Comparative study between the effects of PNF and EMG biofeed back pulse functional electric stimulation on hand function of chronic hemiplegia

22 right handed patients with chronic stroke [more than 6 months' duration] attend this study, they were divided randomly into 2 groups the first group received E. M. G. biofeed back plus electric stimulation of wrist extensors, the duration of their post C. V. A. months were ranged from 6 to 69 months with a mean of 20.4 months, those patients treated for around 2 months, then the second group received propriocetive neuromuscular facilitation [P. N. F.], the duration of their post C. V. A. months were ranged from 6 to 72 with a mean of 31.7 months, those patients treated also for around 2 months. Both the 2 groups gained improvement in the score of their hand grip; where the first group gained a significant improvement 45.5%, on the other hand, the second group gained also a significant improvement, but less than the first group, where it was 28.1%. The patients of both group were evaluated 2 months after the treatment being finished, and it was noticed that the gained hand grip was maintained for most of those patients especially those who still doing their home exercises as a routine

Comparative study between the effects of biofeedback and traditional physical therapy methods on the upper limb functional activity of the head and spinal cord injured patients

Thirty six volunteers participated in this study, 20 of them suffered from spinal cord injury, and the other 16 patients suffered from head injury. The patients were randomly divided into two groups. Group I was treated by traditional physical therapy methods [balances, endurances, co-ordination exercise,. etc.] while, group II was treated by the same traditional physical therapy methods as group I plus biofeedback training. The treatment program for all patients continued for 14 weeks [3 times/week]. Evaluation was done three times. The evaluation have been done for 10 functional activities by using certain scale. At the end of the treatment statistical analysis between the first and last evaluation have been done, which showed significant improvement in the functional activity for all patients in each group, while there was nonsignificant difference between the two groups

Effect of Interferential therapy on the affected shoulder in hemiplegia

Forty cerebrovascular accident [CVA] patients participated in this study. They were divided randomly into two groups after being evaluated by measuring the range of motion and the motor power of the affected shoulder. In the first group, 12 patients had left hemiplegia and 7 had right hemiplegia. This group was treated only by graduated therapeutic exercises depending on the evaluation of each patient. In the second group 13 patients had left hemiplegia and 8 patients had right hemiplegia, this group was treated by interferential therapy, in addition to the graduated therapeutic exercises. The mean of duration between CVA onset and starting physiotherapy for both groups was 7 days. 12 patients completed the treatment programs as inpatients, while 28 patients completed the program as outpatients. At the end of the treatment program reevaluation was done for all patients. Statistical analysis by using the t-test was done for the two groups. The results showed significant improvement for both groups, but the improvement in the second group was better than the first, which indicated that the interferential therapy has a good effect in treating the hemiplegic shoulder, especially if it is used in combination with other physical modalities

Effect of physical therapy on the recovery time of independent post-stroke

The stroke patients undergoing physical therapy program immediately after stroke attack and admission were receiving physical treatment six days a week till discharge, out of 30 patients admitted there were 23 patients who could not attain sitting independently, 27 could not attain balanced standing, and 28 patients who could not attain independent walking, by discharge, 21 out of 23 patients [91.3 percent] were able to attain balanced standing, and 20 out of 28 patients [71.4 percent] were able to walk independently. The time between onset of stroke and admission - which is nearly the same - to attain the independent function was found to be affected by the following factors: age, severity of the stroke, and depression which affect walking, and perceptual impairment which affect achieving independent sitting, and finally struggling to overcome his illness; this struggling affect all independent functions especially with the younger patients

Evaluation of muscle tone by emg-feedback machine

Thirty children with mild, moderate, or severe cerebral palsy, and minimal cerebral dysfunction was examined by passive movement and by EMG feedback machine to evaluate muscle tone. Three evaluators conducted the passive movement test and recorded their results according to specific scale. Data recorded from the EMG feedback machine was by videotaping the digital display. There was no clear difference between both test results, this demonstrates that using EMG feedback machine as a clinical method to evaluate muscle tone disorder is realistic and valid

Effect of pulsed short wave on post operative and traumatic pain

Pain is a common symptoms in most of the diseases and injuries, its control or relief may be of a great importance for both the patient and the physical therapist. In this trial twenty volunteer patients, nine of them were post operative lumbar disc prolapse and the other eleven with traumatic back pain following jumping, lifting heavy weights or trauma to the back, those patients participated in this study to evaluate the effect of the pulsed short wave on relieving their pain, the treatment time was four weeks, the results showed a significant improvement