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CASE REPORT article

Front. Rehabil. Sci.
Sec. Human Functioning Sciences
Volume 5 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fresc.2024.1515114
This article is part of the Research Topic Advances on Participation Perspective in Rehabilitation Sciences View all 3 articles

Targeted plasticity in spinal cord injury: the role of focal muscle vibration and neurocognitive rehabilitation in adaptative synaptic change along sensory and motor circuit. Case report

Provisionally accepted
Filippo Camerota Filippo Camerota 1*Naomi Francesca Pocino Naomi Francesca Pocino 2Federico Zangrando Federico Zangrando 1Roberta Di Tommaso Roberta Di Tommaso 1Marco Paoloni Marco Paoloni 2Massimiliano Mangone Massimiliano Mangone 2Claudia Celletti Claudia Celletti 3
  • 1 Umberto 1 Hospital, Rome, Sicily, Italy
  • 2 Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Lazio, Italy
  • 3 Università Link Campus, Rome, Lazio, Italy

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Purpose: The purpose of this case is to investigate objectively and quantitatively the effects of the application of repeated focal muscle vibration (fMV) associated with neurocognitive exercise on a 46-year-old patient with spastic paraparesis secondary to the surgical removal of a C5-C6 ependymoma. Methods: We have evaluated gait parameters, spasticity and pain with clinical scales. We have applied focal muscle vibration on quadriceps femoris, hamstrings, gastrocnemius and iliopsoas muscles bilaterally. FMV treatment was done for 30 sessions (30 consecutive days) of 80 minutes each one. Results: After the whole period of treatment, the patient showed an overall improvement in the scores on the same assessment scales administered at admission. The gait analysis evaluation showed a reduction in stride time bilaterally, an increase in average walking speed, increased cadence and a slight increase in step length.The improvements obtained have highlighted the relevance of the fMV application associated to physiotherapy in the field of neurological rehabilitation, particularly emphasizing the interest in increasing the number of sessions correlated with more durable clinical improvements over time. Results obtained have shown to persist for several months after discharge allowing the patient to improve walk and to have greater autonomy in daily activities.

    Keywords: Focal muscle vibration, gait analysis, Neurorehabilitation, Spasticity, spinal cord injury

    Received: 22 Oct 2024; Accepted: 29 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Camerota, Pocino, Zangrando, Di Tommaso, Paoloni, Mangone and Celletti. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Filippo Camerota, Umberto 1 Hospital, Rome, 00161, Sicily, Italy

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.