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.

Citations

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  VivianeRostirola Elsner, Lucieli Trevizol, Isadora de Leon, Marcos da Silva, Thayná Weiss, Milena Braga, Daniela Pochmann, AmandaStolzenberg Blembeel, Caroline Dani, Elenice Boggio
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• The Effects of Electrical Stimulation of Lower Extremity Muscles on Balance in Stroke Patients: A Systematic Review of Literatures
  Zeinab Mahmoudi, Roghayeh Mohammadi, Tahereh Sadeghi, Gita Kalbasi
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  Michelle Ploughman
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Objective
To investigate the effect of upper limb rehabilitation combining robot with low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) on unilateral spatial neglect in stroke patients.
Methods
Patients who had hemispatial neglect after right hemisphere stroke were randomly divided into rTMS only group, robot only group, and combined group. All groups received conventional neglect therapy and additional treatment for each group. rTMS group received rTMS therapy. Robot group received robot therapy, while combined group received both therapies. The effect of therapy was assessed with Motor-Free Visual Perception Test-3 (MVPT-3), line bisection test, star cancellation test, Catherine Bergego Scale (CBS), Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), and the Korean version of Modified Barthel Index (K-MBI). These measurements were evaluated before and after treatment.
Results
For each group, 10 patients were recruited. There were no significant differences in baseline characteristics or initial values among the three groups. Two weeks after the therapy, all groups showed significant improvement in MVPT-3, line bisection test, star cancellation test, CBS, MMSE, and K-MBI. However, changes in measurements showed no significant differences among groups.
Conclusion
Treatment effect of the combined therapy of robotic therapy and low-frequency rTMS therapy for hemispatial neglect was not statistically different from that of each single treatment. Results of this study did not prove the superiority of any of the three treatments. Further study with large number of patients is needed to evaluate the superiority of these treatments.

Citations

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  Luis Leal-Vega, Adrián Martín-Gutiérrez, Antonio Dueñas-Laita, Marta Ruiz-Mambrilla, León Morales-Quezada, David García-Azorín, María Begoña Coco-Martín, Juan Francisco Arenillas-Lara
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