Article

Muscular co-contraction resulted in corrected elbow and shoulder joint
stiffness; however, this correction neither ameliorated endpoint oscillation nor
assisted in the execution of smooth two-joint arm movements. We hypothesised that
the reacquisition of smooth arm movements became synonymous with the restoration
of time-domain reciprocal electromyographic (EMG) activities in biarticular arm
muscles. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether or not the restored
reciprocal EMG activities in biarticular arm muscles reflected improved smooth
motor performance in patients with stroke after 10 days of two-joint arm-movement
training. METHODS: Three male patients with sub-acute stroke with left-arm
paralysis performed circle-drawing tasks using a haptic device system for upper
limb neuromuscular rehabilitation. RESULTS: After the training, the movement
velocities and achievement periods increased with the enhancement of the
reciprocal EMG activities in biarticular arm muscles, and there was less jerkness
in movement after training for the same duration.
CONCLUSIONS: Patients with
stroke could achieve smooth motor performance with the restoration of the
reciprocal EMG activities in biarticular arm muscles. Therefore, the reciprocal
EMG activities in biarticular arm muscles in response to circle drawing would be
an index for the progressive improvements of smooth motor functions in the upper limbs.

Langue : ANGLAIS