Is body weight-support treadmill training effective in increasing muscle trophism after traumatic spinal cord injury? A systematic review

Abstract

Study design: Systematic review. Objective: To determine the effectiveness of body weight-support treadmill training (BWSTT) for muscle atrophy management in people with spinal cord injury (SCI). Setting: Studies from multiple countries were included. Methods: The following databases were consulted from January to October 2013: PubMed, Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), Science Direct and Lilacs. The methodological quality of the articles included was classified according to Jovell and Navarro-Rubio. Results: A total of five studies were included. These studies reported a significant association between BWSTT and increased trophism of the lower limb muscles of humans with SCI, which was observed as an increase in the cross-sectional area. Moreover, improvements in the ability to generate peak torque, contract the knee extensors and ankle plantarflexors with reduction of body weight support were observed after BWSTT. Conclusion:The results were considered inconclusive because of the low methodological quality of the articles, which was because of the absence of sample homogeneity, thereby providing a low level of evidence for clinical practice.

Different Effects of Robot-Assisted Gait and Independent Over-Ground Gait on Foot Plantar Pressure in Incomplete Spinal Cord Injury: A Preliminary Study

“…Patients with gait disturbance require excessive physical effort of three or more skilled physiotherapists to repeatedly perform safe gait training by imitating normal gait patterns. Moreover, it is almost impossible for patients with severe muscle weakness or involuntary motions to perform gait training even with the help of therapists [1][2][3][4].…”

“…The Body-Weight Support Treadmill Training (BWSTT) is a training method based on normal physiological gait patterns with a focus on the temporal aspect and ideal kinematics of walking. Activity-dependent neural plasticity observed in animal research has been applied as a basic treatment concept for BWSTT in patients with early spinal cord injury [1][2][3][4]. This gait training method has been applied in patients with other types of nerve injury, such as stroke and Parkinson's disease [1][2][3][4][5].…”

“…Activity-dependent neural plasticity observed in animal research has been applied as a basic treatment concept for BWSTT in patients with early spinal cord injury [1][2][3][4]. This gait training method has been applied in patients with other types of nerve injury, such as stroke and Parkinson's disease [1][2][3][4][5]. A previous study reported that speed dependent BWSTT was especially effective for patients with stroke; hence, attention was placed on the use of BWSTT as a stroke gait training method [1].…”