OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether surface electrical stimulation can increase the effectiveness of task-related exercises for improving the walking capacity of patients with chronic stroke. DESIGN: Randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial. SETTING: Home-based programme. SUBJECTS: One hundred and nine hemiparetic stroke survivors were assigned randomly to: (1) transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), (2) TENS+exercise, (3) placebo stimulation plus exercise, or (4) control group. INTERVENTIONS: The TENS group received 60 minutes of electrical stimulation. Both the TENS+exercise group and placebo stimulation plus exercise group did 60 minutes of exercises, followed respectively by 60 minutes of electrical and placebo stimulation. Treatment was given five days a week for four weeks. The control group had no active treatment. OUTCOME MEASURES: Comfortable gait speed was measured using a GAITRite II walkway system. Walking endurance and functional mobility were measured by the distance covered during a 6-minute walk test (6MWT) and by Timed Up and Go Test scores before treatment, after two weeks and after four weeks of treatment, and at follow-up four weeks after treatment ended. RESULTS: When compared with the other three groups, only the combined TENS+exercise group showed significantly greater absolute and percentage increases in gait velocity (by 37.1 to 57.5%, all p < 0.01) and reduction in Timed Up and Go scores (by -14.9 to -23.3%, p < 0.01) from week 2 onwards. When compared with the control and TENS groups, only the combined TENS+exercise group covered significantly more distance in the 6MWT (by 22.2 to 34.7%, p < 0.01) from week 2 onwards. CONCLUSION: TENS can improve the effectiveness of task-related exercise for increasing walking capacity in hemiparetic stroke survivors.

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

• DOI
• PubMed
• PDF locator
• publisher