Rubens Correa Araujo

Anticipatory and compensatory postural adjustments in sitting in children with cerebral palsy

The aim of this study was to examine postural control in children with cerebral palsy performing a bilateral shoulder flexion to grasp a ball from a sitting posture. The participants were 12 typically developing children (control) without cerebral palsy and 12 children with cerebral palsy (CP). We analyzed the effect of ball mass (1 kg and 0.18 kg), postural adjustment (anticipatory, APA, and compensatory, CPA), and groups (control and CP) on the electrical activity of shoulder and trunk muscles with surface electromyography (EMG). Greater mean iEMG was seen in CPA, with heavy ball, and for posterior trunk muscles (p<.05). The children with CP presented the highest EMG and level of co-activation (p<.05). Linear regression indicated a positive relationship between EMG and aging for the control group, whereas that relationship was negative for participants with CP. We suggest that the main postural control strategy in children is based on corrections after the beginning of the movement. The linear relationship between EMG and aging suggests that postural control development is affected by central nervous disease which may lead to an increase in muscle co-activation.

Análise da atividade eletromiográfica de superfície de pontos gatilhos miofasciais

There are examples of common clinical conditions that clinical signals are related to alterations in muscle tone, including myofascial pain syndrome. OBJECTIVE: to discuss the application of surface EMG to detect effect of miofascial trigger point (MTP) on neuromuscular activity at rest and maximum voluntary contraction of the trapezoid muscle. METHODS: Fifty-six subjects participated in the study and were divided into two groups: Healthy group (n = 28), with subjects who necessarily did not present MTP, and PAIN group (n = 28), with subjects who necessarily had MTP. RESULTS: The EMG signal was significantly higher in the muscle portion containing MTP than in the healthy muscle portion in PAIN group and than Healthy group (26,56 ± 44,54, 5,39 ± 6,29 and 1,56 ± 0,76, respectively, p = 0,0001) during rest. In addition, a higher intensity of the EMG signal was observed in subjects with active MTP than in latent MTP (17,85 ± 30,25 versus 3,74 ± 1,52, p = 0,04. Besides, the subjects who presented autonomic phenomena had higher EMG signal than those who had no autonomic phenomena (16,78 ± 28,44 versus 3,51 ± 3,65. CONCLUSION: The surface EMG is reliable to measure the muscular activity of the MTP, mainly at rest condition.

Desconforto vocal em indivíduos com queixa cervical: uma abordagem baseada em questionários de autoavaliação

Objetivo Verificar a relacao entre a ocorrencia de desconforto vocal e queixa cervical, a partir de questionarios de autoavaliacao. Metodos Trinta individuos de 18 a 65 anos de idade, todos com algum tipo de queixa cervical, responderam a versao traduzida e adaptada culturalmente do questionario de autoavaliacao cervical The Copenhagen Neck Functional Disability Scale (CNFDS) - denominado em portugues Escala Funcional de Incapacidade do Pescoco de Copenhagen (EFIPC) - e dois instrumentos de autoavaliacao vocal: o Questionario de Qualidade de Vida e Voz (QVV) e a Escala de Desconforto do Trato Vocal (EDTV). Testes estatisticos foram aplicados para analisar a possibilidade de relacao entre os dados obtidos. Resultados A maioria dos participantes referiu presenca de desconforto vocal, sendo que quase metade deles apresentou relevante quantidade de sintomas desse desconforto. Dentre esses, a secura foi referida com maior frequencia e a coceira, o sintoma que apresentou maior intensidade. Nao houve correlacao entre o EFIPC e o QVV ou o EDTV. Houve correlacao negativa entre QVV e EDTV. Conclusao Apesar dos participantes apresentarem ocorrencia elevada de desconforto vocal nao houve correlacao entre os questionarios escolhidos.

Avaliação do torque de resistência passiva em atletas femininas com entorse de tornozelo

INTRODUCTION: The ankle sprain is one of the most common injuries in athletes. Direct evaluation of the ligament laxity can be obtained through the objective measurement of extreme passive inversion and eversion movements, but there are few studies on the use of the evaluation of the passive resistive torque of the ankle to assess the capsule and ligaments resistance. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to compare the inversion and eversion passive torque in athletes with and without ankle sprains history. METHOD: 32 female basketball and volleyball athletes (16.06 ± 0.8 years old; 67.63 ± 8.17 kg; 177.8 ± 6.47 cm) participated in this study. Their ankles were divided into two groups: control group (29), composed by symptom-free ankles, and ankle sprain group, composed by ankles which have suffered injury (29). The resistive torque at maximum passive ankle movement was measured by the isokinetic dynamometer and the muscular activity by electromyography system. The athletes performed 2 repetitions of inversion and eversion movement at 5, 10 and 20°/s and the same protocol only at maximum inversion movement. RESULTS: The resistive passive torque during the inversion and eversion was lower in the ankle sprain group. This group also showed lower torques at the maximum inversion movement. No differences were observed between inversion and eversion movement. CONCLUSIONS: Ankle sprain leads to lower passive torque, indicating reduction of the resistance of the lateral ankle ligaments and mechanical laxity.

Histomorphometrical analysis on the effects of two therapeutic ultrasound intensities on fracture healing in aged rats

Introduction Experimental studies conducted in young animals show that therapeutic ultrasound (TUS) has been successfully used to shorten the healing time of bone fractures. However, they were not found in the literature, studies comparing the effect of different intensities of UST in aged animals. Objective To test the efficacy of intensity 1.0 W/cm2 and of 0.5 W/cm2 in the consolidation of experimental fracture of the tibia from aged Wistar rats. Materials and methods Three groups of 15 month old rats were submitted to a midshaft osteotomy of the tibia and then, the hind member was immobilized with a metal splint and plaster of Paris, wrapping the knee and ankle joint. One group (L), received ultrasound at 0.5 W/cm2; the other group (I), were exposed to ultrasound at 1.0 W/cm2. One control group (C), did not receive the ultrasound. Fifteen animals (five from each group) were euthanatized at the end of the first week and fifteen (five from each group) at the end of the third week. The progress of the fracture healing was performed for each group by morphometric analysis of histological sections of the fracture region. Results and conclusion The results showed that fractures treated with ultrasound at 1.0 W/cm2 healed significantly faster than did the fractures treated with ultrasound at 0.5 W/cm2 and the control.

Análise isocinética da articulação do cotovelo em crianças com paralisia cerebral

The joint torque is an important variable related to children with cerebral palsy. The present study analyzed kinetic parameters during elbow flexion and extension movements in healthy and cerebral palsy children. Ten healthy and 10 cerebral palsy children participated of the study. An isokinetic dynamometer was used to measure the elbow mean peak torque, mean angle peak torque, coefficient of variation and acceleration during flexion and extension movements at different angular speeds. The mean peak torque on extension movement in healthy children group was significant higher compared to the cerebral palsy group. The coefficient of variation on both flexion and extension movements was significantly higher in cerebral palsy group. However there were significantly difference on both groups compared the lowest and highest velocities. Although the results showed no difference in flexor peak torque, the acceleration is significantly lower in lowest and highest angular velocity.

Análise cinemática da projeção anterior da cabeça

Resumen pt: Um procedimento de avaliacao que considere a interacao das disfuncoes temporomandibulares e postura faz-se necessario para um tratamento adequado. O obje...