Janis J. Daly, PhD, MS, Director, Cognitive and Motor Learning Laboratory; Associate Director, FES Center of Excellence, Louis Stokes Cleveland Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center; Research Career Scientist, DVA, Washington, DC; Associate Professor, Department of Neurology, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, OH, USA.

For those with persistent gait and upper limb deficits after stroke, it is difficult to obtain recovery of motor control and functional capability in response to standard care methods. Functional electrical stimulation (FES) is a promising intervention. Surface FES for wrist and hand muscles can result in improved impairment sufficient to produce important gains in functional capability. In addition, an FES gait training system with multiple channels and implanted electrodes has shown a statistically significant additive advantage for the recovery of coordinated gait components versus a comparable comprehensive gait training treatment without FES. Results were sufficiently robust to show important gains in quality of life.
Key words: stroke, functional electrical stimulation, neuromuscular electrical stimulation, functional neuromuscular stimulation, functional recovery, rehabilitation.