[Rehabilitation of children after craniocerebral injuries with particular attention paid to the reflex stimulation Powiertowski's method. Preliminary study]. / Usprawnianie dzieci po przebytych urazach czaszkowo-mózgowych ze szczególnym uwzglednieniem metody stymulacji odruchowej Hieronima Powiertowskiego. Doniesienie wstepne.

INTRODUCTION: An increasing number of craniocerebral injuries among children is becoming a serious therapeutic problem for emergency wards and for chronic treatment wards. The most important problem among these patients is a lengthening period of consciousness disorders. The aim of the study is to present a sample method of rehabilitation of children with brain injury. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The rehabilitation process comprised 15 children with brain injury, including 8 with cerebral hemisphere injury and 7 with brain stem injury. The method of early motion rehabilitation was applied. It was developed by H. Powiertowski in 1970's. In the years 1991-1999 the method was used at the Children's Ward of the Department of Rehabilitation by Professor Krystyna Dobosiewicz. RESULTS: As a result of the applied method, 13 out of 15 children with brain injuries regained consciousness. 2 girls with severe lesion of the brain, still unconscious were transferred to the intensive care ward in the place of residence. CONCLUSIONS: Powiertowski's method of motion stimulation, which is presented in this paper, turned out to be successful in the process of rehabilitation children with brain injury treated in the Department of Rehabilitation.

Tibial nerve somato-sensory evoked potentials in idiopathic scoliosis.

Background. For many years the etiology of idiopathic scoliosis has been a topic of interest for researchers and clinicists. Material and methods. We examined somatosensory evoked potentials from the tibial nerves (tSSEP) in 120 children with idiopathic scoliosis, of whom 40 showed abnormal results and were retested by tSSEP one year later. The progressive nature of the scoliosis was evaluated on the basis of clinical and radiological examination. This group of 40 children was divided into two subgroups: Group I, consisting of 25 children with progressive scoliosis, and Group II, consisting of 15 children with non-progressive scoliosis. The groups were cross-referenced for one-curve scoliosis (21 children) and two-curve scoliosis (19 children). These children had been treated conservatively by asymmetrical three-plane trunk mobilization using the Dobosiewicz method. Results. Of the 40 children with abnormal results in the first tSSEP examination, 70% still had pathological recordings in the second examination. 65% of this group had progressive scoliosis, as compared to only 40.8% in the entire study population of 140 children. In the follow-up x-ray we found slight but statistically significant regressio of the Cobb angle and rotation. The radiological changes had no significant relation to changes in the tSSEPs. There was no statistically significant different in quantitative pathology on the tSSEPs between progressive and non-progressive scoliosis. Conclusions. These results may be an argument in favor of the hypothesis that idiopathic scoliosis results from a dysfunction of the sensory pathways.

[Developmental age idiopathic osteoporosis--diagnostics and rehabilitation]. / Osteoporoza idiopatyczna wieku rozwojowego--diagnostyka i rehabilitacja.

Developmental age idiopathic osteoporosis is a rare metabolic disease, which pathomechanism is different from involutional osteoporosis. Its etiology still remains unknown. An onset of the disease is rapid, affecting previously healthy children of both sexes aged 3.5-15. A rapid loss of bone mass is especially remarkable. Clinical picture of the disease includes pain localised initially in feet, then in thoraco-lumbar section of the vertebral column, gradually progressive deformation of the longitudinal axes of limbs, gait pathology and progressive depletion of a lower limb muscle strength. The onset of the disease is non-specific. Diagnosis is possible on the basis of roentgen imaging depicting rarefaction of cancellous layer of the bone, numerous infractions of long bones and typical for osteoporotic deformation of vertebral shafts with reduction of their vertical dimension. Current research presents two-staged method of rehabilitation applied in developmental age osteoporosis. The main principle of treatment is based on increasing axial load of lower limbs in antigravitational position causing joint surfaces to be pushed together. Final stage of rehabilitation includes interval training on a moving track.