Article

OBJECTIVE: To examine the clinical effect of repetitive focal muscle vibration
(rMV) on the motor function of the upper extremity 1 month after treatment in
patients with chronic stroke. DESIGN: We performed a pilot randomized controlled
trial using a double-blind, parallel-group study design. SETTING: Medical center.
PARTICIPANTS: Patients with chronic stroke (N=49). INTERVENTIONS: Patients
randomly assigned to the study group (SG) received rMV, while patients in the
control group (CG) received a placebo vibratory treatment.
The patients and the
clinical examiner were blind to the intervention. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The
primary endpoint was an improvement of more than .37 points on the Functional
Ability Scale of the Wolf Motor Function Test (WMFT FAS). The Modified Ashworth
Scale and the visual analog scale were the secondary outcome measures. All
measures were administered before the treatment (t0) and 1 week (t1) and 1 month
(t2) after the treatment. RESULTS: Twenty-eight patients were allocated to the SG
and 21 to the CG. The analysis of variance for repeated measurements revealed a
significant difference in the expression of the WMFT FAS score over time only in
the SG (P=.006). The treatment was successful for 7 (33%) of 21 patients
recruited in the SG and for 2 (13%) of 15 patients recruited in the CG. The
relative risk was 2.5 (95% confidence interval, .60-10.39), and the number needed
to treat was 5. The Wilcoxon test showed a statistically significant difference
between t0 and t2 in the SG (P=.02). No adverse event was observed in the 2
groups. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that rMV treatment of the upper limb may
improve the functional ability of chronic stroke patients, but a larger,
multicenter, randomized controlled study is needed.
CI - Copyright (c) 2012 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by
Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Langue : ANGLAIS