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Updated: May 4, 2026
Author Spotlight: Enhancing Upper Limb Rehabilitation in Stroke Patients Through Advanced Robotic and Neuromodulation Technologies
Published on: October 11, 2024
Effect of intensive functional electrical stimulation therapy on upper-limb motor recovery after stroke: case study
Noritaka Kawashima1, Milos R Popovic2, Vera Zivanovic2
1Department of Rehabilitation for Movement Functions, Research Institute of National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disability, Saitama, Japan ; Rehabilitation Engineering Laboratory, Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto ; Rehabilitation Engineering Laboratory, Lyndhurst Centre, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, Toronto.
Purpose:
Motivated by a prior successful randomized controlled trial showing that functional electrical stimulation (FES) therapy can restore voluntary arm and hand function in people with severe stroke, this study was designed to examine neuromuscular changes in the upper limb following intensive FES therapy, consisting of task-specific upper-limb movements with a combination of preprogrammed FES and manual assisted motion.
Methods:
The patient was a 22-year-old woman who had suffered a haemorrhagic stroke 2 years earlier. FES therapy was administered for 1 hour twice daily for 12 weeks, for a total of 108 treatment sessions.
Results:
While maximal voluntary contraction level of the upper-limb muscles did not show significant improvement, the ability to initiate and stop the muscle contraction voluntarily was regained in several upper-limb muscles (approx. 5%-15% of the maximum voluntary contraction of the same muscle in the less-affected arm). A reduction in arm spasticity was also observed, as indicated by the reduction of H-reflex in the wrist flexor muscle (82.1% to 45.0% in Hmax/Mmax) and decreased Modified Ashworth Scale scores (from 3 to 2 for the hand and 4 to 3 for the arm). Coordination between shoulder and elbow joints during the circle-drawing test improved considerably over the course of FES therapy: the patient was unable to draw a circle at all at baseline but was able to do so proficiently at discharge.
Conclusion:
Improvements in upper-limb function observed in people with severe stroke following intensive FES therapy can be attributed to (a) regained ability to voluntarily contract muscles of the affected arm, (b) reduced spasticity and improved muscle tone in the same muscles, and (c) increased range of motion of all joints.
