The Effects of Motor Imagery Combined with Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation on Using Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in Stroke Patients

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of motor imagery combined with neuromuscular electrical stimulation (MI-NMES) on cerebral cortex excitability in stroke patients. We examined the effect of MINMES on cerebral cortex excitability using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) of motor evoked potential (MEP) amplitude and latency, quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG) of δα ratio (DAR) and power ratio index (PRI) assessments. This study was to evaluate 30 stroke patients who were satisfied the selection criteria of the study. Experiments were divided into MI-NMES group, motor imagery (MI) group. This study showed that there was a significant difference for all evaluations within the MI-NMES group, with significant differences in MEP amplitude and latency, QEEG DAR, and PRI index values in the comparison that those of the MI group. MI-NMES is suggested to be an effective approach for cerebral cortex excitability in stroke patients.