Transcript Effects of Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation on Ankle Swelling in

Effects of Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation
on Ankle Swelling in the Early Period After Ankle
Sprain
Ivy OW Man, Matthew Morrissey,
Jozef Cywinski
Purpose
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To test the effects of motor-level biphasic ES applied to the gastrocnemius
and tibialis anterior muscles on ankle swelling in patients with in 5 days of
an ankle sprain injury.
Inflammation is the greatest enemy of healing
 The goal of early treatment should be to delay or minimize swelling
 NMES causes muscle contraction- this compresses the venous and lymphgatic
vessels
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Methods
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34 subjects
18 to 60 years old
Ankle sprain with in 5 days of first
scheduled test
Invitation
Those excluded from experiment:
 Diabetics
 Peripheral vascular disease or
neurovascular deficits
 Metal implants in the leg
 Injury to other ankle
 Open wounds
 pacemaker
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Three Groups:
NMES
 Submotor ES
 Sham (control)
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Randomly assigned
 Medical history was documented
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Experimental Protocol
Height/ body mass measured
 Ankle girth- figure-of-eight tape
measuring technique
 Blind bilateral girth measurements
taken
 Volumeter- used to measure
swelling
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Continuing
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Dried leg and put 4 electrodes
Gastrocnemius
 Tibialis anterior
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Supine
 Injured leg elevated
 ES pattern for NMES and
Submotor group:
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360 cycles
 Lasting 5 seconds
 400 pulses each cycle
 Frequency- 80 Hz causing a short
lasting muscle contraction for 1.25
sec. (bursts)
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Bursts-every 5 sec. frequency of
pulses varying from 45 to 120 Hz
 Last phase- 77 seconds after
starting the machine
Frequencey 2.68 to 83.33 Hz
 Lasting 40 to 180 microseconds
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The groups
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NMES
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Max level of tolerance for 30 minutes
SubmotorIntensity increased until muscle flickered and then intensity was reduced very
slightly until flicker disappeared
 Subject should still have some sensation
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Sham –
Same manner as other two
 Electrodes attached but no ES was applied
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Results
Statistical differences were found, but these findings may not be meaningful
because there was a statistically significant difference in ankle girth
measurements taken at baseline among the three groups.
 P> .05 for Hughston Clinic Subjective Rating Scale for Ankle Disorders
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For girth
Kruskall-Wallis analyses
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Volume
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For graphs see Word
Athletic training- gives us free range to continue to experiment on the best
ways to reduce swelling for a particular injury
 NMES reduces swelling on the ankle, Different size ankles with NMES is a
factor in how fast swelling of an injury is reduces
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