as A stroke survivor I was introduced to e stim some years following my stroke I found myself using it improved my mental state a little providing me with a little hope that I may recover to some minor degree some of my function and it has helped me I feel a little I'm so pleased I tried it and continue to use this method to help recover I find it helpful in so many ways to takeaway my daily aches and pains to improving my mental state at times when i'm feeling down. hope that is helpful to others never stop trying never stop surviving an most importantly Never give up HOPE.best of luck and love to everyone.who is a survivor.
I had a major stroke 15 months ago. I bought an estim machine soon after I got out of hospital and have used it frequently in my rehab journey. I can't definitively say that I get any actual muscular relief from using it, but I get a lot of mental and emotional relief, without a doubt. It makes one feel like one is going the extra mile, and that gives confidence and hope. But it is not a solution on its own. I do every thing I possibly can, and estim is just one of many. I have an infra red lamp, I have tried mirror therapy, I use positive thinking and meditation, resistance bands and dumbbells, and I exercise about 8 to 10 hours a day. I have moved to be near the ocean so I walk on the beach, fish and spend quite a lot of time getting bashed around by the shore break. Today I bought a second-hand exercise bike. I spend almost every waking hour working on some physical or mental aspect because being broken is SO unpleasant. Do whatever you can to feel better, and estim helps along with everything else. God bless and good luck!
I 'm a therapist and found that TENS applied to the antagonist (triceps) reduced spasticity in the agonist (biceps) significantly. This helped with efficacy of passive ROM to the arm held in flexor synergy
Thank you for the video! I had two strokes three years ago. At first I couldn’t move my right arm at all. Then after a month and a half I started to move my arm. But I couldn’t feel hot and cold. After A year I was able to feel both hot and cold really well. My problem is I can’t feel my fingers and half of my lower arm. The doctors tell me that it’s all in my brain. The nerves died and they don’t grow back. So my brain has to find different pathways around the dead nerves. So no therapy can help me out with that. I stopped going to therapy. I really wish that all these doctors can come up with something that helps get back the feeling. I’m yet to find anything that does that.✌💙
@@KevinRedman-qf7el yes, I can move my arm and my fingers as well. I don’t have total coordination with my fingers. Mainly because when I try to keep my pinky and ring finger up and try to bend my middle finger in my index finger down the first two will go down as well. But I’m working on it. I can grip really good but I have to see what I’m trying to grip. Because I can feel it yet. Basically I can bend all of my fingers down but the pinky and the ring are together on one line and the other three fingers are on another line. Or I should say another nerve or muscle. It’s really weird though, if I drag a light tissue across my hand I can feel that. I think the most important thing is to have faith to get better. It is hard to have faith some days I get depressed but I think that’s how everybody feels after a stroke. It’s the not knowing that gets to me. And the doctors can’t tell anybody if they’re going to get better. It’s the same line I hear over and over. Everybody is different. They are right but I just wish that they would know more about the brain. I do consider myself to be lucky that I’m alive! I don’t know if you had a stroke also, but hang in there! People do get better! It could take a long time but it happens. ✌💙🙏
I bought (my insurance denied it, so I spent $3500 on it) an e-stim for my leg about a year out from my hemorrhagic stroke for drop foot on my affected side. I wore it for almost a year. A few weeks ago, I had a seizure at work and had to be taken to the hospital in an ambulance. I had never had a seizure before. I can't connect the two directly, especially since I had been wearing it regularly for a long period, but I don't wear it anymore. Now I'm on anti-seizure meds (Keppra) probably for the rest of my life.
I went back to OT this year after my round of Botox in January when I started getting slight movement in my index finger. My OT and I use e-stim almost every visit now. Somedays it’s really effective, but it depends on which OT I work with that day and where they put the electrodes on whether I see results or not. I find it very uplifting to see my fingers move. Even if at this point, I’m not controlling them to see that they still have that ability in any regard gives me hope.
I used a FES right after the stroke but the sensitivity effect was too much. I use TENS now to reduce neuropathy and it seems ro work. Spasticity just stretching and a massage gun, these work for me. Therapists here do not help me with this, so DIY by studying, learning, experimenting.
Great overview as always, thank you! I personally think e-stim was an important part of my early inpatient/outpatient rehab and that the strategy my OTs employed helped me rebuild my mind-muscle connection quicker. But, I will say I wasn't always the biggest fan of the sensation lol.
I was introduced to estim over 10 years ago due to multiple injuries after being in a traffic accident... it definitely helps with pain and muscle movement when having muscle inflammation or muscle knots... since suffering a stroke earlier this year I have been afraid to use it because a therapist told me it is stimulating the muscles locally and I need to focus stimulating them using my brain to relearn how to...
Short answer......NO.......maybe useful if you're in stage 7 of the Brummstroms recovery stages (spasticity disappears, normal function returns) to help re-strengthen muscles. Unless they bring out 'Brain e-stim' I wouldn't waste yur money. However, I do understand as a heammorhagic survivour we'll try anything. Unforetunately they (doctors, pharma companies, recovery aid suppliers, dieticians etc.) We're extremely vunerable and are easy targets.
A brilliant...and somewhat sobering...report. But i dont know if the results gathered will stop me. While my arm is still a work in progress and while im well past the chronic stage my right leg from the knee up has to the best of my knowledge been a total sucess in rehab therapy, the lower leg (knee down) is pretty iffy 🤞 I would say if one has the will, the drive to get it done THATS the best treatment.
I had my stroke three and a half yrs ago still recovering from left side weakness. I was introduced to this type os electric stimulation a few weeks into my stroke i use it almost ever day after working out and ive gotten alot of help . It helps me alot. But i would love to try electric acupuncture.