NeuroRehabilitation - Volume 23, issue 3

Authors: Park, Ji-Won | Kwon, Yong Hyun | Lee, Mi Young | Bai, Daiseg | Nam, Ki-Seok | Cho, Yoon Woo | Lee, Chu-Hee | Jang, Sung Ho

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: The aim of this study was to compare the areas of brain activation between complex and simple exercises in a unimanual hand and to assess the possibility of an exercise task for paretic hands following stroke. The subjects included 11 healthy right-handed volunteers. The complex exercise was a wooden ball rotation task with the unimanual hand and the simple exercise was a hand grasp task performed during a functional MRI scan. Stronger activation of the left primary sensorimotor cortex, the left premotor area, and the ipsilateral cerebellum emerged when the complex movement was performed. Ipsilateral activity was located in the …primary sensory cortex and premotor area, and contralateral activity was shown in the left cerebellum. These results suggest that a unimanual ball rotation task may be appropriate for rehabilitation of a movable paretic hand in an early stage of stroke recovery, which should provide motor and sensory input using external stimuli, while the simple motor task may appropriate in a compensatory stage, and should inhibit the ipsilateral activity due to maladaptive plasticity. Show more

Keywords: Functional MRI, ball rotation task, stroke, complex exercise

DOI: 10.3233/NRE-2008-23311

Citation: NeuroRehabilitation, vol. 23, no. 3, pp. 283-288, 2008

Authors: Broetz, Doris | Hahn, Ulrich | Maschke, Evelin | Wick, Wolfgang | Kueker, Wilhelm | Weller, Michael

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: Background: Lumbar disk prolapses are among the most common neurological conditions. In this open study, we asked whether repeated end-range spinal movements (McKenzie method) as physiotherapy in patients with lumbar disk prolapse induce early changes in location, size and signal intensity of lumbar disc material detectable by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). We compared clinical with radiographic changes. The clinical efficacy of mechanical physiotherapy according to the McKenzie method within 5 days was documented. Methods: Eleven consecutive patients with lumbar disk prolapse were included. Patients were treated with repeated end-range spinal movements and MRI was performed before and after …2–5 treatments. Results: All patients achieved a reduction in symptoms and signs of disk prolapse during and after these procedures but none showed any change in the MRI features of the prolapses. Conclusions: Beneficial effects of specific mechanical physiotherapy in patients with radicular syndromes from lumbar disk prolapse are not paralleled by changes in the MRI appearance of the prolapses. Alternative explanations for the early clinical responses in some patients with lumbar disc prolapse treated according to the McKenzie method must be sought. Show more

Keywords: Conservative treatment, physiotherapy, lumbar disk prolapse, magnetic resonance imaging

DOI: 10.3233/NRE-2008-23312

Citation: NeuroRehabilitation, vol. 23, no. 3, pp. 289-294, 2008