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Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease is a motor and sensory, hereditary, distally predominant polyneuropathy. The lower limbs are most affected and, occasionally, there is upper limb impairment; however, presence of oropharyngeal dysphagia has been identified. The present study describes the findings and speech therapy intervention in a 58-year-old patient, with CMT diagnosis, referred to speech therapy evaluation due to swallowing complaints. In an initial evaluation, presence of structural and functional alterations, resulting in mild oropharyngeal dysphagia, was identified. The Swallowing Quality of Life questionnaire was also used to identify the impact of dysphagia in the patient's quality of life. After a month of follow-up, an improvement was observed in the presenting symptoms, as well as an increase in comfort and safety during swallowing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports a case of a patient with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT) who underwent physiotherapeutic treatment using the technique of Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation (PNF). The patient, a 19-year-old man, had deficits in balance and gait, as well as muscle weakness in the upper and lower limbs. After the application of PNF, the patient showed significant improvement in static and dynamic balance, as well as muscle strength and the swing phase during gait. These results suggest that PNF may be an effective approach in treating these deficits in patients with CMT. [Extracted from the article]

Objective: To evaluate the response of the tibialis anterior (TA) muscle following a five-week protocol with contralateral irradiation force through Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation (PNF) diagonals in patients with demyelinating polyneuropathy associated with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 1A (CMT-1A). Methods: The study included 12 patients of both sexes. They were treated twice-weekly for 5 weeks. At each session, they performed the following diagonal patterns: chopping, extension-adduction with internal rotation (EAIR) and flexion-abduction with internal rotation (FAIR). The diagonals were repeated four times, in both upper and lower limbs, with each repetition lasting six seconds on average. During execution, the response of the TA muscle was recorded by a surface electromyograph disregarding the initial and final two seconds of each diagonal. The mean RMS values of the four repetitions were normalized in percentage. The initial and final data were analyzed through the t test for paired samples with significant p-values <0.05. Results: The contralateral force irradiation with the chopping diagonal to the left and to the right increased the percentage RMS values of the TA muscle in the last session when compared with the values of the first session (t=-3.94 and t=-3.87, respectively). Similarly, the EAIR diagonal increased the percentage RMS values of the TA muscle in the last session when compared with the values of the first session (t=-3.3 and t=-4.58, respectively). The only diagonal that did not produce higher values of contralateral force irradiation in the TA muscle, left and right, was the FAIR (t=-2.31 and t=-1.55). Conclusion: These results may justify the use of a treatment program with PNF diagonals in patients with CMT-1A who have difficulty activating the TA muscle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]