Abstract:

Objective To investigate the effect of functional electrical stimulation on upper-limb function in stroke patients with hemiplegia. Methods Randomized controlled trials about functional electrical stimulation on upper-limb function in stroke patients with hemiplegia were recalled from databases of PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, Cochrane, CNKI, Wanfang data, CBM and VIP. The quality of the trials was evaluated and the data were extracted. Data were analyzed with RevMan 5.3. Results A total of 13 trials involving 744 patients were included. Functional electrical stimulation group could improve upper-limb motor function more compared with routine rehabilitation group (MD = 9.77, 95%CI 6.36 to 13.17, P < 0.001), whatever less than 30 minutes a time (MD = 9.78, 95%CI 6.26 to 13.29, P < 0.001) or more than 45 minutes a time (MD = 14.20, 95%CI 0.99 to 27.40, P < 0.05), for less than four weeks (MD = 5.82, 95%CI 2.58 to 9.06, P < 0.001) or more (MD = 13.42, 95%CI 8.43 to 18.41, P < 0.001). Functional electrical stimulation group also improved the activities of daily living for stroke patients (MD = 13.72, 95%CI 11.60 to 15.84, P < 0.001). Conclusion Functional electrical stimulation is effective on upper-limb motor function and activities of daily living for stroke patients with hemiplegia, which could be widely applied in clinic.

Key words: stroke, hemiplegia, functional electrical stimulation, upper limb, meta analysis