Effect of Electromyographic Biofeedback Therapy on Muscle Strength Recovery in Children with Guillain–Barré Syndrome

Abstract

GBS, as an immune-mediated acute inflammatory peripheral neuropathy (Tan and Halpin et al.), with the characteristics of acute onset and rapid progression, is mainly manifested with damages in nerve root and peripheral nerve. The purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of electromyographic biofeedback therapy on muscle strength recovery in children with Guillain–Barré syndrome (GBS). A total of 62 GBS children patients admitted to our hospital from June 2014 to December 2018 were selected and divided into control group (n = 30) and experimental group (n = 32) according to the order of admission. The children patients in the control group received physical therapy combined with occupational therapy (PT + OT), while based on the treatment in the control group, the experimental group children patients were treated with electromyographic biofeedback therapy. After that, the recovery of nerve and muscle at different time points, muscle strength score, gross motor function measure (GMFM) score, and Barthel index (BI) score of the children patients before and after treatment were compared between the two groups. There were no significant differences in the recovery of nerve and muscle of the children patients between the two groups at T0 and T1 ( $P$  > 0.05), and the recovery of nerve and muscle of the children patients in the experimental group was significantly better than that in the control group at T2, T3, and T4 (P < 0.001); the muscle strength score, GMFM score, and BI score of the children patients in the experimental group were significantly better than those in the control group after treatment ( $P$  < 0.001). The application of electromyographic biofeedback therapy for the treatment of GBS can effectively relieve clinical symptoms, promote rapid recovery, and improve treatment efficacy in children patients, which is worthy of application and promotion.