Effectiveness of finger-equipped electrode (FEE)-triggered electrical stimulation improving chronic stroke patients with severe hemiplegia

Figures & data

Figure 1. (a, b) Characteristics of the FEE, which is made of metal-coated fabric. (c, d) A treatment session (for elbow extension) using the FEE. One self-adhesive electrode was placed on the proximal side of the triceps brachii muscle. The therapist, outfitted with the FEE on a finger, said ‘Raise your hand as far as you can’ and started to assist the patient's motion (if any residual extension was possible). Then, the FEE was applied to the skin over the nerve which innervated the muscle to promote contraction. The muscle contraction was repeated 50-times.

Table I. Baseline clinical characteristics of two groups

						Bruunstrom stage			MAS
Patient	Diagnosis	Age	Sex	Paretic side	TFO (mon)	UE	Finger	FMA	Elbow	Wrist
FEE-ES group
1	CI	55	M	Lt	23	3	2	16	1+	1+
2	CH	62	M	Lt	32	3	2	26	2	1+
3	CH	59	F	Rt	36	3	3	12	1+	1
4	CH	65	M	Lt	120	3	3	13	1+	3
Control group
5	CH	64	F	Rt	36	3	2	22	0	1
6	CI	61	M	Rt	54	3	2	11	1	0
7	CI	79	M	Rt	39	3	3	22	2	1+

CI, cerebral infarction; CH, cerebral haemorrhage; m, male; f, female; Rt, right; Lt, left; TFO, time from onset of stroke; UE, upper extremity; FMA, Fugl-Meyer assessment of motor function of the upper extremity; MAS, modified Ashworth scale.

^a P-values indicate significance level of between-group difference with Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test.

Figure 2. Changes in Fugl-Meyer Assessment (FMA) total scores for the upper extremities of patients undergoing electronic stimulation by the finger-equipped electrode (FEE-ES) and control patients after 4 weeks of treatment. Data are mean ± SD of each individual patient of both groups (scores of post-treatment minus pre-treatment). The asterisk indicates that the Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test showed that the difference between the two groups was statistically significant (p = 0.032).

Figure 3. Changes in Fugl-Meyer Assessment (FMA) scores for the proximal upper extremities of patients undergoing electronic stimulation by the finger-equipped electrode (FEE-ES) and control patients after 4 weeks of treatment. Data are mean ± SD of each individual patient of both groups (scores of post-treatment minus pre-treatment). The asterisk indicates that the Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test showed that the difference between the two groups was statistically significant (p = 0.026).

Figure 4. Changes in Fugl-Meyer Assessment (FMA) scores for the distal upper extremities of patients undergoing electronic stimulation by the finger-equipped electrode (FEE-ES) and control patients after 4 weeks of treatment. Data are mean ± SD of each individual patient of both groups (scores of post-treatment minus pre-treatment). The asterisk indicates that the Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test showed that the difference between the two groups was statistically significant (p = 0.026).