ABSTRACT
Objective：The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a four-week short-term intensive rehabilitation on ataxia in patients with ambulatory spinocerebellar degeneration (SCD), using the Scale for the Assessment and Rating of Ataxia (SARA) total score and sub-score.Methods：This study included 23 SCD patients；we considered those with a SARA gait score of＜3 points. Our program included a one-hour training session with individualized instructions and a one-hour self-balance training session. Additionally, occupational or speech-language-hearing therapy was performed for one hour daily. Our program was conducted five days weekly for four weeks. We assessed the SARA total score and sub-score findings immediately, before the first and after the last interventions.Results：The SARA total, gait, stance, and heel-shin scores showed more significant improvement after intervention than before intervention (p＜0.05). The other SARA sub-scores were not significantly different between “before and after” interventions.Conclusion：The four-week short-term intensive rehabilitation on ataxia in patients with ambulatory spinocerebellar degeneration improved the SARA total score and ataxia of the trunk and lower limbs.
ABSTRACT
Objective：The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a four-week short-term intensive rehabilitation on ataxia in patients with ambulatory spinocerebellar degeneration (SCD), using the Scale for the Assessment and Rating of Ataxia (SARA) total score and sub-score.Methods：This study included 23 SCD patients；we considered those with a SARA gait score of＜3 points. Our program included a one-hour training session with individualized instructions and a one-hour self-balance training session. Additionally, occupational or speech-language-hearing therapy was performed for one hour daily. Our program was conducted five days weekly for four weeks. We assessed the SARA total score and sub-score findings immediately, before the first and after the last interventions.Results：The SARA total, gait, stance, and heel-shin scores showed more significant improvement after intervention than before intervention (p＜0.05). The other SARA sub-scores were not significantly different between “before and after” interventions.Conclusion：The four-week short-term intensive rehabilitation on ataxia in patients with ambulatory spinocerebellar degeneration improved the SARA total score and ataxia of the trunk and lower limbs.