None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
Many people with MS develop ankle contractures (a stiffening of the ankle joint) that can impact on normal movement at a very early stage. There is moderate-to-high quality evidence that stretch, the first line of intervention for prevention and treatment of joint contracture in physiotherapy, does not have clinically useful immediate, short-term or long-term effects on joint range of motion. This study will investigate whether exercise that stretches the calf muscle while they contract (eccentric exercise) can be used to treat ankle contractures in people with MS. 40 people with MS who have developed ankle contractures will be randomly allocated either to receive or not receive a 12-week program of eccentric exercise of calf muscle. Ankle joint range of motion, calf muscle properties and parameters of gait and mobility will be measured before and after the 12-week period.
Interventions
Participants in intervention group will be exercising under supervision at a university-based gym two times each week for twelve weeks. Each exercise session will last about 45-60 minutes. The exercise involves walking backwards and downhill on a treadmill. This type of exercise is known to produce muscle soreness - the same sort of soreness that people normally experience after they participate in unaccustomed physical activity. We expect that, if participants in intervention group will experie
Participants in intervention group will be exercising under supervision at a university-based gym two times each week for twelve weeks. Each exercise session will last about 45-60 minutes. The exercise involves walking backwards and downhill on a treadmill. This type of exercise is known to produce muscle soreness - the same sort of soreness that people normally experience after they participate in unaccustomed physical activity. We expect that, if participants in intervention group will experience muscle soreness. However, the soreness will gradually be less and less over the 12-week period. To minimize this muscle soreness, participants will be trained at low intensity at start and gradually increased intensity over the first 8 sessions.
Sponsors
Neuroscience Research Australia
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Treatment
Masking
Open (masking not used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to 65 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* A definite diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS), confirmed by neurologists * Less than 90 degrees of ankle dorsiflexion range of motion when a dorsiflexion torque of 12 Nm is applied to the relaxed ankle * Have EDSS scale between 1 and 5 * Able to understand spoken English and follow instructions during testing and exercise
Exclusion criteria
* Being unable to give informed consent, or * Have received a Botox injection for their calf muscles in the past 6 months or expect to receive a Botox injection for their calf muscles in the subsequent 12 weeks * Have been advised by a medical doctor not to do exercise * Had a relapse (or attack) of MS in the previous 30 days
Outcome results
None listed