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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2011 Jun 18.
Published in final edited form as: Spinal Cord. 2010 Mar 9;48(10):718–733. doi: 10.1038/sc.2010.14

Table 8.

Functional Electrical and Magnetic Stimulation of Skeletal Muscles

Author Year; Country
Score
Research Design
Total Sample Size		 Methods Outcome
Korsten et al. 2004;35 USA
PEDro=6
RCT
N=8		 Population: Mean age: 48, range 34–62 years; 6 tetraplegics, 2 paraplegics.
Treatment: Abdominal belt with embedded electrodes, used for 6 bowel care sessions over 2 weeks. Subjects did not know whether the device was activated or not.
OM: Time to first stool, time for total bowel care.

  1. Activation of the abdominal belt significantly reduced the time to first stool and time for total bowel care.

  2. Time to first stool and time for total bowel care was significantly shortened in 6 subjects with tetraplegia, but not in the 2 subjects with paraplegia.
Hascakova-Bartova et al. 2008;36 Belgium
Downs & Black score = 21
Prospective Controlled Trial
N = 10		 Population: Mean age: 42, range 23–61; Level of injury C3-T10.
Treatment: Abdominal NMES, administered for 25 minutes per day, 5 days a week, for 8 weeks
OM: EMG; FVC; CTT

  1. NMES decreased FVC in the treatment group but not in the control group.

  2. NMES accelerated CTT in the ascending, transverse, and descending colon.
Lin et al. 2001;37 USA
Downs & Black score=12
Pre-post
N=15		 Population: Mean age: n/a; Level of injury: C3-L1
Treatment: Protocol 1: FMS on the transabdominal and lumbosacral regions. Protocol 2: 5-week stimulation period.
OM: Rectal pressure and total and segmental transit times.

  1. Rectal pressures increased with sacrolumbar stimulation, and with transabdominal stimulation.

  2. The mean CTT decreased from 105.2 to 89.4 hours after 5 week of stimulation.
Lin et al. 2002;38 USA
Downs & Black score=11
Pre-post
N=9		 Population: Mean age: 42; Level of injury: C3–C7 (n=4) and 5 able bodied controls.
Treatment: FMS along T9 spinous process.
OM: Rate of gastric emptying.

  1. Gastric emptying half/time of post-stimulation was significantly shorter in SCI subjects than the baseline (84±11 min versus 59±13 min).

  2. There was also a significant improvement in the percentage of gastric emptying with FES at 20, 60, 90 and 120 min in compression at baseline.
Tsai et al. 2009;40 Taiwan
Downs & Black score = 19
Pre-Post
N = 22		 Population: Mean age: 46.7, range 22–65).
Treatment: FMS of the thorax and lumbosacral nerves, in 20-minute sessions twice daily for 3 weeks.
OM: CTT; Knowles-Eccersley- Scott Symptom Questionnaire

  1. Mean CTT decreased from 62.6 h to 50.4 h

  2. Mean scores on the Knowles- Eccersley-Scott Symptom Questionnaire decreased from 24.5 to 19.2 points
Mentes et al. 2007;39 Turkey
Downs & Black score=13
Pre-post
N=2		 Population: 51-year-old woman (discectomy for lumbar disc herniation), and a 31-year-old man (10-year history of lumbar cavernous haemangioma).
Treatment: 30 minutes of tibial nerve stimulation every other day for 4 weeks, then repeated every 2 months for 3 times.
OM: physiologic, clinical and QoL parameters.

  1. Patients showed improvements in Wexner FI score, FIQL score, clinical parameters and physiological measurements. Significance of improvements not reported in this study.

OM = Outcome measures; NMES = neuromuscular electrical stimulation; EMG = Electromyography; FVC = Forced vital capacity; CTT = colonic transit times; n/a = information not available; FMS = functional magnetic stimulation; FIQL = faecal incontinence quality of life scales; QoL = quality of life