EFFECT OF MOTOR IMAGERY TRAINING IN COMBINATION WITH ELECTROMYOGRAPHY-TRIGGERED ELECTRICAL STIMULATION IN STROKE WITH HEMIPLEGIA PATIENTS: A RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED STUDY.

Recently, motor imagery training combined with electromyography-triggered electrical stimulation (MIT EMG-ES) has been reported as a remedial treatment for stroke patients. However, the clinical evidence of the effect is still lacking. To investigate the effect of MIT EMG-ES on lower extremities and activities of daily of living (ADL) in patients with stroke, the participants were randomly assigned to an experimental group (n = 1 0) or control group (n = 1 0). The experimental group underwent MIT EMG-ES, whereas the control group performed underwent motor imagery training. In addition, both groups received the same conventional rehabilitation therapy. All participants underwent treatment for 30 min a day, 5 sessions per week, for 4 weeks. Lower extremities function was measured by the Fugl–Meyer Assessment Lower Extremity (FMA-LE), Timed Up-and-Go (TUG) test and 10 m Walk (10 MW) test. ADL were measured by the Korea version of the Modified Barthel Index (K-MBI). The experimental group except for the FMA-LE group showed more improvement in TUG and 10 MW test scores than the control group (p < 0. 0 5). The effect size showed FMA-LE, TUG, and 10 MW test (0.7, 1.0, 0.7, respectively). However, there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups in K-MBI (p > 0. 0 5). Our findings suggest that MIT EMG-ES may be a novel treatment for lower extremities function in patients with stroke better than MIT alone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]