Azizi Sh, Marzbani H, Raminfard S, Birgani P M, Rasooli A H, Mirbagheri M M
Annu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2017 Jul;2017:1150-1153. doi: 10.1109/EMBC.2017.8037033.
We studied the effects of an anti-gravity treadmill (AlterG) training on walking capacity and corticospinal tract structure in children with Cerebral Palsy (CP). AlterG can help CP children walk on the treadmill by reducing their weights up to 80% and maintain their balance during locomotion. AlterG training thus has the potential to improve walking capacity permanently as it can provide systematic and intense locomotor training for sufficiently long period of time and produce brain neuroplasticity. AlterG training was given for 45 minutes, three times a week for two months. The neuroplasticity of corticospinal tract was evaluated using Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI). The fractional Anisotropy (FA) feature was extracted to quantify structural changes of the corticospinal tract. Walking capacity was evaluated using popular clinical measurements of gait; i.e., walking speed, mobility and balance. The evaluations were done before and after training. Our results revealed that AlterG training resulted in an increase in average FA value of the corticospinal tract following the training. The outcome measures of clinical assessments of gait presented enhanced walking capacity of the CP subjects. Our findings indicated that the improved walking capacity was concurrent with the enhancement of the corticospinal tract structure. The clinical implication is that AlterG training may be considered as a therapeutic tool for permanent gait improvement in CP children.
我们研究了反重力跑步机（AlterG）训练对脑瘫（CP）儿童步行能力和皮质脊髓束结构的影响。AlterG可以通过减轻CP儿童高达80%的体重来帮助他们在跑步机上行走，并在运动过程中保持平衡。因此，AlterG训练有可能永久性地提高步行能力，因为它可以在足够长的时间内提供系统且高强度的运动训练，并产生脑可塑性。AlterG训练每次进行45分钟，每周三次，共持续两个月。使用扩散张量成像（DTI）评估皮质脊髓束的可塑性。提取分数各向异性（FA）特征以量化皮质脊髓束的结构变化。使用常用的步态临床测量方法评估步行能力，即步行速度、移动性和平衡能力。在训练前后进行评估。我们的结果显示，AlterG训练导致训练后皮质脊髓束的平均FA值增加。步态临床评估的结果显示CP受试者的步行能力有所提高。我们的研究结果表明，步行能力的改善与皮质脊髓束结构的增强同时出现。临床意义在于，AlterG训练可被视为改善CP儿童永久性步态的一种治疗工具。
