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. 2019 Feb;43(1):96-105.
doi: 10.5535/arm.2019.43.1.96. Epub 2019 Feb 28.

Combined Therapy With Functional Electrical Stimulation and Standing Frame in Stroke Patients

Joung Bok Lee  1   2 , Sang Beom Kim  1   2 , Kyeong Woo Lee  1   2 , Jong Hwa Lee  1   2 , Jin Gee Park  1   2 , Sook Joung Lee  3
Affiliations

Combined Therapy With Functional Electrical Stimulation and Standing Frame in Stroke Patients

Joung Bok Lee et al. Ann Rehabil Med. 2019 Feb.

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the effects of combination functional electrical stimulation (FES) and standing frame training on standing balance in stroke patients.

Methods: Patients who had hemiparesis and postural instability after stroke were randomly assigned to one of the two groups; study group underwent FES on the quadriceps and tibialis anterior muscle simultaneously with standing balance training. The control group received standing frame training and FES separately. Both the groups received their respective therapies for 3 weeks. Stability index in Biodex Balance master system, Berg Balance Scale (BBS), manual muscle test, the Korean version of Modified Barthel Index, and Korean version of Mini-Mental State Examination were used to evaluate the effects of the treatment.

Results: In total, 30 patients were recruited to the study group and 30 to the control group. Three weeks after treatment, both the groups showed improvement in postural stability scores and physical and cognitive functions. When changes in postural stability were compared between the groups, the study group showed more significant improvement than the control group with regards to the scores of BBS and the stability indices.

Conclusion: In this study, we found the therapeutic effectiveness of combined therapy of FES and standing frame in subacute stroke patients. The presented protocol is proposed as time-saving and can be applied easily in the clinical setting. Thus, the proposed combined therapy could be a useful method for improving standing balance in subacute stroke patients.

Keywords: Functional electrical stimulation; Rehabilitation; Standing balance; Standing frame; Stroke.

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Conflict of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
(A) The study group received combination treatment (standing frame training and FES simultaneously) and (B) the control group received conventional treatment (standing frame training without FES and FES separately). FES, functional electrical stimulation.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Flowchart for enrollment of the subjects. MMSE, Mini-Mental State Examination; FES, functional electrical stimulation.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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