Comments on "Synergy-Based Functional Electrical Stimulation for Poststroke Rehabilitation of Upper-Limb Motor Functions"

Shahrzad Hashemi; Arezoo Mirjalili; Hamid-Reza Kobravi

doi:10.4103/jmss.JMSS_39_20

Comments on "Synergy-Based Functional Electrical Stimulation for Poststroke Rehabilitation of Upper-Limb Motor Functions"

J Med Signals Sens. 2021 Oct 20;11(4):227-228. doi: 10.4103/jmss.JMSS_39_20. eCollection 2021 Oct-Dec.

Authors

Shahrzad Hashemi¹, Arezoo Mirjalili¹, Hamid-Reza Kobravi¹

Affiliation

¹ Research Center of Biomedical Engineering, Mashhad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Mashhad, Iran.

Abstract

Despite the interesting innovation proposed in the paper, "Synergy-based functional electrical stimulation for poststroke rehabilitation of upper-limb motor functions," concerning the design of functional electrical stimulation (FES) profile, we are skeptical regarding the genuine effectiveness of the applied rehabilitation strategy. In this note, we argue that applying the rehabilitation method proposed in the above-noted work cannot pave the way for eliciting a motor learning process. Consequently, the proposed method cannot be regarded as a FES-based rehabilitation approach for poststroke rehabilitation of upper-limb motor functions.

Keywords: Functional electrical stimulation; motor learning; stroke.