Adaptive biofeedback in the restoration of movements in patients with traumatic disease of the spinal cord

Abstract

The aim of this work was to develop a method of adaptive biofeedback using visual and auditory feedback to repair movement disorder in patients with traumatic disease of the spinal cord in case of complex spine fracture on the basis of data on the changes in electrophysiological properties of muscles and spinal motor neurons involved in the pathological process. Sixty four patients were treated and tested in the first month after injury, 40 of them male and 24 female. Depending on the application of techniques used for the treatment all patients were divided into two groups representative by gender, age, the extent of the damage and the severity of the condition group. Forty patients of the main group were treated by a new complex of medical rehabilitation. The experimental group consisted of 24 patients whose treatment was performed by a conventional method. For comparison, we studied the electrophysiological characteristics of muscles in 120 healthy people. A method of adaptive biofeedback based on increasing visual and auditory monitoring of muscle contraction involved in the pathological process was developed to restore patients ability of movement. The method is based on the registration, strengthening and transformation of bioelectric activity of the muscles involved in the pathological process into light and sound signals that the patient can see on the screen of the electromyograph. After the treatment using the method of adaptive biofeedback and therapeutic exercises 85,5 % of the patients developed the possibility of active muscle contraction, whereas no improvement of the recovery process was observed in the experimental group of patients.