Stroke: functional electrostimulation may increase muscle strength recovery.

Clinical bottom line (level 1a)

Patients who have had a stroke and require rehabilitation, who are given functional electrostimulation may be more likely to have muscle strength recovery, than those not given it.

Glanz et al: Archives of Physical Medicine Rehabilitation 1996; 77: 549-553

Expires November 2002

The study

Systematic review of randomised controlled trials of

Patients: cerebrovascular disease

Intervention: functional electrostimulation compared with no functional electrostimulation

Outcome: recovery of muscle strength

Articles found in English using MEDLINE, 1966 to 1994 (search terms: electrostimulation, stroke, rehabilitation ) and bibliographies of review and empirical articles, relevant texts and articles suggested by experts

Selection criteria: as above
Appraisal criteria: detailed in text
Articles excluded if: dissimilar end points

Four studies were included in the analysis.

Unpublished articles were not included.

The evidence

The pooled effect size of muscle strength recovery of patients treated with functional electrostimulation compared with control is 0.63 (CI 0.29 to 0.98), demonstrating an improvement.
Effect size was defined as the difference between the treatment and control group changes divided by the standard deviation of the control group change.

Comments

Effect sizes were of differing measurements of force produced, and it is difficult to translate this into a meaningful overall result.

Citation

Glanz M, Klawansky S, Stason W, et al: Functional electrostimulation in post stroke rehabilitation: A meta-analysis of the randomized controlled trials. Archives of Physical Medicine Rehabilitation 1996; 77: 549-553

Contributor: Clare Wotton and Musab Hayatli, November 1999
Reviewer:

_{Clinical Question.}

_Patient	_stroke
_{Intervention or Exposure}	_{functional electrostimulation}
_Comparison	_{no functional electrostimulation}
_Outcome	_{recovery of muscle}