0000000000516070
AUTHOR
Adam Weir
Reduced Neck Muscle Strength and Altered Muscle Mechanical Properties in Cervical Dystonia Following Botulinum Neurotoxin Injections : A Prospective Study
Cervical dystonia (CD) is a focal dystonia causing involuntary activation of neck and shoulder muscles resulting in abnormal, sustained and painful posturing that may lead to physical disability and social withdrawal [1]. In recent years, botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT) has become the first line therapy for CD [2]. A subjective feeling of neck weakness has been reported as one of the most common localized adverse events of BoNT [2-7]. In clinical practice, this may sometimes be reported as having difficulty keeping the head upright. Although the effects of BoNT have been widely studied [2,5], there have been no prospective studies quantifying changes in maximal isometric neck muscle strength. O…
Acute effects of cold pack on mechanical properties of the quadriceps muscle in healthy subjects.
Purpose: To examine the effects of local cooling on mechanical properties of the quadriceps muscle in healthy subjects. Subjects: Thirty-nine healthy subjects (27 women, 12 men, mean age 39, range 20e62) volunteered. Methods: A cold gel pack was applied to the quadriceps muscle for 20 min. Properties were quantified by analyzing the frequency (tension), decrement (elasticity) and stiffness of damped oscillations and the compliance of the muscle before, immediately after and after 15-min after cooling. Results: The largest responses immediately after cooling were seen in the oscillation decrement parameter, 7.9 (3.7e12.1) %, and in the compliance parameter, � 7.5 (� 9.8 to � 5.3) %. Response…
Effect of biomechanical footwear on upper and lower leg muscle activity in comparison with knee brace and normal walking
Abstract Aim To evaluate the activity of knee stabilizing muscles while using custom-made biomechanical footwear (BF) and to compare it when walking barefoot and with a knee brace (Unloader®). Methods Seventeen healthy working-aged (mean age: 29 years; standard deviation: 8 years) individuals participated. The knee brace was worn on the right knee and BF in both legs. Surface electromyography (sEMG) data was recorded bilaterally from vastus medialis (VM), semitendinosus (ST), tibialis anterior (TA) and lateral gastrocnemius (LG) muscles during walking, and repeated-measures ANOVA with a post-hoc t-test was used to determine differences between the different walking modalities (barefoot, bra…
Strength training in treatment of chronic neck pain
Background: Chronic non-specific neck pain is common in modern industrialized countries causing suffering, disability and considerable economical losses for individuals and society. Treatment is commonly advice for stretching and strength exercises in primary health care. However, if improvements are not satisfactory, patients may seek specialist care. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of multimodal rehabilitation in treatment of chronic neck pain. Methods: The study group comprised of 56 patients with chronic neck pain, who participated rehabilitation for three weeks and one-week follow-up period after eight months at an inpatient rehabilitation facility. The aim …