Mesh-glove Electrical Stimulation on Upper Extremity Function in Children with Spastic Hemiplegic Cerebral Palsy: a Pilot Study

Introduction: Neuromuscular electrical stimulation is one of the non-invasive treatments for improving spasticity of upper extremity (UE) and motor function in children with cerebral palsy (CP). However, some children felt uncomfortable in receiving the neuromuscular electrical stimulation. The mesh-glove electrical stimulation (MGES) is one kind of somatosensory electrical stimulation. Recently, there were few researches indicating that MGES causes positive effectiveness for the spasticity control of UE in children with CP. This study aims to investigate the treatment effects of MGES on UE function and daily function in children with CP. Methods: This controlled trial is based on a pre- and post-treatment study design. Eight children with CP, aged 3-12 years, were classified into the experimental (MGES) and control (traditional rehabilitation, TR) groups. Outcome measures, including the Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS), the Quality of Upper Extremity Skills Test (QUEST), the Box and Block Test (BBT), and the Functional Independence Measure for Children (WeeFIM), were assessed before and after the treatments. The MGES group received electrical stimulation on their affected UE and motor training for 90 minutes, twice a week for 12 weeks. A general estimation equation (GEE) model was used to measure the outcome changes between two groups. The significance level was set at p＜ .05. Results: GEE showed MGES group had greater decrease in the spasticity, measured by MAS, than TR group (p＜ .01). The MGES group had greater improvement in UE quality and manual dexterity, measured by QUEST and BBT, than the TR group (p＜ .01). The MGES group also induced greater gains in self-care, measured by WeeFIM, than the TR group (p＜ .03). Conclusion: The results show that MGES may induce greater gains in UE function and daily function in children with spastic hemiplegic CP. Therefore, MGES may be used as an adjunct therapy in the treatment of UE dysfunctions in these children. Due to the limitation of the small sample size, further studies should recruit larger sample size to validate the findings.