Roessingh Research and Development, Roessinghsbleekweg 33B, Enschede, the Netherlands.
J Neuroeng Rehabil. 2012 Jul 23;9:44. doi: 10.1186/1743-0003-9-44.
The majority of stroke patients have to cope with impaired arm function. Gravity compensation of the arm instantaneously affects abnormal synergistic movement patterns. The goal of the present study is to examine whether gravity compensated training improves unsupported arm function.
Seven chronic stroke patients received 18 half-hour sessions of gravity compensated reach training, in a period of six weeks. During training a motivating computer game was played. Before and after training arm function was assessed with the Fugl-Meyer assessment and a standardized, unsupported circle drawing task. Synergistic movement patterns were identified based on concurrent changes in shoulder elevation and elbow flexion/extension angles.
Median increase of Fugl-Meyer scores was 3 points after training. The training led to significantly increased work area of the hemiparetic arm, as indicated by the normalized circle area. Roundness of the drawn circles and the occurrence of synergistic movement patterns remained similar after the training.
A decreased strength of involuntary coupling might contribute to the increased arm function after training. More research is needed to study working mechanisms involved in post stroke rehabilitation training. The used training setup is simple and affordable and is therefore suitable to use in clinical settings.
大多数中风患者都需要应对手臂功能受损的问题。手臂即时的重力补偿会影响异常的协同运动模式。本研究的目的是检验重力补偿训练是否能改善非支撑手臂的功能。
7 名慢性中风患者在六周的时间里接受了 18 次半小时的重力补偿训练。在训练过程中，患者会玩一个激励性的电脑游戏。在训练前后，使用 Fugl-Meyer 评估和标准化的非支撑圆圈绘制任务评估手臂功能。基于肩部抬高和肘部弯曲/伸展角度的同时变化，确定协同运动模式。
训练后 Fugl-Meyer 评分中位数增加了 3 分。训练导致偏瘫手臂的工作区域明显增加，这一点可以通过归一化的圆圈面积来表示。训练后，绘制的圆圈的圆度和协同运动模式的发生情况仍然相似。
无意识耦合强度的降低可能有助于训练后手臂功能的提高。需要进一步研究涉及中风后康复训练的工作机制。所使用的训练设置简单且经济实惠，因此适合在临床环境中使用。
