Efficacy of FES for restoring hand grasp in hemiplegia: Investigation using biosignals

Rational behind conducting this randomized trial was to examine the therapeutic effect of functional electrical stimulation (FES) in stroke survivors having hand grasp problem. For this we used novel approach of tracking the motor condition changes instead of traditional method of measuring functional assessment scores. In the study subjects less than 9 months of stroke history with hand grasp difficulty were allocated to FES group (FES stimulation and physiotherapy, n□=□10) and control group (only physiotherapy, n□=□10) and imparted respective therapy for 5 days in week for 12 weeks. Two bio-signals (grip force and surface electromyography - sEMG) were measured at baseline and after the 12-week therapy from the Flexor Capri Radialis (FCR) muscle of the affected limb. Analysis of grip force measure confirmed that the FES significantly improve grip force in FES group (3.7N±0.5, p=0.014) when compare to control group. Also, sEMG analysis of stimulated muscle showed significant increase in amplitude (14.3±2.3µV, p=0.031), mean power frequency (5.2Hz±0.7, p=0.022) and median power frequency (6.2Hz±0.76, p=0.020) in the FES group. The results revealed that FES therapy instigates increase activation of stimulated muscle and also improves muscle condition. So, we conclude that FES combined with physiotherapy is effective for hand grasp rehabilitation than conventional physiotherapy.