Kicking a Ball on Balance and Upper Limb Function in Chronic Stroke

Purpose@#This study describes the effects of kicking a ball training on balance and upper limb function in chronic hemiplegia. @*Methods@#Thirty chronic stroke patients were randomly selected; Kicking a ball (n = 10), Treadmill gait (n = 10), Stepping on the ground group (n = 10). The Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB) for balance and Foot Scan for weight distribution. Upper limb function was measured by the Manal Function Test (MFT). This treatment was performed five times a week for a total of 4 weeks. @*Results@#Kicking group was significantly increased in SPPB (p < 0.05) and MFT (p < 0.05) between pretest vs post test and pretest vs follow-up. @*Conclusion@#Kicking a ball was effective for improving weight acceptance on the paretic leg, balance and upper limb function. However, In terms of balance, the core stabilization that affected the upper extremity function was not evaluated. Thus, additional research may help determine correlation between core stability and upper limb function to improve balance.

The Effect of the Base of Support on Anticipatory Postural Adjustment and Postural Stability

PURPOSE: This study was to identify the anticipatory postural adjustment (APA) mechanism which is represented by the onset time of trunk muscles and the displacement of the center of pressure (COP) according to the different base of support (BOS) during upper extremity movement. METHODS: Thirty healthy subjects (14 males, 16 females) participated in this study. The movement was performed for 10 trials during each of various BOS (shoulder - width double leg stance, narrow base double leg stance, tandem stance, non-dominant single leg stance) at the 1.2 Hz frequency. Electromyography was used to measure muscle onset time and biorescue was used to measure characteristics of the displacement of COP. Surface bipolar electrodes were applied over the right deltoid anterior, right latissimus dorsi, both rectus abdominis, both internal oblique and both erector spinae. The data were analyzed by repeated one-way ANOVA and Duncan's post hoc test. RESULTS: The study has revealed following. There were significant differences with muscle onset time in each BOS (p<0.01). There were significant differences in characteristics of the COP in each BOS (p<0.01). CONCLUSION: The study found that the more narrowed the basis requires the more rapid anticipatory postural control in contralateral postural muscle when the upper extremity movement is performed.

Corticospinal Tract Compression by Hematoma in a Patient with Intracerebral Hemorrhage: A Diffusion Tensor Tractography and Functional MRI Study

The purpose of this study was to demonstrate corticospinal tract compression that was due to a hematoma by using diffusion tensor tractography (DTT) and functional MRI (fMRI) in a patient with an intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). A 23-year-old right-handed woman presented with severe paralysis of her right extremities at the onset of a spontaneous ICH. Over the first three days from onset, the motor function of the affected upper and lower extremities rapidly recovered to the extent that she was able to overcome applied resistance to the affected limbs, and her limbs regained normal function 3 weeks after onset. The tract of the right hemisphere originated from the primary sensori-motor cortex (SM1) and it passed through the known corticospinal tract pathway. However, the tract of the left hemisphere was similar to that of the right hemisphere except that it was displaced to the antero-medial side by the hematoma at the cerebral peduncle. Only the contralateral SM1 area centered on the precentral knob was activated during affected (right) or unaffected (left) hand movements, respectively. In conclusion, fMRI and DTT demonstrated a corticospinal tract compression due to hematoma in this patient. We conclude that the combined use of these two modalities appears to improve the accuracy of investigating the state of the corticospinal tract.