How can FES help after a Stroke?
Functional electrical stimulation (FES) uses small currents to gently exercise muscles. It's like having physiotherapy at home each day, at your pace and on the areas you want to treat. Physiotherapy is used to exercise muscles after a stroke and improve rehabilitation and recovery.
Exercising the muscles and moving your hand, arm shoulder, leg or foot are very important after a stroke. 
The brain needs to make new pathways round the damaged areas to restore movement under your control.
For example, if small pads are placed on the forearm and current flows between them the muscles underneath are stimulated and your wrist and fingers move and straighten out. (See the pictures above left and right).
You can place the pads on any of your muscles such as shoulder, upper arm, thigh and lower leg to aid walking. For more information on strokes please click here
How does FES work?
Pads are placed over the muscle to be stimulated as shown above. The machine is switched on. The muscle is first stimulated, then not, then stimulated and not. This cycle of stimulation(current flowing to gently exercise the muscle) and rest continues for as long as you want. The time the machine is stimulating is called the 'work time' . The time it's not stimulating is called the 'rest time'. So your muscles work, rest, work, rest etc
The work time is usually between 4 - 8 seconds, the rest time between 8 - 16 seconds. At first you rest for twice as long as you work. As you get stronger you rest for a shorter time. Using FES you soon get into the smooth rhythm of the machine and feel the benefits.
Is FES a recognised treatment that works?
FES is a proven treatment and is widely used all over the UK and world. Using FES is like receiving physiotherapy every day. It has been shown to improve walking and foot drop after a Stroke and improve walking in Multiple Sclerosis (MS).
Many people have used it to improve movement of their shoulder,elbow, wrist and fingers and to improve walking and leg strength. Muscular pain,spasm and stiffness are often reduced as the muscles are gently exercised and their function improves.
How does FES reduce muscle stiffness and pain?
After a stroke your muscles aren't damaged. It's because you can't use them they get stiff and sore. When muscles can't be used the blood flow to them is much less than normal. The muscles shrink and start to become tight and painful.
Both physiotherapy and FES gently exercise the muscles. This increases the blood flow to the muscles. More oxygen arrives to feed the muscles and the muscle starts to relax and slowly become stronger and less painful.
How often can I use FES?
You can use FES daily for anything from 10 min's to several hours. Scientific studies have shown FES used for several hours a day on the shoulder reduces subluxation (the top of the arm dropping out of the shoulder joint), reduces shoulder pain and actually moves the top of the arm back towards the shoulder joint.
Is FES safe to use at home?
Yes, all FES machines are designed for home use and meet the highest possible safety standards and are CE marked. FES is a safe and effective home treatment. It's like giving yourself physiotherapy at home each day
Stroke & FES - Further Information
There is normally a circular flow of information from your brain down
to your muscles and after movement, information flows back to the brain
and is processed. After a stroke this flow of information is effectively
blocked by the damage in the brain caused by the stroke. This stops you
moving your arm or leg. This lack of movement also means no information
is flowing back to the brain and it can in effect ‘forget’ about
the affected limb.
The brain needs to be encouraged to find new pathways for the flow of information to bypass the block. This is one of the aims of physiotherapy. Movement of the affected side sends information back to the brain and encourages new pathway formation. The end result is you gain more voluntary control and movement
Contraindications
- People fitted with a demand type heart pacemaker are advised not to use muscle stimulators.
- People with poorly controlled epilepsy should not use muscle stimulators
- Do not use whilst driving or using machinery
- People with angina or heart disease or controlled epilepsy should seek medical advice before using muscle stimulation
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