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Effect of Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) on Handwriting Rehabilitation After Acquired Brain Injury (ABI)

Effect of Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) on Handwriting Rehabilitation After Acquired Brain Injury (ABI)

Status
Recruiting
Phases
Unknown
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT07774715
Enrollment
36
Registered
2026-08-19
Start date
2025-01-29
Completion date
2026-08-11
Last updated
2026-08-19

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Acquired Brain Injury Including Stroke

Brief summary

Study Purpose Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) enhances motor recovery by increasing the functional range of motion to significantly improve muscle force deficits following an acquired brain injury. While FES has shown promise in improving muscular activation, its role in facilitating fine motor skills like handwriting in the acquired brain injury population needs further investigation. The project will incorporate motion capture (mo-cap) analysis technology, which will capture participants' detailed movement patterns during handwriting tasks and provide multi-baseline pre-analysis/post-analysis of motor planning and execution for precise tracking of manual dexterity improvements by quantifying changes in fine motor control, speed, and accuracy. The study seeks to provide comprehensive evidence of FES's effectiveness in hand remediation with combined assistive technology with functional-based activity to enhance motor function and improve acquired brain injury survivors' quality of life by enabling better outcomes in daily tasks requiring fine motor skills. Functional electrical stimulation improves reaching movement in the shoulder and elbow muscles of stroke patients:

Interventions

COMBINATION_PRODUCTFunctional Electrical Stimulation (FES) on Handwriting Rehabilitation

The principal investigator (PI) and co-principal investigator (co-PI) will screen participants based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria with a screening form. If participants are eligible, informed consent will be obtained before the study begins. The co-PI will generate non-identifiable codes for each participant using an Excel spreadsheet to maintain confidentiality throughout the research study. Participants will be randomly assigned to one of two groups using a computer-generated randomization process in Excel, ensuring unbiased group allocation. Participants will not be aware of their group assignment until after randomization. If participants decline their assigned intervention, they can withdraw from the study, as participation is voluntary. The control group will receive an OT handwriting program with functional-based activities without functional electrical stimulation (FES). In contrast, the treatment group will use the same OT handwriting program with functional-based a

Sponsors

Texas Woman's University
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
NA
Intervention model
SEQUENTIAL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 75 Years
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

* Participants must have experienced either an ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke or a traumatic brain injury (TBI), resulting in impaired hand function. * Participants should have completed the acute phase of recovery, have had an onset of injury more than one month ago, and be in the subacute or chronic phase (at least one month after the injury). * Participants must demonstrate motor impairments affecting fine motor control and handwriting ability. * Participants should be able to attend one-hour weekly sessions for eight weeks.

Exclusion criteria

* Cardiac disease to avoid potential interference with heart function during FES * Presence of an implanted medical stimulator (e.g., pacemaker) to prevent device interference and ensure participant safety. * Venous thrombosis or thrombophlebitis to reduce the risk of exacerbating these conditions with electrical stimulation. * History of seizure disorder to avoid triggering seizures with electrical stimulation. * Impaired sensation in the upper extremities to ensure accurate feedback regarding comfort and prevent unnoticed overstimulation. * Medically stable with a stroke or traumatic brain injury less than one month ago - to focus on individuals in the subacute or chronic recovery phase. * Participants who are pregnant - to minimize any potential risk to the participant or fetus. * Individuals with bilateral upper extremity coordination to focus on individuals with unilateral impairments for this study * Participants with severe cognitive impairment or communication barriers to ensure participants can understand instructions, provide feedback, and give informed consent.

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Modified COPM, The Print Tool Evaluation & Max300 MoCap Analysis.The study protocol will take 10 weeks to complete. Participants will attend: 8 weekly sessions per week (1 hour each) over 8 weeks. Two baseline sessions during Week 1 (1 hour each) include DASH-1, modified COPM, and 30 minutes of MoCap analysis during eModified COPM assessment includes: Scale (1-10), 1= not important at all 10= very important for satisfaction and performance. The outcome measures of the Print Tool are: A quantitative score (Scale, 0-61) was generated based on 7 handwriting performance factors, including memory, orientation, placement, size, start, sequence, and control. The MoCap assessments include: displacement (m), movement time (s), peak velocity (m/s), percentage of movement time to peak velocity (%)

Countries

United States

Contacts

CONTACTwilliam sit, Ph.D.
ysit@twu.edu12145627020

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Aug 20, 2026