Search

Objectives: To investigate the effects of exoskeleton-assisted gait training in stroke patients., Design: Prospective randomized controlled trial., Setting: Rehabilitation department in a single tertiary hospital., Participants: Thirty (N=30) chronic stroke patients with Functional Ambulatory Category scale (FAC) between 2 and 4., Intervention: Patients were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 groups: training with Healbot G, a wearable powered exoskeleton (Healbot G group; n=15), or treadmill training (control group; n=15). All participants received 30 minutes of training, 10 times per week, for 4 weeks., Outcome Measurements: The primary outcome was oxyhemoglobin level changes, representing cortical activity in both motor cortices using functional near-infrared spectroscopy. The secondary outcomes included FAC, Berg Balance Scale, Motricity Index for the lower extremities (MI-Lower), 10-meter walk test, and gait symmetry ratio (spatial step and temporal symmetry ratio)., Results: Compared to the control group, during the entire training session, the pre-training and post-training mean cortical activity, and the amount of increment between pre- and post-training were significantly higher in the Healbot G group (∆mean ± SD; pre-training, 0.245±0.119, post-training, 0.697±0.429, between pre- and post-training, 0.471±0.401μmol, P<.001). There was no significant difference in cortical activity between affected- and unaffected hemispheres after Healbot G training. FAC (∆mean ± SD; 0.35 ± 0.50, P=.012), MI-Lower (∆mean ± SD; 7.01 ± 0.14, P=.001), and spatial step gait symmetry ratio (∆mean ± SD; -0.32 ± 0.25, P=.049) were improved significantly in the Healbot G group., Conclusion: Exoskeleton-assisted gait training induces cortical modulation effect in both motor cortices, a balanced cortical activation pattern with improvements in spatial step symmetry ratio, walking ability, and voluntary strength., (Copyright © 2023 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

This study aimed to compare functional outcomes after rehabilitation with initial degree of urinary retention (UR) in patients operated on for brain tumors. Medical records of 61 patients transferred to the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine of single center, from January 2011 to December 2021, were reviewed retrospectively. Patient data included post-void residual (PVR) urine, tumor characteristics, and functional status. Functional status was evaluated on the Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE), Modified Barthel Index (MBI), Functional Ambulation Category (FAC), Modified Rankin Scale (mRS), Motricity Index (MI)-lower limb, and Berg Balance Scale (BBS). MMSE, FAC, mRS, and MI-lower limb were re-evaluated 3 weeks after standard inpatient rehabilitation. Twenty-four patients were in the UR group and 37 in the non-UR group. Initial MMSE, MBI, BBS, FAC, and mRS were significantly worse in the UR group, and both groups showed significant functional improvement after rehabilitation. After rehabilitation, MMSE, FAC, MRS, MI-lower were still worse in the UR group, but the degree of improvement between the groups was not significantly different. Rehabilitation was shown to be effective for brain tumor patients regardless of UR. Initial UR after brain tumor surgery is significantly associated with poor functional status in both the early stages of rehabilitation and after rehabilitation., Competing Interests: Conflict of Interest: The authors have no potential conflicts of interest to disclose., (Copyright © 2023. Korean Society for Neurorehabilitation.)

The purpose of this research is to identify the correlations between functional fitness enhancement through a long-term Taekwondo training program and the physical characteristics and risk factors of dementia among elderly women with depression. The study has found that conducting three 60-min Taekwondo training sessions a week for the duration of 12 weeks has enhanced a number of functional fitness indexes, including hand grip strength/weight ( p < 0.01), 4-m gait speed ( p < 0.001), 3-m timed up and go ( p < 0.05), and figure-of-eight track ( p < 0.05), and significantly improved general health condition indexes as well, including percent fat ( p < 0.05), appendicular skeletal muscle mass index ( p < 0.01), systolic blood pressure ( p < 0.01), and diastolic blood pressure ( p < 0.001). Furthermore, the arteriosclerosis index and cognitive function have been found to be improved with an increase of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF; which prevents dementia) and a significant decrease of β-amyloid-a risk factor of dementia-as a result of enhancements in serum lipids and adiponectin, confirming the positive effects of functional fitness enhancement on fighting depression, promoting physical characteristics, and reducing the risk factors of dementia.