries, leading to oxygen deprivation and brain cell death. Spinal cord injury (SCI) involves trauma-induced cord damage, potentially causing temporary or permanent nerve function loss. Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) bike is multichannel electrical stimulation with functional movement used for enhancing impaired motor function by electrically stimulating skeletal muscles in patients experiencing neurological deficits. FES promotes active, repetitive movement in paralyzed limbs, leading to improved function, range of motion (ROM), increased muscle strength, and enhanced muscle tone in individuals with neurological conditions like stroke and spinal cord injury. This retrospective study evaluated the effectiveness of Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) on patients with neurological impairments, showing significant improvement in muscle strength and mobility. The study extracted data from August 2016 to February 2022, focusing on patients with hemiplegia or paraplegia and limited muscle power.

• 1
  Pre- and post-treatment median (IQR) showed remarkable improvement in MMT of upper limb muscle (from 1.0 to 4.0) and lower limb muscle (from 2.0 to 4.0).
• 2
  Results at baseline illustrated that of 32(62.7%) wheel chair dependent patients, 7(13.7) remained on wheel chair after treatment till last follow up, 3(5.9%) walked with walker, 10(19.6%) begun walking with help of a stick, 4(7.8%) started walking with support and 8(15.7%) started walking independently.
• 3
  Functional Electrical Stimulation cycling effectively enhances muscle strength in both upper and lower limbs, increasing scores from 1.00 to 4.00 and 2.00 to 4.00, respectively, and also improves patient mobility.