Electrical stimulation therapy increases rate of healing of pressure ulcers in community-dwelling people with spinal cord injury.

Objective: To investigate whether electric stimulation therapy (EST) administered as part of a community-based, interdisciplinary wound care program accelerates healing of pressure ulcers in people with spinal cord injury (SCI).

Design: Single-blind, parallel-group, randomized, controlled, clinical trial.

Setting: Community-based home care setting, Ontario, Canada.

Participants: Adults (N=34; mean age +/- SD, 51+/-14y) with SCI and stage II to IV pressure ulcers.

Interventions: Subjects were stratified based on wound severity and duration and randomly assigned to receive either a customized, community-based standard wound care (SWC) program that included pressure management or the wound care program plus high-voltage pulsed current applied to the wound bed (EST+SWC).

Main Outcome Measures: Wound healing measured by reduction in wound size and improvement in wound appearance at 3 months of treatment with EST+SWC or SWC.

Results: The percentage decrease in wound surface area (WSA) at the end of the intervention period was significantly greater in the EST+SWC group (mean +/- SD, 70+/-25%) than in the SWC group (36+/-61%; P=.048). The proportion of stage III, IV, or X pressure ulcers improving by at least 50% WSA was significantly greater in the EST+SWC group than in the SWC group (P=.02). Wound appearance assessed using the photographic wound assessment tool was improved in wounds treated with EST+SWC but not SWC alone.

Conclusions: These results demonstrate that EST can stimulate healing of pressure ulcers of people with SCI. EST can be incorporated successfully into an interdisciplinary wound care program in the community.