Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine 51-4inkOmslag | Page 84
318
Letter to the Editor
TENS
Study or Subgroup
Mean
Mean Difference
SD Total Weight
2.5 0.6 22 2.95 0.69 20 55.6% -0.45 [-0.84, -0.06]
Park 2014 1.8 0.41 15 2.36 0.74 14 44.4% -0.56 [-1.00, -0.12]
37
Mean Difference
IV, Fixed, 95% CI
34 100.0% -0.50 [-0.79, -0.21]
Heterogeneity: Chi = 0.13, df = 1 (P = 0.71); I = 0%
Test for overall effect: Z = 3.34 (P = 0.0008)
-2
-1
0
1
Favours [experimental] Favours [control]
2
Analysis 3. Comparison of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulatin vs control group: effect on lower limb spasticity post intervention.
The results show that there is no basis to claim that
TENS treatment is superior to physiotherapy training,
or that TENS combined with additional physiotherapy
is superior to placebo combined with physiotherapy.
For meta-analysis of lower limb spasticity change,
the authors have mistakenly included outcomes related
to the upper extremity (6). Therefore, we updated this
meta-analysis with appropriate results (Analysis 3).
Finally, the authors stated that papers were searched
according to the following key words: transcutaneous
electrical nerve stimulation or TENS, and stroke or
hemiplegic within PubMed, Embase, Web of Science,
EBSCO, and the Cochrane Library. The authors identi-
fied 923 articles. However, combining these key words
(i.e. MeSH) on PubMed only we identified 79 RCTs.
Thus, the annex of the search strategy would be very
helpful for future reproduction of this meta-analysis.
All the issues and findings presented in this review
should be updated and stated clearly to clarify the
information.
The author have no conflicts of interest to declare.
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6. Kim TH, In TS, Cho HY. Task-related training combined with
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per limb functions in patients with chronic stroke. Tohoku
J Exp Med 2013; 231: 93–100.
7. Cho HY, In TS, Cho KH, Song CH. A single trial of trans-
cutaneous electrical nerve timulation (TENS) improves
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8. Yan T, Hui-Chan CW. Transcutaneous electrical stimula-
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9. Chen SC, Chen YL, Chen CJ, Lai CH, Chiang WH, Chen WL.
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Accepted Feb 6, 2019; Epub ahead of print Feb 25, 2019
Pawel Kiper, PhD* and Andrea Turolla, PhD
From the Laboratory of Neurorehabilitation Technologies,
Fondazione Ospedale San Camillo IRCCS, Venice, Italy.
*E-mail: [email protected]
The authors of the original articles (Lin et al.) were given the opportunity to comment in response to this
Letter, but chose not to do it.
IV, Fixed, 95% CI
Cho 2013
Total (95% CI)
Control
SD Total Mean
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