NCT07098273

Improving Hand Movement and Coordination in People With Multiple Sclerosis Using Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) and Muscle Electrostimulation (FES) To Support Manual Dexterity and Daily Function

Restoring Manual Dexterity in Multiple Sclerosis: A Feasibility Study Combining Muscle Electrostimulation and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation To Enhance Neuroplasticity

• Status: Not Yet Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 50 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Fondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi Onlus · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

The goal of this interventional study is to test whether combining transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) with functional electrical stimulation (FES) can improve hand and upper limb function in adults with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). The clinical trial aims to determine the following points: 1. Whether TMS combined with FES produces greater effects compared to FES alone. 2. Changes in brain and muscle activity related to hand function after treatment. 3. Specific clinical or neurophysiological factors that predict who will benefit most from the intervention. Researchers will compare the TMS-FES group (receiving brain magnetic stimulation and muscle electrostimulation) with the FES group (receiving only muscle electrostimulation) to assess whether TMS provides additional benefits in improving upper limb function Participants will: * Be assigned to a group (TMS-FES group or FES group) * Attend 15 sessions (45 minutes each, 3 times per week for 5 weeks) of task-based hand and arm exercises, during which FES, or TMS and FES, will be administered to the participant. * Undergo assessments before, after, and 3 months after training to measure hand function, brain and muscle responses, fatigue, and daily activity performance.

Detailed description

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic disease of the central nervous system associated with various neurological deficits, including motor impairments that negatively affect autonomy and quality of life. Among these, a significant symptom is reduced manual dexterity, which affects approximately 75% of patients and can interfere with activities of daily living (ADLs), leading to job loss and the need for assistance. This deficit, considered an indicator of disability in progressive MS, stems from altered sensorimotor integration and damage to various neural structures. In recent years, non-invasive brain stimulation techniques, particularly Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), have shown potential in measuring changes in cortical excitability and improving MS symptoms. TMS is a sensitive method for detecting cortical alterations and assessing corticospinal tract function through motor evoked potentials (MEPs), which are reliable biomarkers of disease progression. Moreover, studies and meta-analyses suggest that repetitive TMS (rTMS) may have therapeutic effects on cognitive deficits, spasticity, and fatigue in MS patients. In particular, stimulation of the primary motor cortex (M1) through rTMS has been shown to improve hand movement speed, although the effect dissipates quickly-typically after about 20 minutes. To prolong these benefits, integrating TMS with Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) could be an effective strategy. FES stimulates muscles through external surface electrical impulses to counteract the contractile inefficiency typical of MS and may further enhance residual motor function during voluntary exercises by promoting adaptive neuroplasticity. FES is already widely used in gait rehabilitation for MS, with positive effects on muscle strength and quality of life. However, the application of FES for hand rehabilitation remains less explored, despite recommendations in favor of its investigation. There is an urgent therapeutic need for non-pharmacological approaches to address upper limb and hand deficits, given their disabling impact on the MS population. Recent guidelines suggest exploring FES as an adjunct to traditional rehabilitation therapy to enhance its effects and improve access to rehabilitation for patients with muscle weakness. The investigators hypothesize that the combination of TMS and FES may increase cortical excitability, reduce fatigue, and improve motor learning, leading to more effective recovery. The proposed study will assess the feasibility of a rehabilitation protocol based on these technologies, analyzing their effects on manual dexterity and on the central and peripheral neurophysiological correlates of motor recovery. Furthermore, the investigators aim to identify predictive biomarkers of functional recovery, with the goal of personalizing rehabilitation pathways and optimizing therapeutic interventions for MS. In this study, 30 individuals with MS are planned to be recruited, divided into the TMS-FES experimental group and the FES group. In the TMS-FES group, the primary motor cortex hand areas will be stimulated with active repetitive TMS before motor execution, while the FES group will receive sham TMS stimulation. Both groups will receive muscular electrical stimulation to assist voluntary movements during task-oriented activities. The training will consist of three sessions per week, each lasting 45 minutes, for a total of 15 sessions. The investigators will measure variables such as age, gender, clinical status, fatigue, health perception, TMS-based biomarkers, and upper limb muscle synergies in all participants before and after the training. The investigators will investigate long-term effects on motor control, kinematic movement, and daily functional mobility three months after the end of the training through instrumental assessments and self-administered questionnaire. 20 healthy subjects are planned to be recruited, who will serve as the normative reference for the instrumental analysis assessments. The subjects will take part in a single data collection session, during which upper limb kinematics and EMG signals will be recorded while performing instrumented tasks from the Action Research Arm Test (ARAT) used for instrumental evaluation.

Conditions

• Multiple Sclerosis

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
DEVICE	TMS and FES- based rehabilitation	Each subject will receive 15 individual sessions (45 minutes each, 3 times per week for 5 weeks) of task-based hand and arm exercises. Before movement execution, the hand area of the primary motor cortex will be stimulated using active rTMS. The rTMS protocol will use intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS), which delivers bursts of 3 pulses at 50 Hz every 200 ms (5 Hz) for 2 seconds, followed by 8 seconds of rest, totaling 600 pulses in \~3 minutes. The hand area will be identified as the optimal site for eliciting a motor evoked potential (MEP) in the abductor digiti minimi (ADM) muscle, contralateral to the dominant limb, with the lowest possible stimulation intensity. Subsequently, FES will be applied to assist the subject's voluntary movements during the task-oriented activities. The stimulation will be triggered based on the achievement of the electromyographic (EMG) threshold of the selected muscles.
DEVICE	FES-based rehabilitation	Each subject will receive 15 individual sessions (45 minutes each, 3 times per week for 5 weeks) of task-based hand and arm exercises. Before movement execution, the TMS coil will be positioned over the hand areas of the primary motor cortex, but tilted away from the scalp so as to produce a sound similar to the real intervention, but at a low intensity, without inducing current in the cortex. FES will then be applied to assist the patient's voluntary movements during the task-oriented activities. The stimulation will be triggered based on the achievement of the electromyographic (EMG) threshold of the selected muscles.

Timeline

• Start date: 2025-10-01
• Primary completion: 2026-12-01
• Completion: 2027-05-01
• First posted: 2025-08-01
• Last updated: 2025-08-12

Locations

2 sites across 1 country: Italy