Curative effects of electromyographic biofeedback therapy combined with ankle-foot orthosis brace for ankle dorsilfexion dysfunction after spinal cord injury

SHI Xiu-xiu; TANG Jin-shu; QIN Jiang; HU Yuan; CAO Jing-jing; HOU Shu-xun; CHEN Yu-mei; XIAO Ran; WANG Qiang

doi:10.3969/j.issn.2095-252X.2014.09.006

Abstract：Objective To observe the curative effects of electromyogram ( EMG ) biofeedback therapy combined with ankle-foot orthosis brace in the treatment of ankle dorsilfexion dysfunction in the patients with spinal cord injury ( SCI ).Methods From July 2011 to January 2013, 30 SCI patients were adopted. There were 22 males and 8 females, whose average age was 35 years old ( range: 18-65 years ). They were randomly divided into observation group (n=15 ) and control group (n=15 ). All the patients received ankle-foot orthosis brace ( in the position of a right angle of 90° ) before the routine rehabilitation of ankle intensive training, Bobath technique and occupational therapy. The patients in the observation group received extra EMG biofeedback electrostimulation ( ES ) therapy. They were assessed with sEMG signal and muscle strength grading data before and after the rehabilitation.Results All the patients were followed up from the 3rd month after the treatment. The sEMG signal and strength of the tibialis anterior muscle were obviously improved in both groups after the treatment (P<0.05 ). The sEMG signal and muscle strength in the observation group were ( 5.57±2.31 ) μV and ( 1.04±1.38 ) grade before the treatment, which were improved to ( 120.38±68.20 ) μV and ( 4.20±0.82 ) grade after the treatment. The sEMG signal and muscle strength in the control group were ( 7.35±4.30 ) μV and ( 1.64+1.47 ) grade before the treatment, which were improved to ( 62.34±4.29 ) μV and ( 3.10±0.40 ) grade after the treatment. Both the sEMG signal and muscle strength were improved more obviously in the observation group after the treatment (P<0.05 ).Conclusions The EMG biofeedback therapy combined with ankle-foot orthosis brace is effective in the treatment of ankle dorsilfexion dysfunction in the patients with SCI, which can signiifcantly improve the voluntary EMG signal and muscle strength of the tibialis anterior muscle.