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INTRODUCTION: This study investigated the efficacy of Chinese calligraphy handwriting (CCH) for the awakening of patients under a vegetative state after stroke. The theories, the instrument, and the treatment protocols were reported. A single case of a severe stroke patient who was in a coma state for 2 years is presented in this study. The objectives were to apply finger writing as a new method to awaken a stroke patient in a coma state and to test the effect of this method in improving the patient's vegetative states over time. CASE PRESENTATION: A 55-year-old man suffered a severe stroke in 2004 which left him in a coma for 2 years without any systematic rehabilitation. A culture-based finger-writing method of visual-spatial intervention was then applied to improve his condition. The writing tasks involved aided viewing and finger tracing of sets of innovative characters with enriched visual-spatial and movement characteristics. Following regular treatment protocols involving diverse movement and sensory feedback, the patient was awakened after 12 months. As a consequence, the patient showed significant behavioral changes favoring enhanced focusing, alertness, visual scan, visual span, and quickened visual and motor responses. The treatment continued for another 12 months. As the treatment progressed, we gradually observed improvements in his attention span and mental concentration. His eye ball movements - the left eye in particular - were quickened and showed wider visual angularity in his focal vision. Currently, the patient can now watch television, engage in improved visual sighting, and focus on visual-spatial and cognitive-linguistic materials. CONCLUSION: This CCH method of training by finger tracking has shown its effectiveness in awakening the patient from his coma state and in producing long-term, clinical outcomes that were similar from those that took place 10 years ago. This finding supports the efficacy of the system for clinical improvement of the patient's conditions.
RESUMO
BACKGROUND: This study investigated the treatment effects of calligraphy therapy on childhood survivors of the 2008 Sichuan earthquakes in the People's Republic of China. METHODS: In experiment 1, 129 children participated in a 30-day calligraphic training, and 81 children were controls. The Children's Revised Impact of Event Scale was adopted to assess behavioral effects. Experiment 2 involved 41 treatment subjects and 39 controls, with the same procedure as in experiment 1 except that salivary cortisol level was also measured as a physiological indicator. RESULTS: After 30 days of calligraphy treatment, the arousal symptoms and salivary cortisol levels in the experimental group decreased from 5.72±0.31 and 13.34±2.88 to 4.98±0.31 and 9.99±2.81, respectively. In the control group, there was not a significant decrease from pretest to post-test. In addition, the arousal scores in posttest (4.98±4.39) were significantly lower than midtest (5.71±4.14) for girls; in contrast, for boys, posttest (4.90±4.24) showed little change compared with midtest (5.04±4.36), but both were significantly lower than pretest (6.42±4.59). CONCLUSIONS: Calligraphy therapy was effective in reducing hyperarousal symptoms among child survivors.
