Mapping the human brain during a specific Vojta's tactile input

Abstract

A century of research in human brain parcellation has demonstrated that different brain areas are associated with functional tasks. New neuroscientist perspectives to achieve the parcellation of the human brain have been developed to know the brain areas activation and its relationship with different stimuli. This descriptive study aimed to compare brain regions activation by specific tactile input (STI) stimuli according to the Vojta protocol (STI-group) to a non-STI stimulation (non-STI-group). An exploratory functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study was performed. The 2 groups of participants were passively stimulated by an expert physical therapist using the same paradigm structure, although differing in the place of stimulation. The stimulation was presented to participants using a block design in all cases. A sample of 16 healthy participants, 5 men and 11 women, with mean age 31.31 ± 8.13 years was recruited. Indeed, 12 participants were allocated in the STI-group and 4 participants in the non-STI-group. fMRI was used to map the human brain in vivo while these tactile stimuli were being applied. Data were analyzed using a general linear model in SPM12 implemented in MATLAB. Differences between groups showed a greater activation in the right cortical areas (temporal and frontal lobes), subcortical regions (thalamus, brainstem, and basal nuclei), and in the cerebellum (anterior lobe). STI-group had specific difference brain activation areas, such as the ipsilateral putamen. Future studies should study clinical implications in neurorehabilitation patients.

Differential Effects of Sustained Manual Pressure Stimulation According to Site of Action

“…Outlasting modulatory effects in the sensorimotor cortex have been observed following sustained electrical (Chipchase et al, 2011), magnetic (Gallasch et al, 2015), and vibratory (Rosenkranz and Rothwell, 2003) stimulation. Peripheral pressure stimulation has been studied less extensively (Miura et al, 2013; Chung et al, 2014, 2015; Sanz-Esteban et al, 2018) despite the fact that it serves as a major component of clinical physiotherapeutic techniques, such as the “reflex locomotion” (Vojta, 1973; Vojta and Peters, 2007; Hok et al, 2017; Jung et al, 2017).…”

“…Previous imaging studies of pressure stimulation recently provided valuable, yet still incomplete picture of the central somatosensory processing (Hao et al, 2013; Miura et al, 2013; Chung et al, 2014, 2015; Sanz-Esteban et al, 2018). Miura et al (2013) observed bilateral activation in the primary and secondary somatosensory cortices during short manual foot sole stimulation applied at the base of the toes over 5 s. Similar pattern has been observed during 30 s of 1-Hz sinusoidal pressure applied to the foot sole (Hao et al, 2013).…”

Modulation of the human sensorimotor system by afferent somatosensory input: evidence from experimental pressure stimulation and physiotherapy

“…This necessitates an adequate control condition, e.g., a comparison between similar kinds of stimulation with or without known motor consequences. Therefore, several functional imaging studies contrasted the effects of therapeutic stimulation according to Vojta 25,26 with a sham stimulation 11,12,17 . Sanz-Esteban et al 17 applied pressure stimulus to an active site at the anterior thorax 25 and reported the main effect of the stimulation site (active versus control) in the ipsilateral putamen 17 .…”

“…Therefore, several functional imaging studies contrasted the effects of therapeutic stimulation according to Vojta 25,26 with a sham stimulation 11,12,17 . Sanz-Esteban et al 17 applied pressure stimulus to an active site at the anterior thorax 25 and reported the main effect of the stimulation site (active versus control) in the ipsilateral putamen 17 . Due to unbalanced group sizes, a control stimulation site in a distant body part, and uncorrected statistical thresholds, however, the conclusions that can be drawn are substantially limited.…”

“…Even less attention has been paid to the interaction of central somatosensory processing of pressure with the "classical" motor system, but see ref. 11,12,17 .…”