None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
Physiotherapy plays a pivotal role in Huntington disease (HD) therapy in its early and moderately advanced stage. Physiotherapy procedures influence patient’s independence and physical disability. In the scientific literature there are only a few papers on rehabilitation programs in HD. The efficacy of physiotherapy has not been evaluated using unbiased, instrumental methods. Physiotherapy techniques constitute the primary treatment approach in the management of motor control and balance disturbances irrespectively of the cause. One of physiotherapeutic techniques is Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation (PNF) which is one of widely used methods of physiotherapy e.g. in Parkinson’s disease or hemiplegia We believe the present study enables development of a specific physiotherapy program for HD patients and understand better mechanisms of physiotherapy in HD.
Interventions
To evaluate the kinematic and spatio-temporal parameters of gait, and the effectiveness of the programmed motor improvement was used the three-dimensional motion analysis system VICON. Patients were treated in hospital 3-week motor improvement program, which consists of fifteen 90-minute individual sessions (one-on-one) conducted daily, except Saturdays and Sundays with physiotherapist. During each session the treating physiotherapist applied all the main techniques and principles of facilitatio
To evaluate the kinematic and spatio-temporal parameters of gait, and the effectiveness of the programmed motor improvement was used the three-dimensional motion analysis system VICON. Patients were treated in hospital 3-week motor improvement program, which consists of fifteen 90-minute individual sessions (one-on-one) conducted daily, except Saturdays and Sundays with physiotherapist. During each session the treating physiotherapist applied all the main techniques and principles of facilitation (e.g. slow approximation, timing for emphasis, bilateral reciprocal patterns) used mainly the closed kinematic chains. Each session was 90 minutes long and consisted of three parts: - introductory part (10 min) which included: warm-up, education of a correct body awareness and respiratory pattern, - main part (70 min) which included: improvement of balance reactions, mat activities (rolling/prone on elbows/bridging/side sitting/quadruped/kneeling/half-kneeling/standing), exercises in a sitting position (rocking/scooting), gait training (weight shifting/one leg standing/walking forward, backward, sideways/braiding), - end part (10 min) which included relaxation techniques. Patients attendance at session was registred.
Sponsors
The University of Physical Education in Krakow
Study design
Allocation
Non-randomised trial
Primary purpose
Treatment
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to 70 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
The inclusion criteria were as follows: mutation in the HTT gene in genetic testing, HD motor manifestation (chorea, dystonia, and/or gait disturbances) at baseline neurological examination, stable pharmacotherapy for at least one month prior to inclusion, the patient's informed consent to participate in the study.
Exclusion criteria
The exclusion criteria were: severe disability (stage 5 of the Shoulson and Fahn scale]), significant cognitive dysfunction or psychiatric symptoms (e.g. aggression, psychosis, depression) that prevented effective cooperation between the patient and physiotherapist, any orthopaedic condition (e.g. fractures, sprains) impeding movement
Outcome results
None listed