A randomised study of home-based electrical stimulation of the legs and conventional bicycle exercise training for patients with chronic heart failure

Abstract

FES produces beneficial changes in muscle performance and exercise capacity in patients with CHF. Within this study, the benefits were similar to those observed following bicycle training. FES could be offered to patients with heart failure as an alternative to bicycle training as part of a home-based rehabilitation programme.

Nonpharmacological treatment and relief of symptoms in COPD: Table 1—

“…NMES delivered at a frequency of 50 Hz and an amplitude chosen to induce muscle contractions at 25-30% of maximal voluntary contraction induced significant increases in the strength and cross-sectional area of the thigh muscles in CHF patients awaiting heart transplantation [38]. Subsequently, additional studies have confirmed the benefits of NMES in CHF patients [39,40].…”

Application of neuromuscular electrical stimulation of the lower limb skeletal muscles in the rehabilitation of patients with chronic heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

“…After a series of NMES treatment sessions, increased muscle endurance was also noted in patients with CHF [12]. The strength of stimulated muscles increased by approx.…”

“…The observed improvement of muscular strength applies to both isokinetic [14,21,22] and isometric [21] contractions. It seems that these changes are caused by the increase in aerobic enzyme activity of skeletal muscles, which, in turn, leads to an increased oxidative capacity [9,[12][13][14]18]. Moreover, it was observed through the biopsy procedure that due to the application of NMES, an increase in type I muscle fibers occurs, which proves the evident recalibration of the stimulated muscles in the direction of aerobic metabolism and endurance training [13].…”

“…In rare cases, patients with class IV symptoms also participated in the research. Some of the participants were either after a heart transplant or qualified for heart transplant surgery [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20].…”

“…The research demonstrated that the application of NMES in patients with CHF results in improvement of exercise tolerance indicators, such as: increased peak oxygen consumption, increased anaerobic threshold, increased duration of exercise tests and greater distance covered during the 6MWT test [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. After a series of NMES treatment sessions, increased muscle endurance was also noted in patients with CHF [12].…”