SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Neurol.
Sec. Neurorehabilitation
This article is part of the Research TopicNew methods in neurorehabilitationView all 26 articles
Non-invasive brain stimulation for the improvement of lower extremity motor function in patients with stroke: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-analysis
Provisionally accepted
- 1Guangzhou Red Cross Hospital, Guangzhou, China
- 2Shantou Central Hospital Department of Surgical Oncology, Shantou, China
- 3967 Hospital of The Joint Logistics Support Force,, Dalian City, Liaoning Province, China
- 4The second Medical Center, Chinese PLA General Hospital,, Beijing, China
- 5Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital, Guangzhou, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Objective: To explore and compare the effectiveness of various non-invasive brain stimulations (NiBS) on poststroke lower extremity disorders. Methods: We searched for and gathered studies from Embase, PubMed, Web of Science, and Cochrane databases, with the most recent search carried out on 5 October 2024. All published studies meeting the eligibility criteria and investigating the effectiveness of NiBS in patients with poststroke lower limb disorders were included. A total of 29 studies involving 1319 participants were reviewed. Two independent researchers extracted clinical characteristics and research data. Outcome measures included the Fugl–Meyer lower extremity scale, Barthel index, Berg balance scale (BBS), and timed up and go test. Standard pairwise meta-analysis results and treatment network geometry were generated using Stata MP version 15.0. Bayesian network analysis was conducted using R version 4.4.1 with the "BUGSnet" package. Conclusion: The meta-analysis shows that low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (LF-rTMS) and rTMS+transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) are effective neurostimulation therapies for enhancing poststroke lower limb motor function. Probability rankings indicate that, among all NiBS interventions examined, rTMS+tDCS may be the most effective. In terms of body balance, intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS) and LF-rTMS improved poststroke balance, with iTBS possibly being the most effective. For activities of daily living, iTBS, LF-rTMS, and rTMS+tDCS demonstrated beneficial effects, with LF-rTMS potentially being the most effective among them.
Keywords: rTMS (repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation), tDCS, Stroke - Diagnosis, Lower Limb & Rehabilitation, NIBS (Non-invasive Brain Stimulation
Received: 12 Jul 2025; Accepted: 29 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Deng, Li, Zhang, Zhou, Wu, Xu and Jin. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Wuhua Xu, xiongwuadf@sina.com
Dongmei Jin, dmjin@126.com
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.