Constraint-induced movement therapy versus bimanual intensive therapy in children with hemiplegia showing low/very low bimanual functional performance: A randomized clinical trial.

INTRODUCTION: Children with infantile hemiplegia with low or very low bimanual functional performance have great impediments to spontaneously use their affected upper limb, which affects their performance of day-to-day activities and their quality of life. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the order of application and the dose of modified constraint-induced movement therapy within a combined (hybrid) protocol influences the results of bimanual functional performance of the affected upper limb and the quality of life of children with congenital hemiplegia (5 to 8 years old) with low/very low bimanual functional performance. DESIGN: Single-blinded randomized controlled trial. PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-one children with congenital hemiplegia (5 to 8 years old) were recruited from two public hospitals and an infantile hemiplegia association in Spain. INTERVENTIONS: The experimental group (n = 11) received 100 hours of intensive therapies for the affected upper limb: 80 hours of modified constraint-induced movement therapy and 20 hours of bimanual intensive therapy. The control group (n = 10) received the same dose with 80 hours of bimanual intensive therapy and 20 hours of modified constraint-induced movement therapy. The protocol was provided 2 hours per day, 5 days per week, for 10 weeks. OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome was bimanual functional performance, measured with the Assisting Hand Assessment, and the second outcome was quality of life, measured with the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory Cerebral-Palsy module (PedsQL v. 3.0, CP module). Four assessments were performed: Weeks 0, 4, 8, and 10. RESULTS: The experimental group obtained an increase of 22 assisting hand assessment (AHA) units at week 8 with the application of modified constraint-induced movement, in contrast with the control group, which obtained an increase of 3.7 AHA units after bimanual intensive therapy. At week 10, the control group showed its greatest increase in bimanual functional performance, with 10.6 AHA units after modified constraint-induced movement therapy. Regarding quality of life, the greatest improvement occurred after modified constraint-induced movement, with 13.1 points in the experimental group (80 hours) and 6.3 points in the control group (20 hours). The protocol interaction was statistically significant for bimanual functional performance (p = .018) and quality of life (p = .09). CONCLUSIONS: Modified constraint-induced movement therapy is more beneficial than bimanual intensive therapy for improving upper limb functioning and quality of life in children with congenital hemiplegia showing low/very low bimanual performance. GOV IDENTIFIER: NCT03465046.

Vibration or Transcutaneous Tibial Nerve Stimulation as a Treatment for Sexual Dysfunction in Women with Spinal Cord Injury: Study Protocol for a Randomized Clinical Trial.

BACKGROUND: Women with spinal cord injuries usually suffer from sexual dysfunction, such as alterations during arousal and an increase in the time to reach orgasm. However, little evidence has been found on its physiotherapeutic approach, as well as poor adherence to the latter. The aim of this study is to determine the effectiveness of two interventions to improve sexual dysfunction: the application of genital vibration and transcutaneous tibial nerve stimulation. METHODS: This is a randomized clinical trial that will recruit 54 women who, one year after a spinal cord injury, suffer from sexual dysfunction associated with the latter. The participants will be randomized to three groups: (a) intervention group 1 treated with transcutaneous tibial nerve electrostimulation (n = 18), (b) intervention group 2 treated with genital vibration (n = 18), and (c) a control group (n = 18). The treatment time will be 12 weeks. Adherence to the treatment will be evaluated, as well as the effectiveness of the treatment, through the Female Sexual Function Index, the Sexual Quality of Life-Female questionnaire, quantitative sensory tests, and the improvement reported by the patient in terms of arousal and orgasm. The evaluations will be carried out before the treatment, at the end of the treatment and 3, 6 and 12 months after the end of the treatment.

Unimanual Intensive Therapy with or without Unaffected Hand Containment in Children with Hemiplegia. A Randomized Controlled Pilot Study.

Children with hemiplegia have lower spontaneous use and quality of movement in the affected upper limb. The modified constraint-induced movement therapy (mCIMT) is applied to improve the affected upper limb function. The objective of this study was to study the efficacy of unaffected hand containment to obtain changes in the function of the affected upper limb after applying two unimanual therapies. A randomized controlled pilot study was performed with 16 children diagnosed with congenital infantile hemiplegia, with eight children randomized in each group (average age: 5.54 years; SD: 1.55). mCIMT and unimanual therapy without containment (UTWC) were applied, with a total of 50 h distributed in five weeks (two h/per day). Two assessments were performed (pre- and post-treatment) to evaluate the affected upper limb spontaneous use, measured with the Shiners Hospital Upper Extremity Evaluation (SHUEE), and the quality of movement, measured with the Quality of Upper Extremity Skills Test (QUEST scale). The progression of the variables was different in both groups. The results are expressed in the median of the improvement percent and interquartile range (IQR). The spontaneous use analysis showed an improvement percent of 31.65 (IQR: 2.33, 110.42) in the mCIMT group with respect to 0.00 (IQR: 0.00, 0.00) in the UTWC group. The quality of movement increased in the mCIMT and UTWC groups, 24.21 (IQR: 13.44, 50.39), 1.34 (IQR: 0.00, 4.75), respectively and the greatest increase was obtained in the grasp variable for both groups. The use of unaffected hand containment in mCIMT would produce improvements in the affected upper limb functionality in children with hemiplegia (4-8 years old) compared to the same protocol without containment (UTWC).

[Analgesic effects of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) in patients with fibromyalgia: A systematic review]. / Efectos analgésicos de la estimulación eléctrica nerviosa transcutánea en pacientes con fibromialgia: una revisión sistemática.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) has an analgesic effect greater than placebo or other treatments in patients with fibromyalgia. Furthermore, it was intended to analyze the optimal application parameters to achieve a greater reduction of pain. DESIGN: A systematic review. DATA SOURCE: Randomized clinical trials on the effect of TENS on fibromyalgia in the databases Pubmed, Cochrane and PEDro until November 2016. SELECTION OF STUDIES: 8 studies out of a total of 62 were selected. Controlled clinical trials in which TENS was applied in patients with fibromyalgia were included. DATA EXTRACTION: Pain was analyzed as the main variable, although other variables such as fatigue, quality of life and impact, range of motion and depression were also included. RESULTS: 6 out of 8 studies obtained a significant decrease of pain. In 2 studies, TENS was applied as complementary treatment to therapeutic exercise with results evidencing a decrease in pain. The rest of the variables studied presented a great variability and conclusive results could not be established. CONCLUSIONS: Treatment with TENS is effective for reducing pain in people with fibromyalgia. In addition, the inclusion of TENS in therapeutic exercise programs seems to have a greater effect than practicing therapeutic exercise in isolation. However, no efficacy has been demonstrated in other variables different to pain. Further studies are needed to investigate the optimization of the parameters of the TENS and a greater consensus among the variables used.

Posterior tibial nerve stimulation in the treatment of fecal incontinence: a systematic review.

Fecal incontinence severely impacts on quality of life, causing stigmatization and social exclusion. Posterior tibial nerve stimulation (PTNS) is one technique used for treatment. This systematic review aims to assess the effectiveness of PTNS for the treatment of fecal incontinence. A literature review was performed in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) declaration. Pubmed, Scopus, Web of Knowledge and PEDro databases were searched for both randomized clinical trials and cases series. The outcome variables were treatment effectiveness, severity of incontinence and quality of life; all were measured in the short, mid and long-term after performing both percutaneous and transcutaneous PTNS. Twenty-three studies met the selection criteria. Two clinical trials found significant differences in treatment effectiveness compared to the placebo response. Fifteen cases series observed significant differences in terms of effectiveness, severity and quality of life. All clinical trials achieved a reduction in the number of incontinence episodes and an increase in the deferral time for defecation. Optimal results were achieved by interventions consisting of one or two weekly sessions of a 30-60 minutes duration and the use of pulse widths of 200 µs and frequencies of 10-20 Hz. Percutaneous stimulation did not demonstrate better results compared to transcutaneous application. PTNS is an effective technique for the treatment of fecal incontinence, although long-term interventions are required in order to prolong its effects in the long-term.