ArticleChildren (Basel, Switzerland)2026
Combining Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation with Activity Based Training in Children with Chronic Cervical Spinal Cord Injury: A Retrospective Case Series.
Article in Children (Basel, Switzerland), 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
BACKGROUND/
objectivesNeuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) is a promising adjunct to activity-based training for individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI). While lower extremity NMES applications are well documented, upper extremity (UE) outcomes remain underexplored in pediatric SCI. The objective of this case series was to evaluate outcomes following a combined NMES and activity-based therapy program targeting the UE in children with chronic SCI.
methodsIn this retrospective case series, we analyzed outcomes from five children, ages 4 to 15 years old, with chronic cervical level SCI who completed an individualized activity-based training program with concurrent wide pulse neuromuscular electrical stimulation (WPS-NMES). Participants were children with chronic SCI (≥6 months post-injury). Functional assessments were conducted by pre- and post-intervention. Pre- and post-intervention outcomes were summarized descriptively at the individual case level.
resultsFive children with chronic cervical SCI (ages 4-15 years) completed a mean of 54 intervention sessions. All patients demonstrated improved trunk control, with Segmental Assessment of Trunk Control (SATCo) increases of 1-6 points. UE gains on the Peds-NRS were observed in 4/5 patients, primarily in overhead reach and object-to-mouth items. Box and Blocks Test scores improved in 4/5 patients in at least one UE, while one patient remained at 0 bilaterally, and one patient experienced a unilateral decline. One patient demonstrated proximal and trunk improvements without changes in manual dexterity. No unanticipated adverse events were reported.
conclusionsObserved improvements in selected trunk and UE outcomes occurred during participation in a multimodal rehabilitation program incorporating WPS-NMES. These preliminary findings describe functional changes observed during the rehabilitation program and may help inform the design of future controlled studies evaluating multimodal rehabilitation approaches for children with chronic SCI.
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.