Objective: To investigate the feasibility of peripheral sensory nerve stimulation combined with task-oriented training in patients with stroke during inpatient rehabilitation.
Design: A pilot randomized crossover trial.
Setting: Two rehabilitation hospitals.
Subjects: Twenty-two patients with subacute stroke.
Interventions: Participants were randomly assigned to two groups and underwent two weeks of training in addition to conventional inpatient rehabilitation. The immediate group underwent peripheral sensory nerve stimulation combined with task-oriented training in the first week, followed by another week with task-oriented training alone. The delayed group underwent the same training in reverse order.
Main measures: Outcome measures were the level of fatigue and Wolf Motor Function Test. Patients were assessed at baseline, one and two weeks.
Results: All participants completed the study with no adverse events. There was no significant difference in level of fatigue between each treatment. From baseline to one week, the immediate group showed larger improvements than the delayed groups in the Wolf Motor Function Test (decrease in mean time (+/- SD) from 41.9 +/- 16.2 seconds to 30.6 +/- 11.4 seconds versus from 46.8 +/- 19.4 seconds to 42.9 +/- 14.7 seconds, respectively) but the difference did not reach significance after Bonferroni correction (P = 0.041). Within-group comparison showed significant improvements in the Wolf Motor Function Test mean time after the peripheral sensory nerve stimulation combined with task-oriented training periods in each group (P < 0.01).
Conclusion: Peripheral sensory nerve stimulation is feasible in clinical settings and may enhance the effects of task-oriented training in patients with subacute stroke.