Paolo Milia*, Alessia Molendi, Federico De Salvo, Matteo Orfei, Maria Cristina Peccini, Alice Sfaldaroli, Marco Caserio, Catia Rossi, Federica Bevilacqua, Daniel Biondi and Mario Bigazzi
Background: Severe neurological diseases are characterized by upper limb limitations especially related with motor weakness and spasticity. The aim of neurorehabilitation is increasing upper limb ability to help patients improving activities of daily living.
Methods: We explore the effects of a hand Glove FES Device (ReGrasp) in patients affected by different types of neurological disorders. We measured the Functional Independence Measure (FIM) and the Ashworth scale to assess mobility and spasticity at admission and after 4 weeks of treatment.
Results: Eight patients were consecutively admitted in our rehabilitation unit (Mean age: 45; M/F 5/3) suffering of Stroke (2 patients), Spinal Cord Injury (5 patients), and 1 patient affected by Multiple Sclerosis, have been treated using a FES hand glove for a mean time of 30 minutes three times per week for 4 weeks in our Occupational Therapy Program. After training we observed a reduction of spasticity using the Ashworth scale. We found improvement of wrist movement in patients affected by Stroke or Spinal Cord Injury with a reduction of 21% from admission to discharge. The FIM did not have a significant improvement considering the total score. Focusing on single items we found improvement of feeding process of about 14%, and transfers improved about 15%.
Conclusion: The use of FES hand glove is feasible and easy to use in different neurological patients. Considering the general improvement, the reduction of spasticity can be reflected by an improvement of single aspects of daily living like feeding and transfers, ameliorating the life of our patients.
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