Decreased Central Fatigue in Multiple Sclerosis Patients After 8 Weeks of Surface Functional Electrical Stimulation
By Chang, Ya-Ju; Hsu, Miao-Ju; Chen, Shin-Man; Lin, Cheng-Hsiang; Wong, Alice M.K.; Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development, Vol. 48, No. 5, pp. 555-564Publication Date: 2011
Study investigated the effect of 8 weeks of surface functional electrical stimulation (FES) training on the levels of general, central, and peripheral fatigue in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Of the original 9 participants with MS, 2 men and 5 women with an average age of 42.9 years completed 8 weeks of quadriceps muscle surface FES training. A pretraining test session was conducted, after which participants received home-based training with a portable electrical stimulator. Maximal voluntary muscle contraction, voluntary activation level, twitch force, General Fatigue Index (FI), Central Fatigue Index (CFI), Peripheral Fatigue Index, and Modified Fatigue Impact Scale (MFIS) scores were determined before and after training. Results showed that FI, CFI, and MFIS scores improved significantly after training. Improvements in central fatigue contributed significantly to improvements in general fatigue. Overall, central fatigue was shown to be a primary limitation in patients with MS during voluntary exercise, and 8 weeks of surface FES training for these individuals led to significantly reduced fatigue, particularly central fatigue.
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VA Rehabilitation Research & Development Service (Web Site: http://www.rehab.research.va.gov )
Link to text: http://www.rehab.research.va.gov/jour/11/485/chang485.html
