The neuromuscular response to prolonged lumbar flexion has recently been extensively studied in felines but has not been examined in humans. Animal studies suggest that prolonged lumbar flexion disturbs neuromuscular control of paraspinal muscles. This disturbance was linked to creep deformation of passive spinal tissues. Past research indicates that disturbance of paraspinal reflexes may limit spinal stability. The current study aimed to examine this behavior in humans. We hypothesized that prolonged lumbar flexion will disturb paraspinal reflex behavior in human subjects. Reflex behavior was quantified following a fifteen minute period of static flexion. There was a trend suggesting an increase in reflex magnitude after flexion (p = 0.055). This trend was only significant in female subjects (p < 0.003). Increased reflex following flexion was associated with a transient period of EMG hyperexcitability similar to felines. A second study was performed to quantify reflex behavior and creep deformation during flexion and recovery. Results indicated that creep occurred during prolonged flexion (p < 0.001). Reflexes were inhibited following flexion (p < 0.03). Both creep deformation and paraspinal reflex (p > 0.05) failed to exhibit significant recovery during the length of the test. Inhibited paraspinal reflexes may contribute to spinal instability and risk of low back pain for workers using flexed postures, due to the inability of the neuromuscular system to coordinate an appropriate muscle response following an unexpected loading event. Future studies must examine appropriate work/rest intervals for workers using flexed postures to limit reflex disturbance from prolonged ligament strain. / Master of Science

Estudos iniciais sobre a aquisição da locomoção aquática por bebês identificaram uma seqüência ordenada de padrões de movimento ao longo do primeiro ano de vida. A explicação dada a respeito dessa constatação sustenta que isso se deva a alterações no controle motor causado pela maturação do sistema nervoso. Estudos posteriores têm contestado a existência dessa seqüência predeterminada de padrões, sugerindo uma menor predisposição do organismo e uma maior influência ambiental na aquisição desses comportamentos. O presente projeto visou investigar o efeito da estimulação sistemática do reflexo de nadar no comportamento de bebês na locomoção aquática no primeiro ano de vida. Participaram do experimento dezeseis bebês, com idade media de quatorze semanas, divididos em dois: grupo experimental e controle. O registro dos dados foi feito com uma câmera (Panasonic Camerascope S-VHS Movie modelo AG 456) e a identificação e quantificação dos movimentos foram feitas mediante a análise quadro a quadro utilizando-se do software APAS 2000 (Ariel System). Consideraram-se os movimentos do corpo todo ou de partes e que durassem pelo menos dois segundos. Os resultados obtidos permitiram identificar diferenças significativas na duração do comportamento predominante do mergulho ventral autônomo entre os grupos nos componentes, cabeça, braços, pernas e tronco em nível de 5%. Nas outras demais posições experimentais os resultados obtidos não foram totalmente conclusivos. O que nos leva a afirmar que houve efeito de prática entre os grupos principalmente para a posição experimental do mergulho ventral autônomo / Early studies about acquisition of swimming behavior in infants identified an ordered sequence of movement patterns span the first year of life. The explanation attributed to this fact defends that it happens due to changes in motor control caused by the maturation of nervous system. Nevertheless, it has been questioned, suggesting a smaller predisposition of the organism in the skills acquisition process, suggesting a bigger environmental influence in the acquisition of this behavior. In this way, the present study aimed testing the effects of practice on elementary swim patterns. For this, sixteen full-terms, fourteen weeks ear old infants, were recruited from the Londrina State University community in Londrina. The infants were randomly assigned to one of two groups. The experimental group was taken to the aquatic environment twice a week for a period of seven consecutive months and received thirty minutes of stimulation of swimming patterns each day. The control group received no systematic stimulation. Both groups were taken to aquatic environment twice a month and filmed for a period of fifteen minutes in each experimental position. The movements made by all the body or the segments, during more than two consecutive seconds, were considered to this analysis. From the data gathered it was possible to identify some behavioural patterns regarding to the action of the head, the limbs and the trunk. A planned comparison confirmed that the duration of the most frequent movement of the experimental group was longer than that of the control group. Those results suggest that the effects of practice can provide variations on some swimming behavior

An entire field of research was born when a paper entitled ‘On the education of muscular control and power’ first discussed a “psychical rather than a physical” bilateral adaptation to a unilateral training program. Although the true relevance of this paper would not be recognized for over a century, its novel findings, describing adaptations resulting from physical and skilled training, continue to influence scientific literature to this day. Most notably, Scripture coined the term ‘cross-education’ to describe the improvement in strength or functional performance of not only the trained limb but also in the untrained contralateral limb. Recently, unilateral training or ‘cross-education’ has been highlighted as a possible rehabilitation strategy during recovery from unilateral injuries. However, a number of limitations must be addressed within the scientific literature in order to properly apply unilateral resistance training as an effective rehabilitation strategy. Therefore, the primary goal of this dissertation was to address a number of fundamental issues related to optimizing unilateral resistance training. One such issue is knowledge on the time course of strength increase during unilateral resistance training. The primary purpose of Chapter 2 was to characterize the time-course of strength changes in both the trained and untrained limbs during unilateral handgrip training. Experiment 1 assessed the time-course with a ‘traditional’ training protocol (3x/week for 6 weeks: 18 total sessions) while Experiment 2 assessed a “compressed” protocol in which the number of sessions and contractions were matched but participants trained for eighteen consecutive days. An anticipated outcome was the determination of the minimum number of sessions required to induce contralateral strength gains in the upper limb. A secondary purpose of this study was to examine whether spinally-mediated adaptations in muscle afferent reflex pathways occur after unilateral handgrip training. Experiment 1 indicated six weeks of handgrip training significantly increased force output in both trained and untrained limbs. This strength increase was accompanied by changes in the maximal muscle activation in the trained limb only. Time course data indicated the trained limb was significantly stronger than baseline after the 3rd week of training (session 9) while the untrained limb was stronger after 5 weeks (15 sessions) of unilateral handgrip training. Interestingly, the rate at which strength increased in the untrained limb was similar to the trained side. These strength increases were also accompanied by significant changes in the current needed to produce H@50 in the trained, and Hmax in both the trained and untrained limb indicating alterations in spinal cord excitability. Experiment 2 showed a similar number of sessions was needed to induce significant strength gains in the untrained limb. This indicates training without rest days may be the most efficient protocol within a clinical population when the trained limb is not the focus of recovery. It remains necessary to determine if specific strategies can be employed to optimize unilateral resistance training interventions to increase strength gains. To date, no study has directly assessed the relative contribution of afferent pathways to cross-education. Cutaneous feedback from the skin provides perceptual information about joint position and movement. Unilateral training involves forceful contractions that activate cutaneous receptors in the skin, producing widespread and powerful effects between limbs. Providing “enhanced” cutaneous stimulation during unilateral contractions may alter excitability of interlimb reflex pathways, modifying the contralateral increase in strength. Therefore, the purpose of Chapter 3 was to determine the relative contribution of cutaneous afferent pathways as a mechanism of cross-education by directly assessing if unilateral cutaneous stimulation alters ipsilateral and contralateral strength gains. Participants were randomly assigned to either a voluntary contraction (TRAIN), cutaneous stimulation (STIM), or cutaneous stimulation during voluntary contraction (TRAIN+STIM) group. Each participant completed 6 sets of 8 reps 3x/week for 5 weeks. TRAIN included unilateral maximal voluntary isometric contractions (MVCs) of the wrist extensors. STIM training included cutaneous stimulation (2xRT for 3sec @ 50Hz) of the superficial radial (SR) nerve at the wrist only. TRAIN+STIM included MVCs of the wrist extensors with SR stimulation provided for the duration of the contraction. Two pre-training and 1 post-training session assessed the relative increase in force output during MVCs for wrist flexion, wrist extension and handgrip strength. Results indicated unilateral wrist extension training alone (TRAIN) increased force output in both trained and untrained wrist extensors. Providing ‘enhanced’ sensory feedback via electrical stimulation during training (TRAIN+STIM) led to similar increases in strength in the trained limb compared to TRAIN. However, the major finding revealed that ‘enhanced’ feedback in the TRAIN+STIM group completely blocked interlimb strength transfer to the untrained wrist extensors. It appears the large mismatched sensory volley which was provided may have interfered with the integration of the appropriate sensory cues to the untrained cortex and impaired the ability to induce “cross-education”. It may be possible to enhance effects of training by altering excitability via apparel such as compression garments. Currently, it is unknown whether tactile input to the skin induced via compression apparel may alter transmission of muscle afferent feedback within a limb. Thus, the purpose of Chapter 4 was to examine if sustained input to the skin via compression garment modulates sensory feedback transmission in the upper limb using the Hoffmann (H-) reflex as a probe. The purpose of these experiments was to: 1) explore the effects of compression gear on sensory feedback transmission in the upper limb during a static task, and 2) if the task (locomotor vs. reaching) or phase of a movement differentially modulated this transmission of sensory information. Furthermore, differences in performance of the discrete reaching task were assessed to provide data on whether a compression garment leads to alteration in motor task performance. Combined results from both parts of the study suggest that tactile input provided to the skin via compression garments modulates the excitability of afferent connections independent of descending input. The alteration in excitability occurs across multiple sensory pathways and across multiple movement tasks. Interestingly, there was a significant reduction in the number of errors made during the reaching task, which provides preliminary evidence of an improved performance while wearing a compression garment. Therefore, the compression sleeve appears to increase precision and sensitivity at the joint where it is applied. Overall, these results address many fundamental questions which have previously limited effective translation for rehabilitative interventions. These results provide preliminary guidelines for subsequent strength training interventions to prescribe the optimal ‘dose’ of unilateral strength training to maximize benefits while minimizing intervention burden. These studies also help refine a unifying model of unilateral strength training to include contributions from central motor output as well as afferent feedback. These studies highlight the importance of appropriate sensory feedback during maximal force production and the impact that sensory information from the skin can have on motor output in the nervous system. / Graduate / 0317 / 0719 / 0382

No description available.

This work deals with bio-feedback and the possibility of measuring changes in skin resistance for biofeedback. The Theoretic part is focused on the principle of biofeedback and its use. Next deals with the resistance of the skin, the changes depending on the emotions and the measurement this change . The practical part is devoted to the creation program for the use of skin resistance to change biofeedback in LabVIEW.

Semestral thesis on the topic Psychogalvanic – reflex deals with causal formation, detection and subsequent using of this diagnostic signal. In the theoretical section we discuss the structure of skin, the mechanism formation skin resistence and its influence on skin appendages. It also deals with various ways to capture this reflex and factors affecting their own measurements. Described are the most common types of electrodes, which when taking psychogalvanic reflex use. Last chapter deals with the block diagram psychogalvanometer.

No description available.

For those who have suffered a stroke, damage to the brain can result in a decreased ability to walk. The traditional therapy used for the recovery of walking, body weight supported treadmill training, has significant labour requirements that limit the availability of training to the larger stroke population. Thus, the conception and application of new, effective, and efficient rehabilitation therapies is required. To approach this, an understating of the intricate neural control behind walking is needed to form the principled foundation upon which locomotor therapies are based. Due to observations that the arms and legs are connected in the nervous system during walking, and that nervous system control is the same across rhythmic tasks, arm and leg (A&L) cycling training could provide an effective means of locomotor rehabilitation. Thus, the goal of this dissertation is focused upon exploring central nervous system control and interlimb coordination during rhythmic arm and leg movement and testing the extent to which A&L cycling training improves walking after stroke. The first objective of this dissertation was to provide further evidence of central nervous system control of walking. Through a literature review in Chapter 1 and experimental evidence in Chapter 2 of common subcortical control across rhythmic locomotor tasks, evidence for the existence of central pattern generating networks in humans is given. The second objective was to explore interlimb coordination during rhythmic movement. Results presented in Chapters 3 and 4 further our understanding of specific interlimb interactions during rhythmic arm and leg tasks. The third objective was to evaluate the effects of an A&L cycling training intervention in a post-stroke population. To support this objective, it was shown in Chapter 5 that a multiple baseline design is appropriate for use in intervention studies. In Chapter 6, it was determined that A&L cycling training can be used to improve walking ability. And in Chapter 7, it was shown that training induced plasticity in interlimb reflex pathways. Overall, results in this dissertation provide further knowledge on nervous system control and arm and leg interlimb interactions during rhythmic movements and their effect on locomotor recovery following a stroke. / Graduate / 2017-10-31

Adolescent and young adult males are at a higher risk for traumatic brain injury (TBI) compared to the general population. Diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is also more prevalent for males in these age groups. The most commonly prescribed medication for ADHD is methylphenidate (MPH). Based on the increase in the number of new diagnoses of ADHD and the number of children who continue taking MPH into adulthood, it is important to evaluate how chronic or acute MPH administered prior to injury may influence recovery following TBI. In both studies, cognitive abilities of male Sprague-Dawley rats were assessed on post-injury using the Morris Water Maze. There was no effect of chronic MPH treatment on cognitive outcome following TBI. In contrast, acute MPH pre-treatment improved cognitive outcome as measured by the MWM. The MPH + injury group reached sham-injury levels on days 4 and 5 in the MWM.

The thesis deals with the issues of balance disorders in patients after vestibular schwannoma surgery. The aim of this thesis is to evaluate the effect of targeted rehabilitation with biofeedback on balance disorders and subjective visual vertical compensation. During the period of one year, a group of 20 vestibular schwannoma patients were examined and treated in University Hospital Motol. The compensation of vestbuloocular refex was assessed by a tilt of subjective visual vertical. The level of vestibulospinal compensation was determined according to score of the Activities-Specific Balance Confidence Scale. Patients were examined before the surgery, after the surgery and after the rehabilitation. The Homebalance system, developed by Support center for application outputs and spin-off companies at the 1st Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in Prague, branch office in Kladno, was used for the therapy with visual biofeedback. Another aim of this thesis was to monitor the effect of vestibular prehabituation with ototoxic gentamicin application two months before surgery. The statistical analysis of data proved in the case of subjective visual vertical tilt a significant increase of deviation after surgery and a decrease after rehabilitation. According to the ABC questionnaire the confidence of...