Seib T P, Price R, Reyes M R, Lehmann J F
University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle.
Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 1994 Jul;75(7):746-50.
The goal of this research was to determine if cutaneous electrotherapy would temporarily reduce muscle spasticity. Five traumatically brain injured (TBI) and five spinal cord injured (SCI) subjects, all with clinically evident spasticity, received surface electrical stimulation over the tibialis anterior muscle. Using the Spasticity Measurement System, stiffness around the ankle was measured before, immediately after, and 24 hours after treatment. With stimulation, ipsilateral ankle viscoelastic stiffness immediately decreased in 9 of 10 subjects and remained significantly depressed for up to 24 hours. Contralateral ankle spasticity did not significantly change. Using the same subjects under sham conditions, no significant decrements in spasticity occurred. In a subjective survey, only SCI participants reported functionally evident spasticity reductions. Also within this subgroup, efficacy of treatment was directly proportional to the severity of pre-stimulation clonus. We conclude that (1) cutaneous electrotherapy transiently decreases both TBI and SCI related spasticity and (2) pre-stimulation clonus may function as a clinical indicator of SCI patients most likely to benefit from this process.
本研究的目的是确定皮肤电疗法是否会暂时减轻肌肉痉挛。五名创伤性脑损伤（TBI）患者和五名脊髓损伤（SCI）患者，均有明显的临床痉挛症状，接受了胫前肌表面电刺激。使用痉挛测量系统，在治疗前、治疗后即刻以及治疗后24小时测量踝关节周围的僵硬度。通过刺激，10名受试者中有9名的同侧踝关节粘弹性僵硬度立即下降，并在长达24小时内保持显著降低。对侧踝关节痉挛没有明显变化。在假刺激条件下使用相同的受试者，痉挛没有显著降低。在一项主观调查中，只有SCI参与者报告了功能上明显的痉挛减轻。同样在这个亚组中，治疗效果与刺激前阵挛的严重程度直接相关。我们得出结论：（1）皮肤电疗法可暂时减轻TBI和SCI相关的痉挛；（2）刺激前阵挛可能作为最有可能从该过程中受益的SCI患者的临床指标。
