Effect of oral baclofen on spasticity poststroke: responders versus non-responders.

Objective To assess quantitatively the efficacy of oral baclofen for spasticity poststroke. Methods The participants were 29 persons poststroke with increased resistance to passive ankle dorsiflexion and ankle clonus on clinical assessment. Baclofen was administered at 20 mg/day for 1 week. The ankle joint was passively dorsiflexed at either 5°/s (slow stretch) or 90°/s (fast stretch) by a custom-built device. The ankle joint angle and resistive torque were measured during the ramp-and-hold stretch, with gastrocnemius electromyogram. The main outcome measures were the numbers of ankle clonus during hold, and the torques at 10° of ankle dorsiflexion in slow stretch (T-slow) and fast stretch (T-fast). Moreover, the velocity-dependent torque (ΔT = T-fast - T-slow) was compared between before and after oral baclofen. Results The numbers of ankle clonus, T-slow, T-fast, and ΔT for all participants did not exhibit significant differences between before and after baclofen administration. However, reduction in the number of ankle clonus of five or more was accompanied with a reduction in ΔT (4.0 ± 1.8 Nm) in three participants (the responders). Conclusion Although the responder rate was low, some participants responded to oral baclofen. Thus, a short-term trial of oral baclofen, and quantitative and electrophysiological assessments of muscle tone and ankle clonus are recommended.

Immobilization and Disuse Syndrome / The Japanese Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine

Understanding the societal and personal impact of immobilization or disuse syndrome is important in Japan with its large elderly population. The indication of disuse syndrome for rehabilitation was narrowed and the fee for disuse syndrome was set at a low level. Muscle strength decreases at a rate of 2.3 % per day in 40 % of the people. Also, the muscle fractional synthetic rate decreased with 10 days rest. Other functional or morphological changes also occur in the neuromuscular junction and the muscle internal structure. Additionally, we must consider the contribution of muscle to the limitation of joint angle after immobilization. Both elasticity and viscosity increase. Cardiac wall thickness and cardiorespiratory fitness decrease during immobilization. Gravitational dependent lung disease or deep vein thrombosis may occur. The brain is also affected by immobilization, leading to condition of learned non-use. The best solution for immobilization is to be active ; however, we must have a detailed knowledge of the pathophysiology of a patient's disease in order increase their activity level. In an acute hospital setting, prevention of immobilization is crucial. The system used in Japan, whereby therapists are assigned full-time in the ward was introduced in April 2014. Furthermore, even though 20.35% of maximal strength training is effective in atrophied muscles, it is ineffective in trained muscles. Another sticking point is that there is no evidence-based recommendation for range of motion exercise. However, rehabilitation intervention in respirator patients improves their ADL. Prophylaxis of deep vein thrombosis is also very important. And learned non-use of the brain may be diminished by the skillful application of vibrations that makes patients feel that their hand is moving even when it is not. Finally, the mechanism of hibernation may be the key to improving our rehabilitation against immobilization in the future.

Changes in the Affected Side Motor Function According to the Severity of Motor Paralysis in Hemiplegic Stroke Patients during Convalescent Rehabilitation / The Japanese Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine

Objective : We analyzed changes in the affected side motor function according to the region and severity of motor paralysis in patients during convalescent rehabilitation. Methods : The subjects recruited were 1,903 hemiplegic patients with primary stroke from a supratentorial unilateral lesion, for which a full-time integrated treatment (FIT) program was implemented. We excluded patients with severe complications, those in whom the stroke recurred or its condition rapidly changed during hospitalization, and those in whom the duration from the onset to admission to our hospital was 61 days or longer. The remaining 1,634 patients served as the study subjects, from among whom we chose 917 patients who had been hospitalized for 8 weeks or longer. The affected side motor function was assessed using 5 motor items of the Stroke Impairment Assessment Set (SIAS) every 2 weeks starting from admission. Results and Conclusion : The affected side motor function significantly improved from admission to a convalescent rehabilitation ward through to week 8 in stroke patients, who were actively engaged in daily routines and had mainly walking and ADL exercise. In addition, improvement was more likely to occur for the lower-limb compared to upper-limb, as well as for the proximal compared to distal motor function. This tendency was more marked for more severe cases of paralyses.

Reliability Study of Gross Motor Function Classification System and Delphi Survey of Expert Opinion for Clinical Use of this System in Japan / The Japanese Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine

The purpose of this study was to examine the reliability of the Japanese version of the Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) and to determine expert opinions on clinical use of this system using a Delphi survey. The reliability study was performed with 334 children (191 boys, 143 girls) with cerebral palsy, ranging in age from 8 months to 12 years (mean, 5 years 7 months ; standard deviation, 3 years 1 month). A total of 181 assessors participated in the study. Two assessors classified each child's level of gross motor function independently using a revised version of the GMFCS (Japanese version 1.1). This revision of the GMFCS was based on the results of previous pilot studies performed in Japan. A questionnaire was used for the Delphi survey, and the rate of positive response was calculated from the answers of 20 assessors at each institute that conducted the reliability study. In the reliability study, overall kappa was 0.67, but specific kappas <0.40 were found at level III and IV in the 4.6 year age group. In the Delphi survey, the rate of positive responses was not ≥80% only for the description of level III among the five levels. These findings and structural analysis of descriptions for level III and IV according to the results reported by Rosenbaum and coworkers suggest that reliability of the GMFCS was partly lowered because of the level III description for the age of 4.6 years, which might be set at a relatively lower level than actual development.

Validating a Nutrition Support Team's (NST) Effect in Convalescent Stroke Rehabilitation using the Functional Independence Measure / The Japanese Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine

The aim of this study is to validate the effect of a nutrition support team's (NST) interventions in convalescent stroke rehabilitation using the Functional Independence Measure (FIM). Three hundred and four patients were retrospectively divided into an NST-nourishment group, an NST-losing-weight group and a non-NST group. We then compared the FIM gain, the FIM efficiency and the change of body mass index during admission among these three groups. The FIM gain was 17.3±15.9 in the NST-nourishment group and 16.7±12.5 in the non-NST group and there was no significant difference. The FIM efficiency in the NST-nourishment group (0.20±0.19) was significantly lower than the one in the non-NST group (0.27±0.19). Patients with an FIM of 53 or less showed no significant difference in FIM gain and FIM efficiency between the two groups. Since those patients who received NST intervention would tend to have a poor prognosis in general, we assumed that our “no difference” results indicated the effectiveness of the NST intervention. There was no evident relationship between FIM gains and changes in the body mass index.