Stimulating a peripheral nerve, functional electrical stimulation facilitates the corresponding muscle to contract. Functional electrical stimulation and serious gaming therapies are used in the rehabilitation of the upper extremity after a stroke. A combination of both approaches seems to be advantageous for the success of the therapy and has already been tested in the home environment of the patients. To what extent this combination is feasible in an earlier stage after stroke and in an clinical environment was tested in our feasibility study.
Eighteen patients after stroke evaluated such a combination to be feasible. Particularly, for severely impaired patients, the additional use of functional electrical stimulation was advantageous as it enabled the patients to perform the serious game at all.
Höhler C, Wild L, de Crignis A, Jahn K, Krewer C. Contralaterally EMG-triggered functional electrical stimulation during serious gaming for upper limb stroke rehabilitation: a feasibility study. Front Neurorobot 2023; 17. doi.org/10.3389/fnbot.2023.1168322