Gait speed with Functional Electrical Stimulation

FES: pié equino

Functional Electrical Stimulation, known as FES, is a therapeutic approach that uses a small electrical device to produce electrical currents and stimulate the peripheral nerve by means of adhesive electrodes placed on the skin. The applied electrical stimulus produced a muscular contraction that will help in the execution of the proposed task and therefore it is said “functional”.

Example: while walking, I use an electrical device that produces muscle contraction in the foot so that it rises from the ground at the moment of taking the step

This example is quite common among neurological patients, the equine foot due to nervous system injuries such as stroke and cranio-encephalic trauma. But it is among patients with spinal cord injury and multiple sclerosis that this device can act more significantly in reeducation and correction of gait.

In 2017, colleagues from Belgrade have published a study on the introduction of these devices in the therapy of hemiplegic patients by stroke. The aim of the study was to assess the additional effects that the introduction of Functional Electrical Stimulation could bring in the sessions of physiotherapy, especially in the aspects related to the rehabilitation of the march of hemiplegic patients by stroke. Although the study has only sixteen patients, they have observed that the eight patients who performed sessions of 30 minutes of walking with Functional Electrical Stimulation in addition to physiotherapy, improved the speed of walking, compared with the other eight patients they only performed physiotherapy. Apart from this change, other small changes have been observed in the way of running, mobility and autonomy in the activities of daily life.

Dujovic SD, Malesevic J, Maesevic N, Vidakovic AS, Bijelic G, Keller T, Konstantinovic L. Novel multi-pad functional electrical stimulation in stroke patients: A single-blind randomized study. NeuroRehabilitation. 2017;41(4):791-800


5 thoughts on “Gait speed with Functional Electrical Stimulation

  1. Laura,
    Mi esposa lleva 20 meses con falta movilidad y sensibilidad en la parte bajo de la rodilla de su pierna derecha, su prótesis de cadera se desconectó y le habría golpeado el nervio ciático dejándola en este estado, por un Infección Intrahospitalaria se ha estado tratando la zona de la Cadera por Estafilococos dorado. Aparte de eso solo kinesiólogo pero nada mas, tengo el temor que su musculatura se ha deteriorado y que no estemos haciendo todo lo que se debe en todo este tiempo.
    He visto sus comentarios sobre el uso de Estimulación Eléctrica Funcional, no se si es lo que necesita pero al parecer pudiera servir si estimula la parte Nerviosa y Muscular.
    Hoy camina con Bastones y está con muchos dolores y una muy mala marcha.

    Agradeceré sus comentarios y que me indique donde están instalados Uds. algunos datos me hicieron pensar que estuvieran en Chile, si no es así tal vez tengan Institutos que pudieran recomendar en mi país,
    Atte.

    David K. Faille
    También he enviado este párrafo al mail pacientes@bobath-es.com

  2. Hola, en Chile podéis encontrar buenas clínicas de neurorehabilitación y también kinesiologos o fisioterapeutas especializados en el Concepto Bobath. La Clínica de Neurorehabilitación Bettina Paeth está ubicada en Sant Cugat del Vallés de Barcelona (España)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes:

<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>