Week 1 Flashcards
What does the neuromuscular system impact/affect?
- MOVEMENT of all types
- Mobility
- UE function / ADL
- Speech
- Swallowing
- GI/GU
- Sexual function
What can disorders of the neuromuscular system impact?
- Consciousness
- Sensory/perceptual system
- Speech/language
- Cognition/memory/executive function
- Psychological function
- Autonomic function
- Cardiovascular function
How are improvements in function of a neuromuscular problem accomplished?
By increased motor unit firing rates
What is the focus of neuromuscular dysfunction treatment?
Correcting the diminished and interfering patterns of CNS malfunction rather than toward striated musculature
What are the effects of a neuromuscular dysfunction(stroke) on torque production?
- Decrease in maximum voluntary torque
- Decreased speed in torque generation
- Selective muscle weakness at shortened range
What should be the considerations taken when rehabilitating a patients with a neuromuscular dysfunction(stroke) in regard to torque production?
- Target strengthening of muscles in shortened lengths to promote recovery
- Speed/Power has to be trained
What is muscle tone?
Tension in muscle, determined by mechanical factors and motor unit activity
What is muscle tone range?
- Flaccidity
- Hypotonia
- Normal
- Hypertonia
- Rigidity
What is hypertonia?
Abnormally increased resistance to externally imposed movement about a joint
What causes hypertonia?
May be caused by spasticity, dystonia, rigidity, combination of features
What is spasticity?
Velocity-dependent resistance of muscle to stretch
Spasticity is hypertonia in which 1 or both of what signs are present?
1) resistance to externally imposed movement increases with increasing
speed of stretch and varies with the direction of joint movement, and/or
2) resistance to externally imposed movement rises rapidly above a threshold
speed or joint angle
What is the direct causation between spasticity and function?
No direct causation between spasticity and function
Hypertonia associated with a contracture is more related with an abnormal movement may be more about _____
Hypertonia associated with a contracture is more related with an abnormal movement may be more about stiffness of passive tissues
What is that excess muscle activity?
- Compensatory behavior
* Over recruitment when demand exceeds capacity
What are the things to do when trying to determine if a patient has spasticity?
- Improve our movement analysis to discern causes of abnormal movement
- Manipulate the person, environment, and/or task to get a more normal movement
What are the ways to manipulate the person, environment, and/or task to get a more normal movement?
- Fix biomechanical constraints or compensate for them
- Manipulate task and/or environment difficulty to better match demand to capacity
- Increase patient’s capacity(strengthening, practice)
- Decrease degrees of freedom
What are the basic aims of neuro rehabilitation?
- MAKE MOVEMENT BETTER
- IMPROVE FUNCTION
- INCREASE/RESTORE PARTICIPATION
What are the classifications of therapy for neuro rehab?
- Functional Training
- Body system or impairment training
- Augmented feedback training
- Learning-based sensorimotor retraining
What is functional training?
Practice of functional skill; task oriented
What does body system or impairment training focus on?
Focus on correcting body system problem. Do a lot of strengthening, and such
What is augmented feedback training needed for?
Need for external feedback and control over motor program running target task. Can do this by limiting the answer options available for a question
What is learning-based sensorimotor retraining used for?
Improving sensory discrimination dysfunction.
What are the treatment strategy categories for neuro rehab?
- Compensation Training
- Substitution Training
- Habituation Training
- Neural Adaptation
How does compensation training treatment strategy work?
Compensate for permanent impairment or lost body system function
How does substitution training treatment strategy work?
Use of different sensory system or muscle(s) to substitute for lost function of another system
How does habituation training treatment strategy work?
Activity-based provocation of symptoms with goal of symptom reduction
How does neural training treatment strategy work?
Driving changes in structure and function of CNS or PNS with repetitive, attended practice
What word is neural adaptation akin to?
Recovery
What is neural adaptation?
Permanent changes in neural activation, organization, and structure
What are the other definitions of neural adaptation?
- Recovery of neurophysiological activity in affected cortical areas
- Restoration/remodeling toward NORMAL state of organization
What are the goals of recovery?
- Restoring function in neural tissue that was lost
- Restoring ability to perform movements in same manner as premorbid
- Successful task accomplishment using typical “parts”
What are the goals of compensation?
- Neural tissue acquires function it didn’t have premorbid
- Performing old movements in a new way
- Successful task completion using alternative “parts”
What is compensation?
A behavioral substitution; alternative
behavioral strategies adopted to complete the task; use of remaining parts
What does compensation lead to?
Learned non-use
What kind of conditions does compensation create?
Conditions in which CNS does not engage in processing critical information for recovery of motor control. May itself be the primary reason that motor deficits remain.
What are the mechanisms by which functional improvement can occur in a person with a neural dysfunction?
- Recovery
- Compensation
On what levels can recovery and compensation be observed?
At behavioral and neural levels
What does movement emerge from?
- Organism
- Task
- Environment
What is the strategy of neural restoration?
Re- engaging residual brain areas initially dysfunctional after injury or disease
What is the functional platform of neural restoration?
Internal and external redundancy
What is the neural mechanism of neural restoration?
Recovery
What is the strategy of neural recruitment?
Engaging new residual brain areas
What is the functional platform of neural recruitment?
External redundancy
What is the neural mechanism of neural recruitment?
Compensation
What is the strategy of neural retraining?
Training residual brain areas to perform new functions
What is the functional platform of neural retraining?
Internal and external redundancy
What is the neural mechanism of neural retraining?
Compensation
What are the different theories of how recovery takes place?
- Reversal of diaschisis
- Compensation
- Physiological and neuroanatomical reorganization
What is the reversal of diaschisis theory of recovery?
Spontaneous recovery
What is the compensation theory of recovery?
Functional improvement while significant impairment remains
What is the physiological and neuroanatomical reorganization theory of recovery?
- Changes in response to intrinsic neuronal networks
- Alterations/increase in neurotransmitter levels
- Dendritic branching, axonal sprouting, synaptogenesis
- Neurogenesis
How long does it take for a person with a spinal nerve injury to experience reversal of diaschisis if it happens?
24-48 hours
What is plasticity, according to Kleim JA?
The possession of a structure weak enough to yield to an influence, but strong enough not to yield all at once
According to Kleim JA, what is special about organic matter, especially nervous tissue?
It seems endowed with a very extraordinary degree of plasticity
What are the scientific definition of neuroplasticity?
- Fundamental property of the brain
- Capacity for neurons to structurally and functionally adapt
- Reorganization of neural circuits
- Innate capability of the brain to grow new neurons, reorganize cortical representations, access latent circuits, bypass damaged circuits
What is the definition of neuroplasticity for the therapist?
- “Opportunity to train new brain to perform old functions”
- Neural strategies for motor improvement
- True recovery of function
- Maximizing motor recovery
What does the mechanisms of neuroplasticity involve?
Peri-infarct tissue as well as network of sensorimotor structures indirectly affected by injury