ReviewFrontiers in neurology2020
A Comparison of FES and SCS for Neuroplastic Recovery After SCI: Historical Perspectives and Future Directions.
Review in Frontiers in neurology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 30 citations in OpenAlex.
- Transcutaneous spinal cord stimulation and motor responses in individuals with spinal cord injury: A methodological review.PloS one · 2021Pooled it
- Neurophysiological Effect of Transcutaneous Electrical Spinal Cord Stimulation in Chronic Complete Spinal Cord Injury.Artificial organs · 2025Trial
- Bibliometric analysis of research on spinal cord injury and functional electrical stimulation: trends and frontiers.Spinal cord · 2026Article
- Human-machine Interface using functional electrostimulation and inertial sensors for lower limb rehabilitation in spinal cord injury individuals: a proof of concept.Medical & biological engineering & computing · 2026Article
- Development and validation of a kinematic hindlimb cycling model for rats.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Electrical stimulation in upper limb assistance: opportunities and challenges.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2025Review
- Advances in hemiplegia rehabilitation: modern therapeutic interventions to enhance activities of daily living.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Review
- Enhancing touch sensibility with sensory electrical stimulation and sensory retraining.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitation · 2024Article
- Electrical Stimulation Exercise for People with Spinal Cord Injury: A Healthcare Provider Perspective.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Review
- Advances in Spinal Cord Stimulation.Bioengineering (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Electrical stimulation for the treatment of spinal cord injuries: A review of the cellular and molecular mechanisms that drive functional improvements.Frontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2023Review
- Novel Noninvasive Spinal Neuromodulation Strategy Facilitates Recovery of Stepping after Motor Complete Paraplegia.Journal of clinical medicine · 2022Article
- Trans-Spinal Electrical Stimulation Therapy for Functional Rehabilitation after Spinal Cord Injury: Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2022Review
- Effect of Cervical Transcutaneous Spinal Cord Stimulation on Sensorimotor Cortical Activity during Upper-Limb Movements in Healthy Individuals.Journal of clinical medicine · 2022Article
- Brain-Computer Interface Priming for Cervical Transcutaneous Spinal Cord Stimulation Therapy: An Exploratory Case Study.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciences · 2022Article
- Advancing Peripheral Nerve Graft Transplantation for Incomplete Spinal Cord Injury Repair.Frontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2022Article
- Effect of neuromuscular electrical stimulation on the recovery of people with COVID-19 admitted to the intensive care unit: A narrative review.Journal of rehabilitation medicine · 2021Review
- Effects of Functional Electrical Stimulation Cycling of Different Duration on Viscoelastic and Electromyographic Properties of the Knee in Patients with Spinal Cord Injury.Brain sciences · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
There is increasing evidence that neuroplastic changes can occur even years after spinal cord injury, leading to reduced disability and better health which should reduce the cost of healthcare. In motor-incomplete spinal cord injury, recovery of leg function may occur if repetitive training causes afferent input to the lumbar spinal cord. The afferent input may be due to activity-based therapy without electrical stimulation but we present evidence that it is faster with electrical stimulation. This may be spinal cord stimulation or peripheral nerve stimulation. Recovery is faster if the stimulation is phasic and that the patient is trying to use their legs during the training. All the published studies are small, so all conclusions are provisional, but it appears that patients with more disability (AIS A and B) may need to continue using stimulation and for them, an implanted stimulator is likely to be convenient. Patients with less disability (AIS C and D) may make useful recovery and improve their quality of life from a course of therapy. This might be locomotion therapy but we argue that cycling with electrical stimulation, which uses biofeedback to encourage descending drive, causes rapid recovery and might be used with little supervision at home, making it much less expensive. Such an electrical therapy followed by conventional physiotherapy might be affordable for the many people living with chronic SCI. To put this in perspective, we present some information about what treatments are funded in the UK and the US.
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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.