Miura Misa, Seki Kazunori, Ito Osamu, Handa Yasunobu, Kohzuki Masahiro
Department of Internal Medicine and Rehabilitation, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan.
Sendai School of Health and Welfare, Sendai, Japan.
J Jpn Phys Ther Assoc. 2012;15(1):15-20. doi: 10.1298/jjpta.Vol15_003.
Strength of the trunk muscles is a key component of motor control, but it declines easily with the process of aging and/or disuse.
To investigate the effects of surface electrical stimulation (ES) to the abdominal muscles and the motor performance for care-needing elderly.
Controlled trial.
Twenty-one elderly people (60-90 years) with care-needing, who were admitted to a nursing home or hospital for daily care and their score of Barthel Index had been stable from 55.3 ± 19.4 to 55.3 ± 19.8 during 3 months before intervention.
Common physical/occupational therapy was performed for all of the subjects during the study period. ES was applied to the abdomen of 15 subjects (ES group) twice a day for 8 weeks.
Functional measurements were performed before and after beginning of the study with some parameters as follows: grip strength; movement time for sitting up (MSU); maximum walking speed (WS).
No significant differences between two groups were noted for characteristics at baseline. In the ES group, MSU (from 21.1 ± 21.4 to 10.4 ± 8.3 sec) significantly improved (p < 0.05) after 8weeks. WS (from 17.7 ± 12.1 to 24.3 ± 15.3 m/min) were also improved (p < 0.05) after 8 weeks.
A limitation of this study was the small sample size.
ES to the abdominal area has the potential to improve motor function in the care-needing elderly through reinforcement of the abdominal muscles.
躯干肌肉力量是运动控制的关键组成部分，但随着衰老和/或废用过程，其容易下降。
探讨表面电刺激（ES）对腹部肌肉及失能老年人运动表现的影响。
对照试验。
21名需要护理的老年人（60 - 90岁），他们入住养老院或医院接受日常护理，且在干预前3个月内巴氏指数评分从55.3±19.4稳定至55.3±19.8。
在研究期间，对所有受试者进行常规物理/职业治疗。对15名受试者（ES组）的腹部每天进行2次ES治疗，共8周。
在研究开始前后进行功能测量，测量参数如下：握力；坐起运动时间（MSU）；最大步行速度（WS）。
两组在基线特征方面无显著差异。在ES组中，8周后MSU（从21.1±21.4秒降至10.4±8.3秒）显著改善（p<0.05）。8周后WS（从17.7±12.1米/分钟提高至24.3±15.3米/分钟）也有所改善（p<0.05）。
本研究的一个局限性是样本量小。
对腹部区域进行ES有潜力通过增强腹部肌肉来改善失能老年人的运动功能。
