{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,19]],"date-time":"2026-06-19T04:54:32Z","timestamp":1781844872001,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":28,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,19]],"date-time":"2026-06-19T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1781827200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Neurol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Lower limb disuse atrophy often occurs in patients with incomplete cervical spinal cord injury (SCI) during peri-operative periods. Electrical stimulation (ES) is a novel method that can benefit muscular atrophy. This study aimed to determine whether ES is the most effective method for postoperative management of muscular atrophy in patients with incomplete cervical SCI.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>A total of 80 incomplete cervical SCI patients with single-sided lower limb myasthenia were enrolled in this study from April 2020 to April 2025. Of these, 40 patients were treated with electrical stimulation (ES group), and the remaining 40 patients were treated with traditional physiotherapy (P group). Data were collected from their medical records. Baseline characteristics, quadriceps muscle thickness, and muscle strength grading were measured at the beginning of the study and again at the 2-week follow-up.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Preoperatively, there were no significant differences in age, gender, height, weight, quadriceps muscle thickness, or muscle strength grading between the two groups (\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f&amp;gt;\u202f0.05). This study found that quadriceps muscle thickness in the two groups significantly decreased at 1- and 2-week follow-up visits. However, quadriceps muscle thickness in the ES group was significantly greater than that in the P group (\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f&amp;lt;\u202f0.05).\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>ES could be a safe and effective postoperative treatment for muscle disuse atrophy in patients with incomplete cervical SCI; however, further research is needed to prove its efficacy.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fneur.2026.1841524","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,19]],"date-time":"2026-06-19T04:30:05Z","timestamp":1781843405000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Effects of postoperative electrical stimulation on quadriceps muscular atrophy in patients with incomplete cervical spinal cord injury. A retrospective study"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Lusha","family":"Wu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Women and Children\u2019s Hospital of Ningbo University","place":["Ningbo, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Liansong","family":"Lu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Ningbo No. 6 Hospital, Ningbo Clinical Research Center for Orthopedics, Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation","place":["Ningbo, Zhejiang, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Gangqiang","family":"Jiang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Ningbo No. 6 Hospital, Ningbo Clinical Research Center for Orthopedics, Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation","place":["Ningbo, Zhejiang, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yingzhi","family":"Xie","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Ningbo No. 6 Hospital, Ningbo Clinical Research Center for Orthopedics, Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation","place":["Ningbo, Zhejiang, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yongjie","family":"Gu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Ningbo No. 6 Hospital, Ningbo Clinical Research Center for Orthopedics, Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation","place":["Ningbo, Zhejiang, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhenshan","family":"Yuan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Ningbo No. 6 Hospital, Ningbo Clinical Research Center for Orthopedics, Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation","place":["Ningbo, Zhejiang, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,19]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"110","DOI":"10.1038\/sc.2012.158","article-title":"The global map for traumatic spinal cord injury epidemiology: update 2011, global incidence rate","volume":"52","author":"Lee","year":"2014","journal-title":"Spinal Cord"},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"170","DOI":"10.1002\/acn3.70218","article-title":"Nationwide characterization of MFN2-related CMT in 176 Japanese patients: clinical and genetic insights","volume":"13","author":"Ando","year":"2026","journal-title":"Ann Clin Transl Neurol"},{"key":"ref3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"R1795","DOI":"10.1152\/ajpregu.00263.2009","article-title":"Metallothionein deficiency leads to soleus muscle contractile dysfunction following acute spinal cord injury in mice","volume":"297","author":"DeRuisseau","year":"2009","journal-title":"Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol"},{"key":"ref4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"271","DOI":"10.1097\/MCO.0b013e328337819e","article-title":"Functional consequences of sarcopenia and dynapenia in the elderly","volume":"13","author":"Clark","year":"2010","journal-title":"Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care"},{"key":"ref5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1708644","DOI":"10.3389\/fnut.2025.1708644","article-title":"Comparison of nutritional outcomes and complication profiles of commercial enteral nutrition and homemade homogenate in patients with dysphagia who are chronically immobilized","volume":"12","author":"Liu","year":"2025","journal-title":"Front Nutr"},{"key":"ref6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e104675","DOI":"10.1136\/bmjopen-2025-104675","article-title":"Effects of physical therapy on motor ability in patients with spinal muscular atrophy III: a study protocol for a randomised controlled trial","volume":"15","author":"Zhang","year":"2025","journal-title":"BMJ Open"},{"key":"ref7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e70135","DOI":"10.1111\/apha.70135","article-title":"A 12-week strength training improves mitochondrial respiration, H(2)O(2) emission and skeletal muscle integrity in women with myotonic dystrophy type 1","volume":"241","author":"Marcangeli","year":"2025","journal-title":"Acta Physiol"},{"key":"ref8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"20250034","DOI":"10.2490\/prm.20250034","article-title":"Effect of neuromuscular electrical stimulation on muscle atrophy in patients with acute stroke: a randomized controlled trial","volume":"10","author":"Yamauchi","year":"2025","journal-title":"Prog Rehabil Med"},{"key":"ref9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1654","DOI":"10.62713\/aic.4323","article-title":"Neuromuscular electrical stimulation combined with rehabilitation training improves rehabilitation after spinal cord injury","volume":"96","author":"He","year":"2025","journal-title":"Ann Ital Chir"},{"key":"ref10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"E15","DOI":"10.3171\/2017.2.FOCUS171","article-title":"Against the odds: what to expect in rehabilitation of chronic spinal cord injury with a neurologically controlled hybrid assistive limb exoskeleton. 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