in the acute stage of stroke recovery, the use of cyclic electrical stimulation has been seen to increase the isometric strength of wrist extensors. in order to increase strength of wrist extensors, there must be a degree of motor function at the wrist spared following the stroke and have significant hemiplegia. patients who will elicit benefits of cyclic electrical stimulation of the wrist extensors must be highly motivated to follow through with treatment, after 8 weeks of electrical stimulation, an increase in grip strength can be apparent. many scales, which assess the level of disability of the upper extremities following a stroke, use grip strength as a common item. therefore, increasing strength of wrist extensors will decrease the level of upper extremity disability.