Electrical somatosensory stimulation followed by motor training of the paretic upper limb in acute stroke: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Upper limb paresis is one of the most frequent and persistent impairments following stroke. Only 12-34% of stroke patients achieve full recovery of upper limb functioning, which seems to be required to habitually use the affected arm in daily tasks. Although the recovery of upper limb functioning is most pronounced during the first 4 weeks post stroke, there are few studies investigating the effect of rehabilitation during this critical time window. The purpose of this trial is to determine the effect of electrical somatosensory stimulation (ESS) initiated in the acute stroke phase on the recovery of upper limb functioning in a nonselected sample of stroke patients.

Methods/design

A sample of 102 patients with upper limb paresis of varying degrees of severity is a

SUBMITTER: Ghaziani E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5324330 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature