Azizi Sh, Rasooli A H, Soleimani M, Irani A, Shahrokhi A, Mirbagheri M M
Annu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2018 Jul;2018:2499-2502. doi: 10.1109/EMBC.2018.8512772.
We aimed to investigate the effects of an antigravity treadmill (AlterG) on the balance and structure of the vestibulospinal tract. The AlterG can reduce the weightbearing of patients and hence can facilitate their locomotion. Three children with cerebral palsy (CP) received AlterG training three days per week for eight weeks with each session lasting 45 minutes. The balance of children was evaluated using the Berg balance test and the Timed Up and Go (TUG) test. The diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) method was employed to quantify changes of the structure of the vestibulospinal tract. Evaluations were performed before and after the 8-week training. DTI metrics including fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD), radial diffusivity (RD) and axial diffusivity (AD) were measured to evaluate the vestibulospinal tract structure. The results showed that the mean FA of the vestibulospinal tract increased and other metrics decreased for all subjects. Our findings indicated that the balance and structure of the vestibulospinal tract were improved up to 30% for all children following the 8-week AlterG training. This indicates that the balance improvement of the CP children following the AlterG training was accompanied with persistent neuroplasticity in their brain. The clinical implication is that the AlterG training has a potential to be used as an effective therapeutic tool for the treatment of balance impairment in CP children.
我们旨在研究反重力跑步机（AlterG）对前庭脊髓束平衡和结构的影响。AlterG可以减轻患者的负重，从而有助于他们的运动。三名脑瘫（CP）儿童每周三天接受AlterG训练，为期八周，每次训练持续45分钟。使用伯格平衡测试和定时起立行走（TUG）测试评估儿童的平衡能力。采用扩散张量成像（DTI）方法量化前庭脊髓束结构的变化。在8周训练前后进行评估。测量包括分数各向异性（FA）、平均扩散率（MD）、径向扩散率（RD）和轴向扩散率（AD）在内的DTI指标，以评估前庭脊髓束结构。结果显示，所有受试者的前庭脊髓束平均FA增加，其他指标下降。我们的研究结果表明，经过8周的AlterG训练，所有儿童的前庭脊髓束平衡和结构改善了30%。这表明，CP儿童在接受AlterG训练后平衡能力的改善伴随着大脑中持续的神经可塑性。临床意义在于，AlterG训练有可能作为治疗CP儿童平衡障碍的有效治疗工具。
