Electromyography and clinical neurophysiology最新文献

Objective: To quantify and compare parameters of muscle electrical activity and ground reaction force of lower limb during gait in post-stroke patients with left or right side functional involvement.

Method: Fifteen post-stroke volunteers with left side functional involvement were age, gender and weight matched and compared to fifteen post-stroke volunteers with right side functional involvement. Comparison was executed by means of electromyography with four pairs of surface electrodes positioned on the affected side (spastic side), on the muscles rectus femoris, tibialis anterior, soleus, and medial portion of the hamstrings, and with a ground reaction force plate.

Results: There was no statistically significant difference on electromyographic activity of analyzed muscles (p = 0.6), nor on the analysis of ground reaction vertical forces, stride duration, weight bearing index, gait velocity, cadence and stride length (p = 0.53).

Conclusion: According to the electromyographic parameters and to the ground reaction force during gait among the post-stroke volunteers with right or left side involvement; we could suggest that functional rehabilitation presented no differences for these individuals.

Unlabelled: The premotor cortex is a second generator of motorics, involved in mass inborn movements performance, and in pathology--in genesis of spasticity and other motor disorders. As far as the repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is expected to be a therapeutic tool in some movement disorders, the investigation of premotor cortex response to TMS seems to be an important first step. The goal of our work was to picture the difference in motor responses of premotor and primary motor areas to TMS, by means of motor threshold (MT), and to give a simple and easy testing method, which may be of use before trying therapeutic TMS in some motor disorders. It is based on the motor threshold values for arms and legs motor responses, as a primary motor and premotor cortex excitabity indicator. Only a transcranial magnetic stimulator is necessary for the investigation. A MagPro stimulator (Medtronic, Denmark) with an original C125 coil have been used. The hand and finger contraction motor threshold by TMS at C(z) was measured. After that the stimulation intensity (combined with facilitation), necessary for gaining muscle contraction in every arm and leg, contra- and ipsilaterally, by TMS at C(z), C3, C4, CF1 and CF2 (left and right premotor zones) was tried. The responses have been assessed visually. The results showed a bilateral arm and leg motor response to unilateral TMS of premotor area. The stimulation intensity necessary to evoke contraction in leg musculature was significant lower at premotor area than this at C(z). On the contrary the TMS at C3 and C4 resulted always only in a contra-lateral arm and sometimes leg contraction. The visual assessment of contra- and ipsilateraly leg and arm muscles participation allowed this to be scanned all over the body.

Conclusion: The two motor generators (premotor and primary motor) show different behavior by TMS. The proposed method of motor threshold comparison in TMS of both motor and premotor cortex, necessary to gain motor responses in four limbs may be useful as an easy, fast and noninvasive functional test.

Introduction: CRMP management involves electrical stimulation of motor points.

Objective: To demonstrate that Electrical Twitch-Obtaining Intramuscular Stimulation (eToims) using ET127 system for noninvasive motor point stimulation is safe and efficacious in CRMP management.

Method: Longitudinal observation of consecutive self-pay outpatients treated from 10/06 through 4/08, divided into Preferred Group ("PG", N = 49, 3 Hz, 4 stimuli/site) and Basic Group ("BG", N = 43, 1 Hz stimulation, 1 stimulus/site). PG and BG had comparable ages, symptom durations, treatment session durations and treatment intervals. Each session involved treatment to large muscles of C4-C7 and L3-S1 myotomes. Outcome measures include prior week's verbal pain levels, pre and immediate post-session pain levels, blood pressure (BP), pulse rate (PR), symptomatic (S) and asymptomatic (A) side range-of-motion (ROM) for neck rotation (NR), shoulder external rotation (ER), shoulder internal rotation (IR), straight leg raising (SLR) and FABERE testing.

Results: PG and BG showed significant improvements (p < 0.01) in immediate post-session pain levels and measured ROM. Significantly higher ERS (pre and post session percentage changes) noted for BG over PG (p < 0.05). Post-session PR decreased in both groups, more so in PG Systolic BP was mildly elevated in PG but was mildly reduced in BG Both groups showed no diastolic BP changes. Significant negative correlation noted between increasing number of treatments and pain level only in PG (r = -0.3, p = 0.00). Increasing number of treatments in PG correlated significantly with improvement in NRS, NRA, IRS, SLRS, LRA, FABERES and FABEREA whereas BG significantly correlated only for improvement in LRS. PG had lower average pain levels than BG (3.4 +/- 1.9 vs. 4.3 +/- 2.5, p < 0.02).

Conclusion: eToims using ET127 electrical stimulator appears safe and efficacious in CRMP management.

This study aimed at examining the effect of tripolar TENS of vertebral column on the activity of slow and fast motoneurons on 10 healthy non-athlete women aged 22.7 +/- 2.21 yrs. H-reflex recovery curve of soleus (slow) and gastrocnemius (fast) muscles were recorded before and after applying tripolar TENS. For recording of this curve, rectangular paired stimuli were applied on tibial nerve (with 40-520 ISI, frequency of 0.2 Hz and pulse width of 600 micros). Our findings showed that maximum H-reflex recovery in gastrocnemius muscle appeared in the shorter ISI, while in soleus muscle, it appeared in the longer ISI and its amplitude slightly decreased after applying tripolar TENS. It is suggested that tripolar TENS excites not only the skin but also Ia and Ib afferents in the dorsal column. A Synaptic interaction of these afferents in spinal cord causes the inhibition of type I MNs and facilitation of type II MNs. This effect can be used in muscle tone modulation.

The aim of the study was to compare the fatigue rates of the deltoid muscle portions in the scapular and frontal planes. Ten healthy men without shoulder muscle impairment took part in the study. They performed isometric arm abduction for 30 seconds against a resistance of load cell while the electromyographic data were collected. The electromyographic data were transformed by the Fast Fourier Transform, to obtain the median power frequency (MDPF). The changes in MDPF of the three deltoid portions in the scapular and frontal planes were compared. The acromialis and spinalis portions fatigued during the exercises. The clavicularis portion presented no fatigue. A statistically significant difference occurred between the clavicularis and the other two portions (P < 0.05). No differences were found when the planes were compared. It represents to practice no preferential order during rehabilitation. Moreover, the acromialis and spinalis portions fatigue, although the clavicularis portion did not fatigue. The actions of other muscles of the shoulder girdle can explain this fact. Moreover, these two portions need more attention to avoid fatigue during exercises. In general, therapeutic strategies for injured patients should not only be directed towards increased force, but also towards fatigue control during shoulder exercises.

Background: The study was aimed to evaluate the EMG pattern in myopathy, in the muscles with early, slight abnormalities and in the muscles severely affected, and to analyze the sequence of abnormalities appearing with the progress of the impairment.

Material and method: Fifty one boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy were studied. Ninety nine proximal muscles (biceps brachii and rectus femoris) were examined. According to clinical criteria (defective force, atrophy) the muscles were assigned to the group of slight changes (group AB: 50 muscles) and to the group of severe abnormalities (group CD: 49 muscles). An own method of Functional-QEMG was applied in the CNEMG examination.

Results and conclusions: The sensitivity of the method applied allowed the detection of myogenic changes even at the subclinical, oligosymptomatic (group AB) stage of impairment. The earliest EMG abnormality detected was an increased percentage of the polyphasic potentials, even if other MUAPs parameters remained normal. However at this stage already a decrease appeared of amplitude, area and MUAPs duration, along with the decrease of IP amplitude and amplitude size. An increase of IP density and a slight increase of number of stable-shaped potentials (simple, but more often polyphasic) was also seen which we believed to reflect the compensatory process. At the further stage, when compensating mechanisms were no longer possible, a dramatic decrease appeared of the IP amplitude, amplitude size and density and, sometimes, also a decrease in the number of stable-shaped potentials. The structural changes such as decrease of amplitude, area and MUAPs duration also progressed. These findings reflect in our study the sequence of EMG abnormalities in the successive stages of myogenic lesion.

Background: The aim of this study was to compare the electromyographic pattern in Becker muscular dystrophy (BMD) with that found in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).

Material and method: Fourteen men with BMD and 51 boys with DMD were investigated. Proximal muscles were examined: m. biceps brachii (BB) and m. rectus femoris (RF). They were divided according to the clinical criteria in two groups: of those with slight changes (group AB) and of those with severe abnormalities (CD). As in the Part I of the paper our own method of Functional-QEMG was applied in the CNEMG examination.

Results and conclusions: Spontaneous activity (fibrillations, complex repetitive discharges) was equally frequent in BMD and DMD. Linked potentials were rather frequent in either group. Myopathic features such as MUAPs low amplitude and area, polyphasic shape were seen in either condition, but more marked in DMD than in BMD. Evaluation of IP recordings revealed that IP amplitude (amplitude size) is low in DMD already at the early stage of lesion but normal or only slightly diminished in BMD. It might perhaps suggest different degrees of lesion in type II MUs between the compared types of muscular dystrophy.

We often face patients searching for rehabilitation for lower back disorders during the physiotherapeutic routine, and it is known that the abdominal muscle, specially the rectus abdominis muscle, aid the stabilization of the pelvis. Therefore, this paper analyzes the electrical activity of the rectus abdominis muscle in the pelvic retroversion in dorsal decubitus and in orthostatic position and in the lowering of the lower limbs. 30 healthy students, male and female, 17 - 40 yr, divided into two groups--Group 1 : 15 volunteers (pelvic balance); Group 2 (pelvic unbalance) took part in this study. The electrical activity of the right and left supra-umbilical and infra-umbilical portions of the rectus abdominis muscle was detected. The mean RMS values from three attempts from the electromyographic traces were used for the analysis of the electrical activity. The RMS value was submitted to the normalization process. The data were submitted to statistic treatment by the Friedman test, and the analyses of the means and standard deviation towards a level of significance of 95%. The results demonstrated that the portions of the rectus abdominis muscle presented low electrical activity for the groups studied for pelvic retroversion either in dorsal decubitus or and orthostatic position. However, the decreasing movement of the lower limbs towards the portions of the rectus abdominis muscle presented more significant electrical activity whereas the lower portions presented higher activity than the higher ones for Group 2.

During competition a motocross athlete suffered a clinically complete spinal cord injury (SCI) at the Thoracic 11/12 levels according to MRIs (magnetic resonance imaging). Six weeks after the accident the subject began intensive Coordination Dynamics Therapy (CDT) at an up-to-date therapy centre. After 6 months of therapy, when further improvements were only marginal, the patient opted for haematopoietic stem cell therapy in addition to ongoing CDT. During two years of stem cell therapy, including 4 sessions of stem cell application, and ongoing coordination dynamics therapy, improvement remained marginal--no more than what would have been achieved with continuing only CDT. It is concluded that this haematopoietic stem cell therapy did not have any beneficial effect on the repair of the spinal cord in this patient. Differences in the regeneration capacity between commonly used laboratory animals and human are addressed. On the basis of a frog model for regeneration, cell communication, and neural control, it is discussed why complete SCI in human are difficult to improve and why for stem cell therapies more proper human knowledge is needed to induce structural repair and direct it to the injured sites of the neuronal networks. Further research is needed to improve and justify the clinical application of stem cell therapy. A thoughtful combination of stem cell therapy and CDT may have a chance of structural repair even in complete SCI. However, objective measures are needed to quantify improvement in MRI (anatomic measure), EMG (measuring of motor programs by sEMG, electrophysiologic measure), and measurements of coordination dynamics (kinesiologic measure).

Objectives: Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is the most common neuropathy that can be diagnosed with confidence by the nerve conduction study (NCS). One of the recent treatments of CTS is the application of low power laser (LPL) therapy. The present study evaluates the effects of LPL irradiation through NCS and clinical signs and symptoms.

Methods: A total of 80 patients were included in this study. Diagnosis of CTS was based on both clinical examination and electromyographic (EMG) findings. Patients were randomly assigned into two groups. Test group (group A) underwent laser therapy (9-11 joules/cm2) over the carpal tunnel area. Control group (group B) received sham laser therapy. Pain, hand grip strength, median proximal sensory and motor latencies, transcarpal median sensory nerve conduction (SNCV) were recorded. After fifteen sessions of irradiation (five times per week), parameters were recorded again and clinical symptoms were measured in both groups. Pain was evaluated by Visual Analog Scale (VAS; day-night). Hand grip was measured by Jamar dynometer. Paired t-test and independent sample t-test were used for statistical analysis.

Results: There was a significant improvement in clinical symptoms and hand grip in group A (p < 0.001). Proximal median sensory latency, distal median motor latency and median sensory latencies were significantly decreased (p < 0.001). Transcarpal median SNCV increased significantly after laser irradiation (p < 0.001). There were no significant changes in group B except changes in clinical symptoms (p < 0.001).

Conclusions: Laser therapy as a new conservative treatment is effective in treating CTS paresthesia and numbness and improves the subjects' power of hand grip and electrophysiological parameters.