Effect of Chinese Herb Bath Combined with Rehabilitation Exercises on Recovery of Lower Limbs of Patients with Cerebral Apoplexy

FU Jianming; LI Liang; TAO Linhua; SHI Ming; YAO Yunhai; GU Xudong

Abstract：Objective:To observe the effect of Chinese herb bath combined with rehabilitation exercises on spasticity of lower limbs and changes of surface electromyography signals(SEMGs),so as to explore its clini-cal effect on relieving spasticity. Methods:Fifty-six patients with spasticity of lower limbs caused by cerebral apoplexy were divided into treatment group and control group. Each group had 28 patients. The treatment group was treated by local Chinese herb bath and rehabilitation exercises. The control group was treated by conventional rehabilitation exercises. The root-mean-square(RMS) of SEMGs of gastrocnemius,score of modi-fied Ashworth scale for patients with spasticity and Fugl-Meyer score of motor function of lower limbs were detected respectively before the treatment and the 8th week of the treatment. Result: Eight weeks after the treatment,compared with the control group,the gastrocnemius RMS of the affected side and score of modified Ashworth scale of patients in the treatment group decreased significantly (P<0.05). Compared with the Fugl-Meyer score before treatment,the Fugl-Meyer score of both the two groups improved,but the improvement of the treatment group was better than that of the control group (P<0.05). Conclusion:Chinese herb bath com-bined with rehabilitation exercises can effectively relieve the spasticity of lower limbs of patients with cere-bral apoplexy and improve the motor function of lower limbs of the patients.