A Systematic Review on Muscle Stimulation Techniques

Abstract

The conventional procedure in retraining a muscle has been physiotherapy, but persistence is required, which often proves to be a limitation in most patients. The electrical stimulation technique has great potential in comparison to conventional methods that are employed in retraining muscles. The neuromuscular electrical stimulation method uses a device that sends electrical impulses to neurones. This input causes the muscle to contract. It can be used to re-educate or retrain a muscle. In this review article, how different types of stimulation strategies can be used for re-educating muscles in different diseased conditions is studied. The force and quality of the muscle contraction depend upon several parameters such as frequency, amplitude, pulse duration and waveforms of stimuli. The Analysis of parameters involved in different stimulation techniques can help in understanding how a particular muscle can be stimulated in different diseased conditions. There are several studies that have reported the efficacy of muscle stimulation strategies. In this review, we investigated 30 research studies that used the muscle stimulation method for re-educating muscle and discussed many considerations in context to muscle stimulation techniques: the stimulation strategies and parameters, electrodes and results. With this review, we investigated a potential intervention for re-educating muscle and tried to recognise the limitations and benefits of the current strategies involved.