Effect of Bilateral TENS With TOT on Upper Limb Function in Patients With Chronic Stroke

A Randomized, Controlled Clinical Trial of Upper Limb Training With Bilateral Cutaneous Electrical Stimulation to Improve Upper Limb Functions in Patients With Chronic Stroke

On the basis that the combined use of Uni-TENS and TRT is an effective intervention in upper limb recovery, and the advantage of Bi-TENS eliciting extra neural pathway in the intact hemisphere to facilitate the motor recovery, There is a research gap in whether the Bi-TENS over both the paretic and non-paretic limbs could probably augment the treatment effects of TOT in upper limb motor control in people with stroke.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Stroke
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Task-orientated training; Device: Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS); Device: Sham electrical nerve stimulation

Detailed Description

The purpose of this study is to determine whether Bi-TENS+TOT was superior to Uni-TENS+TOT, Placebo-TENS+TOT alone and no active treatment in improving the upper limb motor control and upper limb function and community integration in people with chronic stroke.

The null hypothesis will be that Bi-TENS+TOT is not significantly different from Uni-TENS+TOT,Placebo-TENS+TOT alone and no active treatment in improving the upper limb motor control and upper limb function and community integration in people with chronic stroke.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 120
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Hong Kong
  • Hong Kong, Hong Kong
    • The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 50 years to 80 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Subjects will be recruited from local self-help groups through poster advertising.
• Subjects will be included if they are between 50 and 80 years of age
• Have been diagnosed with ischaemic brain injury or intracerebral hemorrhage by MRI or computed tomography within the previous 1 to 10 years
• have volitional control of the non-paretic arm and at least minimal antigravity movement in the shoulder of the paretic arm,
• have at least 5º in wrist extension in the antigravity position,
• score > 6 out of 10 in the Abbreviated Mental Test, and
• are able to follow instructions and give informed consent.

Exclusion Criteria:

• • have any additional medical, cardiovascular or orthopedic condition

  • use a cardiac pacemaker
  • have receptive dysphasia
  • have a significant upper limb peripheral neuropathy
  • are involved in drug studies or other clinical trials, or
  • have severe shoulder, elbow, wrist or finger contractures that would preclude a passive range of motions of the arm, and
  • have a skin allergy that would prevent electrical stimulation.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Double

Number of Arms

4

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Bilateral TENS (Bi-TENS) group; All subjects will undergo 20 sessions of their assigned intervention (60 minutes, thrice a week, for 8 weeks). All subjects will receive 60 minutes task-oriented upper limb training (TOT) with bilateral electrical stimulation	Behavioral: Task-orientated training; Task-Oriented Training (TOT) is a goal-directed exercise therapy, which help the people derive optimal control strategies for solving specific motor problems in real environment. In this study, TOT included stretching exercises, mobilizing exercise, strengthening exercises, seated reaching tasks, dexterity training and bimanual practice.; Device: Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS); The stimulator was 120z Dual-Channel TENS Unit (ITO PHYSITHERAPY&REHABILITION CO., LTD, Tokyo, Japan). The parameter (100 Hz, 0.2 ms square pulses, intensity barely below the motor threshold) of TENS followed our previous study
Placebo Comparator: Unilateral TENS (uni-TENS) group; All subjects will undergo 20 sessions of their assigned intervention (60 minutes, thrice a week, for 8 weeks). All subjects will receive 60 minutes task-oriented upper limb training (TOT) with unilateral electrical stimulation on paretic side and sham electrical stimulation on the non-paretic side	Behavioral: Task-orientated training; Task-Oriented Training (TOT) is a goal-directed exercise therapy, which help the people derive optimal control strategies for solving specific motor problems in real environment. In this study, TOT included stretching exercises, mobilizing exercise, strengthening exercises, seated reaching tasks, dexterity training and bimanual practice.; Device: Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS); The stimulator was 120z Dual-Channel TENS Unit (ITO PHYSITHERAPY&REHABILITION CO., LTD, Tokyo, Japan). The parameter (100 Hz, 0.2 ms square pulses, intensity barely below the motor threshold) of TENS followed our previous study; Device: Sham electrical nerve stimulation; A identical-looking TENS devices that electrical circuit has been disconnected.
Placebo Comparator: Placebo group; All subjects will undergo 20 sessions of their assigned intervention (60 minutes, thrice a week, for 8 weeks). All subjects will receive 60 minutes task-oriented upper limb training (TOT) with bilateral sham electrical stimulation	Behavioral: Task-orientated training; Task-Oriented Training (TOT) is a goal-directed exercise therapy, which help the people derive optimal control strategies for solving specific motor problems in real environment. In this study, TOT included stretching exercises, mobilizing exercise, strengthening exercises, seated reaching tasks, dexterity training and bimanual practice.; Device: Sham electrical nerve stimulation; A identical-looking TENS devices that electrical circuit has been disconnected.
No Intervention: Control group; No Active intervention

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Fugl Meyer Assessment on Upper Extremity (FMA-UE)	FMA-UE was used for evaluating the upper limb motor control from proximal to distal part of the limb, and voluntary movement from synergistic to isolated in people with stroke. The FMA-UE has shoulder-arm, wrist, hand and coordination and speed subsections. The score of shoulder-arm, wrist, hand and coordination and speed sub-scale are combined to compute the total score. The maximum total score is 66, with 33 items and ordinal scoring from 0 to 2. A higher score of FMA-UE indicated a higher level of upper limb motor control.	Pre-intervention, Mid-intervention (4 weeks), Post-intervention (8 weeks), Follow-up 1 month (12 weeks), Follow-up 3 months (20 weeks)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Jacket Test (JT)	Jacket Test is one of the items in the Physical Performance Test. The subject is required to don a jacket or a cardigan sweater such that it is straight on his or her shoulders, and then remove it completely. The time for completing the task is recorded.(Rueben DB et al, 1990) This Jacket Test (JT) can be used to evaluate the functional mobility of the upper limbs as the test involves abduction of the shoulder joint, flexion and extension of the elbow joint and gripping with the hands.	Pre-intervention, Mid-intervention (4 weeks), Post-intervention (8 weeks), Follow-up 1 month (12 weeks), Follow-up 3 months (20 weeks)
Maximal Voluntary Contraction (MVC)-Peak Torque	The force data would be recorded by the self-made load cell. And the mean value peak torque of the joint would be calculated by the force and the length from the wrist joint to the head of 3rd metacarpal.	Pre-intervention, Mid-intervention (4 weeks), Post-intervention (8 weeks), Follow-up 1 month (12 weeks), Follow-up 3 months (20 weeks)
Action Research Arm Test (ARAT)	ARAT will be used to assess the 4 aspects of upper limb function(grasp, grip, pinch and gross arm movement). This scale is consistent of 19 items. The quality of performance on each item is rated from 0-3, so the score of ARAT is ranged from 0-57. The score of rasp, grip, pinch and gross arm movement sub-scale are combined to compute the total score. The scores for the 15 tasks will be summed and then averaged to yield the mean functional ability score. A higher ARAT score indicated a higher upper limb motor function.	Pre-intervention, Mid-intervention (4 weeks), Post-intervention (8 weeks), Follow-up 1 month (12 weeks), Follow-up 3 months (20 weeks)
The Range of Motion (ROM) of Upper Limb Joints	With 0° shoulder flexion and 90° elbow flexion, the forearm and wrist will be placed in a neutral position in the relaxed phase. When the task begins, the subjects will be asked to perform the full range of motion for wrist flexion/extension. With 90° shoulder flexion and 0° elbow flexion, the forearm will be placed in a neutral position in the relaxed phase. When the task begins, the subjects will be asked to perform the full range of motion for elbow flexion/extension. All the subjects will be requested to perform their joint ROM to the best of their abilities.	Pre-intervention, Mid-intervention (4 weeks), Post-intervention (8 weeks), Follow-up 1 month (12 weeks), Follow-up 3 months (20 weeks)
Motor Activity Log (MAL)	The MAL questionnaire will be used to assess how frequently and how well a person uses the paretic upper limb in 30 activities of daily life in a semi-structured interview. Based on a six-point ordinal scale, subjects will be required to rate (1) the amount of use (AOU), and (2) the quality of movement (QOM) when performing these 30 tasks in real life situations. Each task was rated from 0 to 5. The score of the 30 activities of daily life were combined to compute the total score of MAL-AOU and MAL-QOM, respectively. Hence, the total score of AOU and QOM component were rated from 0 to 150. The higher MAL-AOU score indicated a higher frequency use of the paretic upper limb, and the higher MAL-QOM score indicated a higher movement quality of the paretic upper limb.	Pre-intervention, Mid-intervention (4 weeks), Post-intervention (8 weeks), Follow-up 1 month (12 weeks), Follow-up 3 months (20 weeks)
Chinese Version of Community Integration Measure (CIM)	The Chinese version of CIM was used to assess the level of community integration of the subjects. The CIM-C has been shown to have good internal consistency and good test-retest reliability for people with stroke . CIM has 10 items, each item rate from 1-5, giving a minimum score of 10 to a maximum of 50. A higher score indicated a higher level of community integration.	Pre-intervention, Mid-intervention (4 weeks), Post-intervention (8 weeks), Follow-up 1 month (12 weeks), Follow-up 3 months (20 weeks)
Maximal Voluntary Contraction (MVC)-Cocontraction Ratio	EMG signal of Radial Carpi Extensor and Ulnar Carpi Flexor for both affected and unaffected side would be recorded by the surface EMG electrodes when asked the subjects to perform the MVC of wrist extension and flexion for 5s in each trial. Each movement would perform 3 times. The data of the 3 trials will be averaged. The co-contraction ratio would be calculated by the iEMG area of antagonist to total (agonist+antagonist), which would be captured for 0.5s from the window began at 0.25s before and ended at 0.25s after the peak value of MVC.	Pre-intervention, Mid-intervention (4 weeks), Post-intervention (8 weeks), Follow-up 1 month (12 weeks), Follow-up 3 months (20 weeks)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Chen P, Liu TW, Kwong PWH, Lai CKY, Chung RCK, Tsoh J, Ng SSM. Bilateral Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation Improves Upper Limb Motor Recovery in Stroke: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Stroke. 2022 Apr;53(4):1134-1140. doi: 10.1161/STROKEAHA.121.036895. Epub 2021 Dec 2. Erratum In: Stroke. 2022 Feb;53(2):e65.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): November 24, 2016
• Primary Completion (Actual): October 24, 2020
• Study Completion (Actual): October 24, 2020

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 10, 2017
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 12, 2017
• First Posted (Actual): April 13, 2017

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 13, 2021
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 19, 2021
• Last Verified: April 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: upper limb; transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Cardiovascular Diseases; Vascular Diseases; Cerebrovascular Disorders; Brain Diseases; Central Nervous System Diseases; Nervous System Diseases; Stroke
• Other Study ID Numbers: HMRF_SNg

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No