Study	Reason for exclusion
Baker 1986	No motor or ADL data provided.
Berner 2004	Not a randomised controlled trial.
Bowman 1979	Experimental intervention of electrostimulation also included visual and auditory feedback and the effect of electrostimulation alone could not be distinguished.
Cauraugh 2003d	In addition to electrostimulation the two experimental groups received either random practice or blocked practice of movement, whereas the no‐stimulation control group received passive movement and attempted voluntary movement. It is therefore not possible to isolate the effects of electrostimulation in either of the experimental groups as the additional therapy received was not replicated in the control group.
Chantraine 1999	Participant group of 120 hemiplegic patients included 19 with head injury and it was not possible to use stroke patient data only.
Chen 2000	Control group contained at least one participant aged under 18 years and therefore the study did not meet the inclusion criteria for this review.
de Kroon 2004	The same type of electrostimulation was provided for both groups but to different muscle groups, therefore the study did not meet the inclusion criteria for this review.
Faghri 1994	This paper reported the same study as did Faghri 1997 but also included data on the degree of gleno‐humeral subluxation, therefore we decided to include the study as reported in Faghri 1997. However, it is not possible to extract accurate data from the graphs provided in Faghri 1997. Furthermore, the study author was unable to access the raw data.
Gritsenko 2004	Not a randomised controlled trial.
Hesse 1995	No outcome measurements provided at the end of the electrostimulation treatment period. Outcome measures provide 3.5 weeks after treatment ended.
Hesse 1998	No outcome measurements provided at the end of the electrostimulation treatment period.
Johansson 1995	Participants in experimental group received manual stimulation through acupuncture needles as well as electrostimulation, therefore it is not possible to distinguish the effects of electrostimulation alone.
Johnson 2002	The experimental condition consisted of electrostimulation and botulinum toxin, therefore it was not possible to distinguish the effect of electrostimulation alone.
Johnson 2004	The experimental intervention combines FES and botulinum toxin therefore it was not possible to distinguish the effect of electrostimulation alone.
Khaslavskaia 2002	Not a randomised controlled trial.
Kobayashi 1999	The control group consisted of those participants who refused electrostimulation therefore the study is not a randomised trial.
Landau 2002	Not a randomised trial.
Levin 1992	Not a randomised trial.
Magnusson 1994	Not a randomised trial.
Naeser 1994	Not a randomised trial.
Popovic 2002	This paper describes an ongoing study the full report of which is in Popovic 2003 (included in this review). The control participants for Popovic 2002 and Popovic 2004 are the same.
Takebe 1976	Although this study was undertaken on groups of participants only case studies were reported.
Wang 2000	The study reported in this paper is the same study as reported in Wang 2002 and this paper did not report motor or ADL data. Also data were presented in graph format and it was not possible to extract accurately the values for means and standard deviations. The study authors were contacted for the missing data but no reply was received.
Winchester 1983	The experimental intervention included two forms of electrostimulation, visual positional feedback and auditory positional feedback and it was therefore not possible to distinguish the effects of either form of electrical stimulation.
Wong 1999	No outcome measurements provided at the end of the electrostimulation treatment period.
Yu 2004	The only measures reported in this paper are for shoulder pain and effect of pain on daily activities. Therefore this study did not meet the inclusion criteria for this review.

ADL: activities of daily living 
 FES: functional electrical stimulation