An interventional study of Neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) and Usual Care in Facial Palsy and Stroke, sponsored by University of Aarhus. Recruiting at 1 site in Denmark. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-03-09.
Sponsored by University of Aarhus · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment
Background Central facial palsy (CFP) is a common condition in stroke, with an estimated prevalence of 45%. CFP can lead to facial asymmetry, problems with mouth closure and food processing, bite marks on the cheek, social isolation, and reduced quality of life. CFP is seen as an important area of rehabilitation, and training is therefore often carried out to reduce the consequences of CFP. In a recent systematic review conducted by the principal investigator, the results showed that very few studies have been conducted that have investigated the effect of training for CFP, and there is currently no scientific evidence to support the effect of the various training interventions.
Objective To investigate the effect of Neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) on facial symmetry compared to usual practice, in participants with CFP as a result of stroke.
Hypothesis: Participants who receive training with NMES together with usual training for facial paralysis have greater improvement in facial symmetry than participants who only receive usual training for facial paralysis.
Trial design Randomized controlled trial (RCT) with a nested pilot trial. A pilot trial/RCT will be conducted in order to power calculation in an RCT. The protocol for the pilot trial and RCT will be the same, and participants from the pilot trial and their outcome data are thus expected to be included in the RCT.
81 studies on the registry are indexed under Facial Paralysis; 28 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 130 is above the median of 50 across 59 interventional studies indexed under Facial Paralysis.
Browse Facial Paralysis studies →University of Aarhus is the lead sponsor of 1,300 studies on the registry; 189 are open to participants now.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.
Exclusion Criteria:
Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.
Contraindication
A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
NMES is provided as an add-on to usual care
Device: Neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) · Other: Usual Care
This arm receives usual care of facial palsy without NMES. Usual care encompass mimical exercises, facio oral sensory input, and kinesio taping.
Other: Usual Care
Electrical stimulation of facial muscles.
This arm receives usual care of facial palsy without NMES. Usual care encompass mimical exercises, facio oral sensory input, and kinesio taping.
My Facial Quantification (MyFacialQ)
MyFacialQ quantifies degree of unilateral facial palsy through video recordings of mimical exercises. The development and validation study for MyFacialQ is in review.
Time frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at four weeks"
Iowa Oral Performance Instrument (IOPI)
Measurement of lip strength
Time frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at four weeks
Facial Clinimetric Evaluation (FACE)
Patient reported outcome on facial palsy
Time frame: From enrollment to three months follow-up after the intervention
Plan to share: No — IPD raw data is mainly video recordings, and these will not be shared. However aggregated measures from the video recordings may be shared.
No publications or documents are linked to this record.
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