ArticleBioelectronic medicine2019
Non-invasive treatment of patients with upper extremity spasticity following stroke using paired trans-spinal and peripheral direct current stimulation.
Article in Bioelectronic medicine, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 3 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
The Effect of Treatment With the PathMaker Myoregulator Neuromodulation System Incorporating Trans-spinal Direct Current Stimulation (tsDCS) in Patients With Severe Hand Spasticity After Stroke
Multi-Center, Randomized, Sham-Controlled Study Evaluating MyoRegulator® Treatment in Post-Stroke Upper Limb Spasticity
Investigation of Treatment Using the MyoRegulator® Device in Patients With Spasticity in the Lower Limb Due to Stroke
Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 21 citations in OpenAlex.
- Neuromodulation for Post-Stroke Motor Recovery: a Narrative Review of Invasive and Non‑Invasive Tools.Current neurology and neuroscience reports · 2023Pooled it
- Active Rehabilitation Technologies for Post-Stroke Patients.Biosensors · 2025Review
- Spinal Cord Stimulation for Poststroke Hemiparesis: A Scoping Review.The American journal of occupational therapy : official publication of the American Occupational Therapy Association · 2024Article
- Effects of non-invasive cervical spinal cord neuromodulation by trans-spinal electrical stimulation on cortico-muscular descending patterns in upper extremity of chronic stroke.Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2024Article
- What Else Can Be Done by the Spinal Cord? A Review on the Effectiveness of Transpinal Direct Current Stimulation (tsDCS) in Stroke Recovery.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
- Modeling Electric Fields in Transcutaneous Spinal Direct Current Stimulation: A Clinical Perspective.Biomedicines · 2023Review
- Non-Invasive Transcutaneous Spinal DC Stimulation as a Neurorehabilitation ALS Therapy in Awake G93A Mice: The First Step to Clinical Translation.Bioengineering (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Trans-Spinal Direct Current Stimulation in Spasticity: A Literature Mini-Review.Frontiers in stroke · 2022Review
- Transcutaneous Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation (tAVNS) Delivered During Upper Limb Interactive Robotic Training Demonstrates Novel Antagonist Control for Reaching Movements Following Stroke.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2021Article
- Is there hope that transpinal direct current stimulation corrects motoneuron excitability and provides neuroprotection in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis?Physiological reports · 2021Review
- Assessing adverse effects and unspecific effects of transcutaneous spinal direct current stimulation (tsDCS).Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.)Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundMuscle spasticity is a common impediment to motor recovery in patients with chronic stroke. Standard-of-care treatments such as botulinum toxin injections can temporarily relieve muscle stiffness and pain associated with spasticity, but often at the expense of increased muscle weakness. Recent preclinical investigations of a non-invasive treatment that pairs trans-spinal direct current stimulation and peripheral nerve direct current stimulation (tsDCS+pDCS) provided promising data for a novel approach based on bioelectronic medicine for the treatment of patients with post-stroke spasticity.
methodsTwenty-six patients with upper limb hemiparesis and wrist spasticity at least 6 months after their initial stroke participated in this single-blind crossover design study to test whether tsDCS+pDCS reduces chronic upper-extremity spasticity. Subjects received five consecutive daily sessions (20 min of stimulation or sham) of anodal tsDCS+pDCS, separated by a one-week washout period. The sham condition always preceded the active condition. Clinical and objective measures of spasticity and motor function were collected before and after each condition, and for five weeks after the completion of the active intervention.
resultsSubjects treated with active tsDCS+pDCS demonstrated significant reductions in both Modified Tardieu Scale scores (summed across the upper limb,
conclusionstsDCS+pDCS intervention alone significantly reduced upper limb spasticity in participants with stroke. Decreased spasticity was persistent for five weeks after treatment, and was accompanied by improved motor function even though patients were unsupervised and there was no prescribed activity or training during that interval.
trial registrationNCT03080454, March 15, 2017.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.