Evaluation of long term effects of acupuncture and therapeutic exercises on frozen shoulder in stroke patients

Aim: To determine how acupuncture and exercise therapy affect motor function and spasticity on the hands of stroke patients 6 months after they had received this kind of therapy. Methods: Prospective, randomized, single blind clinical study of 20 patients, age 60-70 years, in the chronic phase 6 months after stroke. Subjects were divided into two groups: Group A, which was treated with acupuncture and exercise therapy (AP-ET) 6 months ago and Group B, which was treated with exercise therapy (ET) alone 6 months ago. Results: Analyses showed a statistically significant difference in the post-treatment SCORES as compared to 6 months after treatment within each study group for all parameters examined (p<0.01 in all cases) except for MAS. Analyses showed a statistically significant differ-ence in some parameters in the ET group as compared to the AP-ET group with greater mean values recorded in the AP-ET group for MAS and CSDQ. All other parameters showed no statistical differences between the two different therapy groups 6 months after the therapy. Conclusion: The results confirm the hypothesis that acupuncture and exercise therapy are useful in the treatment of frozen shoulder in stroke patients and that their effects are still present after 6 months of therapy, however, given the small patient population, further studies are needed to verify these results.Objetivo: Determinar como a acupuntura e a terapia com exercícios afetam a função motora e espasmodicidade das mãos de pacientes com acidente cerebral vascular 6 meses após eles terem recebido este tipo de terapia. Métodos: Estudo clínico prospectivo, aleatório e cego de 20 pacientes, com idades entre 60-70 anos, na fase crônica de 6 meses após o AVC. Os sujeitos do estudo foram divididos em dois grupos: Grupo A, o qual foi tratado com acu-puntura e terapia de exercícios (AP-ET) 6 meses atrás e Grupo B, o qual foi tratado apenas com terapia de exercícios (ET) 6 meses atrás. Resultados: As análises mostraram uma diferença estatisticamente significativa nos SCORES do pós-tratamento em comparação com 6 meses após o tratamento com cada grupo de estudo, para todos os parâmetros examinados (p<0.01 em todos os casos) exceto pelo MAS. As análises mostraram uma diferença estatisticamente significativa em alguns parâmetros no grupo ET em comparação ao grupo AP-ET com valores médios maiores no grupo AP-ET para MAS e CSDQ. Todos os outros parâmetros não mostraram nenhuma diferença estatística entre os grupos diferentes de terapia 6 meses após a terapia. Conclusão: Os resultados confirmam a hipótese de que a acupuntura e a terapia de exercícios são úteis no tratamento de ombro congelado em pacientes com AVC e que seus efeitos ainda estão presentes após seis meses de terapia, no entanto, dado o pequeno número de pacientes, mais estudos são necessários para verificar estes resultados

Non-invasive Focal Mechanical Vibrations Delivered by Wearable Devices: An Open-Label Pilot Study in Childhood Ataxia

Non-invasive focal mechanical vibrations (NIFMV) now represent a strategy of increasing interest to improve motor control in different neurological diseases. Nanotechnology allowed the creation of wearable devices transforming thermal variations into mechanical energy with focal vibrations. This kind of wearable stimulators (WS) has produced encouraging preliminary results when used in the treatment of movement disorders and ataxia in adults. In this open label pilot study we first evaluated the feasibility, safety and effectiveness of NIFMV by WS in a cohort of 10 patients with childhood ataxia, a phenomenological category including different conditions still lacking of effective symptomatic therapies. Through the assessment of both clinical rating scales and spatio-temporal gait parameters via standardized gait analysis, we observed that a 4 weeks long treatment with WS Equistasi® was safe and provided significantly different effects in stride features of patients with slow/non-progressive cerebellar ataxia and Friedreich's Ataxia. Although limited by the sample size, the absence of a placebo-controlled group, the poor compliance of enrolled population to the original experimental design and the partial accuracy of outcome measures in pediatric subjects, we suggest that NIFMV by WS could support locomotion of patients with childhood slow/non-progressive cerebellar ataxia with preserved sensory system and no signs of peripheral neuropathy. Future studies are definitely necessary to confirm these preliminary results and define criteria for successful NIFMV-based treatmen

Avaliação dos efeitos a longo prazo da acupuntura e exercícios terapêuticos em ombro congelado de pacientes com acidente cerebral vascular

Objetivo: Determinar como a acupuntura e a terapia com exercícios afetam a função motora e espasmodicidade das mãos de pacientes com acidente cerebral vascular 6 meses após eles terem recebido este tipo de terapia. Métodos: Estudo clínico prospectivo, aleatório e cego de 20 pacientes, com idades entre 60-70 anos, na fase crônica de 6 meses após o AVC. Os sujeitos do estudo foram divididos em dois grupos: Grupo A, o qual foi tratado com acu-puntura e terapia de exercícios (AP-ET) 6 meses atrás e Grupo B, o qual foi tratado apenas com terapia de exercícios (ET) 6 meses atrás. Resultados: As análises mostraram uma diferença estatisticamente significativa nos SCORES do pós-tratamento em comparação com 6 meses após o tratamento com cada grupo de estudo, para todos os parâmetros examinados (p<0.01 em todos os casos) exceto pelo MAS. As análises mostraram uma diferença estatisticamente significativa em alguns parâmetros no grupo ET em comparação ao grupo AP-ET com valores médios maiores no grupo AP-ET para MAS e CSDQ. Todos os outros parâmetros não mostraram nenhuma diferença estatística entre os grupos diferentes de terapia 6 meses após a terapia. Conclusão: Os resultados confirmam a hipótese de que a acupuntura e a terapia de exercícios são úteis no tratamento de ombro congelado em pacientes com AVC e que seus efeitos ainda estão presentes após seis meses de terapia, no entanto, dado o pequeno número de pacientes, mais estudos são necessários para verificar estes resultados

Functional and Gait Assessment in Children and Adolescents Affected by Friedreich’s Ataxia: A One-Year Longitudinal Study

<div><p>Friedreich’s ataxia is the most common autosomal recessive form of neurodegenerative ataxia. We present a longitudinal study on the gait pattern of children and adolescents affected by Friedreich’s ataxia using Gait Analysis and the Scale for the Assessment and Rating of Ataxia (SARA). We assessed the spectrum of changes over 12 months of the gait characteristics and the relationship between clinical and instrumental evaluations. We enrolled 11 genetically confirmed patients affected by Friedreich’s ataxia in this study together with 13 normally developing age-matched subjects. Eight patients completed a 12-month follow-up under the same protocol. By comparing the gait parameters of Friedreich’s ataxia with the control group, we found significant differences for some relevant indexes. In particular, the increased knee and ankle extension in stance revealed a peculiar biomechanical pattern, which correlated reliably with SARA Total, Gait and Sitting scores. The knee pattern showed its consistency also at the follow-up: Knee extension increased from 6.8±3.5° to -0.5±3.7° and was significantly correlated with the SARA total score. This feature anticipated the loss of the locomotor function in two patients. In conclusion, our findings demonstrate that the selective and segmental analysis of kinetic/kinematic features of ataxic gait, in particular the behavior of the knee, provides sensitive measures to detect specific longitudinal and functional alterations, more than the SARA scale, which however has proved to be a reliable and practical assessment tool. Functional outcomes measures integrated by instrumental evaluation increase their sensitivity, reliability and suitability for the follow-up of the disease progression and for the application in clinical trials and in rehabilitative programs.</p></div

Ankle, hip and knee rotational co-variation during a complete gait cycle.

<p>The figure depicts the angles of hip, knee and ankle during the gait cycle on 3D plot, that is, the angle values on vertical axes of <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0162463#pone.0162463.g001" target="_blank">Fig 1</a> for hip, knee and ankle was bring back, respectively on x, y and z axes, in this figure. This figure represents the lower limb joint co-variation during the gait cycle. Solid line represents the mean values of controls, dotted line the baseline of FRDA, and dashed line the FRDA follow-up. Dark gray arrows indicate the foot landing, that is, the gait cycle start. White arrows indicate the beginning of the swing phase. The large light gray arrow represents the gait pattern progressive deterioration towards ankle and knee extension moving from the dotted to the dashed curves in patients with FRDA (see <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0162463#pone.0162463.s001" target="_blank">S1 Fig</a> for a 3D animation of the graph).</p

Patients clinical and demographic overview.

<p>Patients clinical and demographic overview.</p

T-test results on average values and standard deviations of kinetic/kinematic parameters of Gait Analysis: FRDA (1^st assessment) vs Controls.

<p>T-test results on average values and standard deviations of kinetic/kinematic parameters of Gait Analysis: FRDA (1^st assessment) vs Controls.</p

Kinetic/Kinematics parameters.

<p>The figure shows the time series of the variables examined in the paper. In the horizontal axis is represented the time normalized respect to the duration of the gait cycle (from the hell contact to the floor to the ipsilateral succeeding hell contact). The arrows indicate the peak values here studied. The black line represents the mean values of the baseline of the patient with FRDA, while the gray band represents the standard deviation of the control group. In the first row are represented in degree the flexion and extension rotation of the hip, the knee and the ankle, from left to right respectively. In the second and third rows are represented joints moment and power, respectively, normalized respect to body wheight. In the four row is represented the hip ab-adduction and the angle of the internal end external rotation of the foot.</p