AIM: To observe the effects and safety of functional electrical stimulation (FES) combined with early rehabilitation on the integral of motor function of lower limbs in patients with stroke hemiplegia, and investigate the possible mechanism. METHODS: A total of 112 patients with acute stroke were selected from the Department of Rehabilitation, Second Clinical Medical College of Jilin University after diagnosed as having stroke in the Department of Neurology. All patients were randomly divided into two groups, including FES combined with early rehabilitation group (n = 56) and simple early rehabilitation group(n = 56). Patients in treatment group were treated with the combination of Bobath' s and motor relearning program(MRP), occupational therapy and FES. Patients in control group were treated with the simple early rehabilitation. RESULTS: The integral of Fugl-Meyer on the motor function of lower limbs was 22.00 +/- 3.37 after treatment in treatment group, which was significantly higher than that before treatment(5.82 +/- 2.33) (p < 0.05). The integral of Fugl-Meyer was 14.43 +/- 3.21 after treatment in control group, which was improved compared with that before treatment(6.09 +/- 2.13), but lower than that in treatment group. It was significantly different between the two groups after treatment (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: FES combined with early rehabilitation is very important in accelerating the recovery of motor function of lower limbs, improving the ability of walking and activities of daily living, ameliorating the quality of life, and preventing secondary disability in patients with hemipleglia.

Full text (sometimes free) may be available at these link(s):      help

• PDF locator
• publisher