Key result
Lower-limb electrical muscle stimulation safely improves functional capacity and quality of life in HF patients.
Why the study?
Despite increasing evidence for over two decades, recent guidelines lack recommendations regarding the use of electrical muscle stimulation in patients with heart failure.
Does electrical muscle stimulation improve functional capacity and quality of life in patients with heart failure?
Does electrical muscle stimulation improve functional capacity and quality of life in patients with heart failure?
Electrical muscle stimulation is a safe and efficacious alternative to conventional physical exercise for improving functional capacity and quality of life in heart failure patients, despite lacking guideline recommendations.
This review serves as a synopsis of current knowledge about electrical muscle stimulation (EMS) in patients with heart failure (HF). It summarizes actual data, emphasizes the beneficial effects of EMS in HF and tries to characterize a target population. Improvements of functional capacity and quality of life (QOL) are knowingly achieved by variable EMS protocols to the lower extremities. Overall, EMS seems to be a safe and efficacious therapy alternative to conventional physical exercise. Despite promising and increasing evidence for over two decades of scientific research on this topic, there are no recommendations in recent published guidelines concerning the use of EMS in HF patients.
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Vögeli et al. (2022) conducted a review in Heart failure. Electrical muscle stimulation (EMS) vs. Conventional physical exercise was evaluated on Functional capacity and quality of life. Electrical muscle stimulation to the lower extremities improves functional capacity and quality of life in heart failure patients, offering a safe alternative to conventional physical exercise.
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