Repetitive Peripheral Sensory Stimulation and Upper Limb Performance in Stroke: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Where the fuck is the protocol for this so the 10 million yearly stroke survivors  can bring this to their therapists?  This is just revalidating the Margaret Yekutiel  book about this from 2001, 'Sensory Re-Education of the Hand After Stroke'.

So nothing new, except pointing out the complete incompetency of the entire stroke medical world, 17 years worth in this case. 

 

Repetitive Peripheral Sensory Stimulation and Upper Limb Performance in Stroke: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

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Adriana Bastos Conforto, MD, PhD, Sarah Monteiro dos Anjos, MS, Wanderley Marques Bernardo, MD, PhD, ...

First Published September 10, 2018 Review Article

https://doi.org/10.1177/1545968318798943

Article information

Abstract

Background. Enhancement of sensory input in the form of repetitive peripheral sensory stimulation (RPSS) can enhance excitability of the motor cortex and upper limb performance.  
Objective. To perform a systematic review and meta-analysis of effects of RPSS compared with control stimulation on improvement of motor outcomes in the upper limb of subjects with stroke. Methods. We searched studies published between 1948 and December 2017 and selected 5 studies that provided individual data and applied a specific paradigm of stimulation (trains of 1-ms pulses at 10 Hz, delivered at 1 Hz). Continuous data were analyzed with means and standard deviations of differences in performance before and after active or control interventions. Adverse events were also assessed.  
Results. There was a statistically significant beneficial effect of RPSS on motor performance (standard mean difference between active and control RPSS, 0.67; 95% CI, 0.09-1.24; I² = 65%). Only 1 study included subjects in the subacute phase after stroke. Subgroup analysis of studies that only included subjects in the chronic phase showed a significant effect (1.04; 95% CI, 0.66-1.42) with no heterogeneity. Significant results were obtained for outcomes of body structure and function as well as for outcomes of activity limitation according to the International Classification of Function, Disability and Health, when only studies that included subjects in the chronic phase were analyzed. No serious adverse events were reported.  
Conclusions. RPSS is a safe intervention with potential to become an adjuvant tool for upper extremity paresis rehabilitation in subjects with stroke in the chronic phase.