Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University , Hung Hom, Hong Kong.
Department of Integrative Biology and Physiology, University of California , Los Angeles, California, United States.
Brain Inj. 2020 Dec 5;34(13-14):1771-1780. doi: 10.1080/02699052.2020.1850864. Epub 2020 Dec 2.
: To investigate the effects of transcutaneous electrical stimulation (tES) on upper limb functional rehabilitation in a patient with traumatic brain injury (TBI), and to identify the optimum stimulation parameters of tES. : A preliminary case study. : Two successive interventions: Phase I-voluntary physical training (vPT) and Phase II - tES along with vPT (tES+vPT). tES was delivered at C3 and C6 cervical regions. Clinical assessments presented the variation of muscle tone and motor functions, before and after each training phase, and evaluated at 1-month follow up after the last intervention. : Our results indicate that vPT alone contributed to a release of muscle spasticity of both arms of the patient with no significant improvement of hand function, while tES+vPT further reduced the spasticity of the left arm, and improved the voluntary motor function of both arms. The grip forces were also increased after the tES+vPT treatment. We found that 1 ms biphasic tES at 30 Hz produced optimum motor outputs. : The study demonstrates, for the first time, the potential benefits of cervical tES in regard to improving upper limb motor functions in a patient with chronic TBI.
: 目的：研究经颅电刺激（tES）对创伤性脑损伤（TBI）患者上肢功能康复的影响，并确定 tES 的最佳刺激参数。: 初步病例研究。: 连续两个干预阶段：第一阶段——自主物理训练（vPT）和第二阶段——tES 联合 vPT（tES+vPT）。tES 在 C3 和 C6 颈椎区域进行。临床评估在每个训练阶段前后分别呈现肌肉张力和运动功能的变化，并在最后一次干预后的 1 个月随访时进行评估。: 我们的结果表明，单独的 vPT 有助于缓解患者双臂的肌肉痉挛，但对手部功能没有显著改善，而 tES+vPT 进一步降低了左臂的痉挛程度，并改善了双臂的自主运动功能。握力在 tES+vPT 治疗后也有所增加。我们发现，1ms 双相 tES 在 30Hz 时产生最佳运动输出。: 本研究首次证明了颈部 tES 在改善慢性 TBI 患者上肢运动功能方面的潜在益处。
