Degree of muscle-and-tendon tonus effects on kinesthetic illusion in wrist joints toward advanced rehabilitation robotics

Due to increasing demand for rehabilitation and therapy for cerebrovascular diseases, patients require advanced development of medical rehabilitation robots. In our laboratory, we focus on the formation capability of the substitute neural path caused by brain plasticity using the kinesthetic illusion (KI), which is effective for therapies using robots. In KI, people perceive an illusionary limb movement without an actual movement when a vibration stimulus is applied to a limb’s tendons. In previous research, the optimal frequency that induces the maximum KI has a correlation factor of about 0.5 with the tendon’s natural frequency when a human subject is in a state of laxity. However, we do not know whether the above finding can be applied to actual rehabilitation because muscles and tendons are sometimes in tonus during rehabilitation, a state that varies the natural frequency. In this study, we investigate the correlation between the optimal and natural frequencies of tendon by systematically changing their tension to clarify the effects on the illusion induced by the muscle and the tendon when they are in tonus. We identified a negative correlation between the optimal and natural frequencies when they are in tonus, although a positive correlation appeared when they are in laxity. This result suggests that KI’s optimal frequency should be changed based on the degree of the tendon and muscle tonus. Therefore, our present findings provide a suitable vibration frequency that induces KI due to the degree of the tendon and muscle tonus during robot therapies.

THE INFLUENCE OF RECREATIONAL WUSHU TRAINING ON THE AGGRASSIVE BEHAVIOR LEVEL OF ADOLESCENTS

Psychological and pedagogical practice increasingly frequently deals with the problem of educating aggressive adolescents. A teenager experiences many stresses and, as a result of changes in the central nervous system, changes occur in mental processes, which, in combination with factors affecting the social environment, contributes to the emergence of aggressive behavior. Teenagers who play sports are more restrained and disciplined. The survey sample involved young men aged 13 to 15 years who had not previously engaged in wushu. To measure the average aggression indicators of survivors, the authors carried out tests using the questionnaire of L.G. Pochebut and the Bas-Perry aggressiveness questionnaire at the beginning and the end of the experiment. The selected adolescents practiced wushu three times a week for one hour a day for eight months. Within the experimental wushu complex, the instructors used cyclic exercises, basic stream energetic exercises, jumps, sparring, breathing, and recreational Chinese gymnastics affecting the harmonization of psycho-emotional processes. Exercises helped to relieve muscle tonus and develop self-control skills. The authors used both contact combat techniques and non-contact techniques – individual and recovery. The study showed that regular classes in recreational wushu had a positive effect on the survivors and their average levels of aggression decreased. Exercising recreational wushu in a group of tested adolescents generally contributed to psycho-emotional tension removal through an energy splash with the help of physical activity and other meditative techniques.

Stomatognathic system screening in preschoolers and its importance for the elaboration of an intervention program in health

ABSTRACT Purpose: to describe the results obtained in the stomatognathic system screening applied in preschoolers of the public and private school systems. Methods: a cross-sectional, observational study randomly which selected four preschools linked to the Diretoria Regional de Educação. Two municipalities were drawn, and the educational institutions located in the city Center were selected. After submission of the proposal to the secretaries, managers and family members, the consent was granted for the screening involving face structures, muscle tonus, teeth, occlusion, mobility, speech, breathing, chewing and swallowing, by means of a tested and standardized protocol for evaluation of the stomatognathic system in a synthesized way. The results were submitted to descriptive statistical analysis and the chi-square test, with a significance level of 5%. Results: a total of 218 preschoolers, aged between two and six years old, participated in the study. Most of the participants, regardless of the institution attended, presented normality of the aspects surveyed. However, when comparing preschool children results among the institutions, there were significant differences for facial symmetry, speech, swallowing (for students in public schools), structural aspects and muscle tonus (private schools). Conclusion: the results obtained allowed the differentiated planning of health promotion and preventive actions of orofacial myofunctional disorders for preschoolers of distinct institutional systems, determining the importance of epidemiological surveys in health promotion spaces.

THE IMPORTANCE OF SENSORY-MOTOR INTEGRATION IN EVERYDAY LIFE

Integration of the central nervous system is essential for the proper motor response produced by the body. A good example of such integration is an everyday situation of a child playing in the garden barefoot until it steps on a piercing-cutting object. In this situation where the child is in the upright position two responses are expected: 1 – hip and knee flexion of the lower member that touched the object to avoid noxious stimulus. 2- Increase of the extension muscle tonus of the contralateral lower members in order to compensate the imbalance provoked by injured foot flexion.

Effect of Acupuncture on Gait in Parkinson—s Disease: A Case Report

This case report describes the treatment of gait disturbance in a 64-year-old woman with Parkinson's disease. Needling for 10 min of areas of muscle stiffness and of muscle tonus areas in both lower limbs resulted in immediate temporary alleviation of muscle stiffness and muscle tonus of the bilateral anterior surface of the thigh muscle, the biceps femoris muscle, and the semitendinosus muscle for the duration of the treatment, with improvement in the disturbed gait of the patient. This response occurred regularly on repeated treatment, and was maintained between treatments.