Electrical stimulation and biofeedback effect on recovery of tenodesis grasp: A controlled study

Objective: Evaluate the effectiveness of electrical stimulation and biofeedback on the recovery of tenodesis grasp in tetraplegic individuals during the initial phase of acute rehabilitation. Design: A 2 x 2 block design was used with subjects randomized to treatment groups. Forty-five subjects completed the study. Setting: Inpatient occupational therapy department. Subjects: Inpatients with tetraplegia, first admission for rehabilitation after an acute spinal cord injury. Interventions: The four treatment groups were: conventional treatment, electrical stimulation, biofeedback, and combined electrical stimulation and biofeedback. The treatment period was between 5 and 6 weeks. Main Outcome Measures: Manual muscle testing and scoring of activities of daily living performance by a blinded evaluator. Results: All four treatment groups showed improvements. No treatment group was superior to the others. Conclusions: Biofeedback and electrical stimulation alone or in combination offer no advantages over conventional rehabilitation treatment of wrist extensors in tetraplegic patients after spinal cord injury.