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Updated: Jul 10, 2026
Breathing-controlled Electrical Stimulation (BreEStim) for Management of Neuropathic Pain and Spasticity
Published on: January 10, 2013
Emerging modalities in dysphagia rehabilitation: neuromuscular electrical stimulation
Maggie-Lee Huckabee1, Sebastian Doeltgen
1Department of Communication Disorders at University of Canterbury and the Van der Veer Institute for Parkinson's and Brain Research, Christchurch. maggie-lee.huckabee@canterbury.ac.nz
Aim:
The aim of this review article is to advise the New Zealand medical community about the application of neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) as a treatment for pharyngeal swallowing impairment (dysphagia). NMES in this field of rehabilitation medicine has quickly emerged as a widely used method overseas but has been accompanied by significant controversy.
Methods:
Basic information is provided about the physiologic background of electrical stimulation. The literature reviewed in this manuscript was derived through a computer-assisted search using the biomedical database Medline to identify all relevant articles published until from the initiation of the databases up to January 2007. The reviewers used the following search strategy: [(deglutition disorders OR dysphagia) AND (neuromuscular electrical stimulation OR NMES)]. In addition, the technique of reference tracing was used and very recently published studies known to the authors but not yet included in the database systems were included.
Summary:
This review elucidates not only the substantive potential benefit of this treatment, but also potential key concerns for patient safety and long term outcome. The discussion within the clinical and research communities, especially around the commercially available VitalStim stimulator, is objectively explained.
