Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation?
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June 7, 2007 at 3:08 pm
Hi, Just back from PT appt for my 12-yr-old. She has been making some progress (finally, 4 months post-onset)–up until 3-4 weeks ago when she used her walker her feet shuffled, knees buckled a lot and she mainly relied on her arms to hold her body weight. Now she is holding most of her weight and is able to lift her feet (an inch or so) as she walks much more fluidly (w/ walker still).
When my daughter tries to move certain ways, sometimes inappropriate muscles (opposing ones) will respond, and so one muscle is trying to lift and the opposite one is also tightening, preventing the motion she is trying for, and/or making it much more exhausting. This is not new; therapist’s noted it before and we’ve been trying to work on it by lightly tapping the muscle that should be working during exercises, etc. Therapist thought that might resolve with time. But it hasn’t really improved much with that. Therapist feels that trying something called Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation might be helpful. Does anyone know about this? She says it may help her relearn to move the right muscles.
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June 7, 2007 at 3:35 pm
Hi,
If the nerves are not healed enough to send an impulse to the muscles, this machine probably will do her no good at this time.
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June 7, 2007 at 3:40 pm
It probably won’t do much good at this point, as Brandy has mentioned. It will be of more use to her after she can move the right muscles on her own. The nerves haven’t regenerated in those particular areas yet. there might have been more damage done to those areas over other areas. aqua therapy would be the best therapy at this time, in my opinion. Damage can be done by trying to make the muscle work by electrical means-no sensation of over doing and over working the muscles. she can’t control them, means she can’t prevent strain either. take care.
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