ReviewJournal of rehabilitation medicine2021
Effect of neuromuscular electrical stimulation on the recovery of people with COVID-19 admitted to the intensive care unit: A narrative review.
Review in Journal of rehabilitation medicine, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 2 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 19 papers, 2 of them syntheses 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.
Effect of Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation and Early Physical Activity on ICU Acquired Muscle Weakness in Mechanically Ventilated Patient: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Physiotherapy for Persistent Function by Superficial Neuromodulation
Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 47 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prevalence and prognosis of sarcopenia in acute COVID-19 and long COVID: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Annals of medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Therapeutic Potential of Electromyostimulation (EMS) in Critically Ill Patients-A Systematic Review.Frontiers in physiology · 2022Pooled it
- Electrical stimulation to regain lower extremity muscle perfusion and endurance in patients with post-acute sequelae of SARS CoV-2: A randomized controlled trial.Physiological reports · 2023Trial
- Recent advances in electroactive biomaterials and electrical stimulation for skeletal muscle regeneration: materials, strategies, and mechanistic insights.Materials today. Bio · 2026Review
- Physical activity during COVID-19 pandemic: A 5-year retrospect.Sports medicine and health science · 2025Review
- Systematic review of the effects of neuromuscular electrical stimulation in post-coronavirus disease.The South African journal of physiotherapy · 2025Review
- The Association of Genetic Markers Involved in Muscle Performance Responding to Lactate Levels during Physical Exercise Therapy by Nordic Walking in Patients with Long COVID Syndrome: A Nonrandomized Controlled Pilot Study.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Article
- Review
- Effects of acute phase intensive electrical muscle stimulation in COVID-19 patients requiring invasive mechanical ventilation: an observational case-control study.Scientific reports · 2024Observational
- Clinical standards for diagnosis, treatment and prevention of post-COVID-19 lung disease.The international journal of tuberculosis and lung disease : the official journal of the International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease · 2023Article
- Rehabilitation of Peripheral Neuropathies: From Lexical Analysis of the Literature to Identification of Clinical Protocols.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Review
- Article
- Mapping peripheral and abdominal sarcopenia acquired in the acute phase of COVID-19 during 7 days of mechanical ventilation.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Non-invasive phrenic nerve stimulation to avoid ventilator-induced diaphragm dysfunction in critical care.Artificial organs · 2022Article
- COVID-19 2022 update: transition of the pandemic to the endemic phase.Human genomics · 2022Review
- Skeletal muscle alterations in patients with acute Covid-19 and post-acute sequelae of Covid-19.Journal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle · 2022Review
- Skeletal Muscle in Hypoxia and Inflammation: Insights on the COVID-19 Pandemic.Frontiers in nutrition · 2022Review
- Safety and efficacy of electrical stimulation for lower-extremity muscle weakness in intensive care unit 2019 Novel Coronavirus patients: A phase I double-blinded randomized controlled trial.Frontiers in medicine · 2022Article
- Skeletal Muscle Damage in COVID-19: A Call for Action.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 8 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The rehabilitation of patients with COVID-19 after prolonged treatment in the intensive care unit is often complex and challenging. Patients may develop a myriad of long-term multiorgan impairments, affecting the respiratory, cardiac, neurological, digestive and musculoskeletal systems. Skeletal muscle dysfunction of respiratory and limb muscles, commonly referred to as intensive care unit acquired weakness, occurs in approximately 40% of all patients admitted to intensive care. The impact on mobility and return to activities of daily living is severe. Furthermore, many patients experience ongoing symptoms of fatigue, weakness and shortness of breath, in what is being described as "long COVID". Neuromuscular electrical stimulation is a technique in which small electrical impulses are applied to skeletal muscle to cause contractions when voluntary muscle contraction is difficult or impossible. Neuromuscular electrical stimulation can prevent muscle atrophy, improve muscle strength and function, maintain blood flow and reduce oedema. This review examines the evidence, current guidelines, and proposed benefits of using neuromuscular electrical stimulation with patients admitted to the intensive care unit. Practical recommendations for using electrical muscle stimulation in patients with COVID-19 are provided, and suggestions for further research are proposed. Evidence suggests NMES may play a role in the weaning of patients from ventilators and can be continued in the post-acute and longer-term phases of recovery. As such, NMES may be a suitable treatment modality to implement within rehabilitation pathways for COVID-19, with consideration of the practical and safety issues highlighted within this review.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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.