2021 Volume 40 Issue 2 Pages 253-261
A 60-year-old man with central cervical spinal cord injury (C3-5) with partial quadriplegia underwent repetitive facilitative exercise under continuous neuromuscular electrical stimulation (RFE under cNMES). RFE induced voluntary contraction of the target muscle stimulated by cNMES. The time required to perform tests 8-10 of the Simple Test for Evaluating hand Function, which requires finger dexterity, decreased from 50.7 sec to 13.1 sec (decrease of 37.6 sec) over 14 weeks of RFE under cNMES, and decreased further, from 13.1 sec to 9.6 sec (decrease of 3.5 sec) at 6 months after the end of RFE under cNMES. The score for self-care in the Spinal Cord Independence Measure improved from 9 to 19 points (increase of 10 points) during 9 weeks of RFE under cNMES. This increase was nearly identical to the gains achieved with other treatments in previous reports. RFE under cNMES may be effective for improving upper limb function and activities of daily living in patients with central cervical spinal cord injury. Future studies with a large number of participants will be needed to clarify the efficacy of RFE under cNMES.
