The Efficacy of TENS in Hemiplegic Patients

Introduction: Hemiplegia is one of the most common paralysis these last years. The risk factors of this pathology are thrombosis, arterial hypertension, diabetes, stress, and so on. This illness has serious consequences for the patient and isolates him/her from many family and social activities. Early rehabilitation by physiotherapist is very important for a greater recovery of lost functions. Objective: The main purpose of this study is to confirm the efficacy of TENS in hemiplegic patients to reduce spasticity and to restore lost reflexes. Methodology: The patients taken to this study were with hemiplegia caused by cerebro-vascular accidents. The study included 32 patients: 22 females and 10 males. Patients referred loss of sensitivity and motor movement of the foot and hand and an increased spasticity. The study was based on two methods: TENS treatment and placebo stimulation. Results: After 9 months of study, in different periods and groups of patients, it was observed that patients who used TENS had decreased spasticity, improved plantar and dorsal flexion and delayed stretch reflexes compared to patients that used placebo stimulation and hadn’t significant effects. Conclusion: Depending on all the studies we concluded that patient used TENS on their treatment had satisfactory improvements and returned to normal life activities.Keywords: Hemiplegia, Spasticity, TENS, Placebo, etc.