Effect of Functional Electrical Stimulation on Gait Parameters in Children with Cerebral Palsy: A Meta-Analysis

OBJECTIVE: At present, there are controversies on the effectiveness of functional electrical stimulation devices in gait improvement in the clinic, and the results reported in limited literature are contradictory. This paper summarizes and analyzes the relationship between functional electrical stimulation treatment and gait parameter changes in children with cerebral palsy, thus exploring the above controversies' results. METHODS: Two researchers conducted a detailed search of the literature from the establishment of the database to June 2022. Literature retrieved from databases, including PubMed, Embase, Ovid, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science and the search process followed the principles of Cochrane. The search keywords were “cerebral palsy”, “functional electrical stimulation”, “gait”, or “walk”. Gait and balance parameters were extracted from the literature. Gait parameters, such as walking speed and step length, were included in the meta-analysis. The study used standard mean difference (STD) and 95% confidence interval (CI) to calculate the mean difference between the two groups. The statistic I(2) was used to evaluate the heterogeneity between the evaluation studies. Begg's test detected publication bias and the funnel chart was used for visual analysis. Furthermore, Review Manager software was used to make a risk bias map for literature publication bias analysis. RESULTS: 9 literatures were included in the analysis, with a total of 282 children with cerebral palsy, including 142 patients in the functional electrical stimulation treatment group and 140 patients in the comfort treatment, general nursing, or other physical therapy. The randomization scheme and result report used in most studies were low risk, which was important for the credibility of this study. Most studies have limitations in the blinding method of participants and subjects, and most of them were single-blind studies, which might have a high risk. The results showed that functional electrical stimulation could increase the walking speed of children with cerebral palsy (SMD = 0.82, P < 0.0001) and increase the walking step length of children with cerebral palsy (SMD = 1.34, 95%CI = 1.07, 1.60, Z = 9.91, P < 0.0001). Funnel plot analysis showed that the literature distribution was uniform and symmetrical, and Begg's test showed no publication bias in included literature. CONCLUSION: This study compared the effects of the functional nerve stimulation treatment group and control group on improving gait parameters of children with cerebral palsy. The results indicated that functional nerve stimulation treatment could increase the gait speed and step length of children with cerebral palsy, which could improve the walking of children with cerebral palsy. Furthermore, this study needs more research data to support our findings. The results of this study might better guide the clinical practice and better use of health as well as financial resources.