EMG biofeedback in stroke: effect of patient characteristics

Forty-eight upper and 44 lower extremities of 52 stroke patients were treated using a clinical emg biofeedback training approach. The age, sex, hemiparetic side, duration of stroke or previous rehabilitation, and number of biofeedback training sessions had no significant relationship to treatment outcomes. Lower extremities responded more favorably to training than upper extremities, and the prospects for successful treatments in the upper limb were further diminished when proprioceptive impairments were present. Possible explanations for the poorer responsiveness of the upper extremity to emg biofeedback training are provided, the importance of a motivational element is stressed, and a suggestion is offered for the direction of future work designed to predict the value in applying this modality.