Effect of Functional Electrical Stimulation with Lower limb Cycling on Lower Limb Motor Recovery, Balance and Ambulation among Individuals with Hemiparetic Middle Cerebral Artery Stroke

Functional Electrical Stimulation Training (FEST) during specific tasks can improve motor performance after stroke due to activitydependent plasticity and brain remodeling.Functional electrical stimulation (FES) can be used to initiate lower limb muscle contractions and has been widely applied in lower limb rehabilitation.The purpose of this study was to find the effects of functional electrical stimulation and Cycling on the lower limb motor recovery, balance and walking on acute stroke in-patients.The study included 12 individuals diagnosed with acute stroke who fulfilled selection criteria and were randomly divided into experimental group that received functional electrical stimulation during various task training, and a control group that received only standard conventional exercises, with 6 subjects in each group.The study used a before-after study design.FES was incorporated into the task training for 45 minutes 5 days per week for 2 weeks.Pretest and Post test was assessed using outcome measures Fugl-Meyer Assessment Scale, Berg Balance Scale and Functional ambulation category for changes in lower limb motor recovery performance, functional balance and independence in walking.Results show that in Fugl-Meyer Assessment Scale-Lower extremity, the experimental group scores ranged from 16.7 3.72 to 26.05 1.70 and the control group scores ranged from 16.3 3.24 to 16.8 3.76, which showed significant differences (p < .05)only in the FES Cycling group, and there was also significant difference between the groups (p < .05).The Berg Balance Scale scores and Functional ambulation category showed significant differences within experimental group alone (p < .05),but showed no significant difference between the groups (p > .05).The study concludes that the Functional electrical stimulation therapy with Cycling for 2 weeks along with standard exercises may be suggested as an effective therapy for improving lower extremity motor performance for acute stroke in-patients.Future studies should focus on using various control systems, sensors and for longer duration in order to harness the benefits of early intervention and neural plasticity.