Laufband Therapy Based on‘Rules of Spinal Locomotion’is Effective in Spinal Cord Injured Persons

作者：Anton Wernig, Sabina Müller, Andras Nanassy, E. Cagol · 发表于：European Journal of Neuroscience · 年份：1995 · DOI：10.1111/j.1460-9568.1995.tb00686.x · 被引用次数：494 · 研究领域：Cerebral Palsy and Movement Disorders、Spinal Cord Injury Research、Traumatic Brain Injury Research

Abstract Rehabilitation of locomotion in spinal cord (s.c.) injured patients is unsatisfactory. Here we report the effects of a novel ‘Laufband (LB; treadmill) therapy’ based on ‘rules of spinal locomotion’ derived from lower vertebrates. Eighty‐nine incompletely paralysed (44 chronic and 45 acute) para‐ and tetraplegics underwent this therapy, then were compared with 64 patients (24 chronic and 40 acute) treated conventionally. The programme consisted of daily upright walking on a motor driven LB initially with body weight support (BWS) provided by a harness and assisted limb movements by the therapists when necessary. Forty‐four chronic patients with different degrees of paralysis undertook the programme for 3‐20 weeks (median = 10.5), 0.5–18 years after S.C. damage. At the onset of LB therapy 33/44 patients were wheelchair‐bound (no standing and/or walking without help by others) compared with 25 at completion of LB therapy, i.e. 76% had learned to walk independently, 7 patients with help. Only 1 subject did not improve. It was striking that voluntary muscle activity in the resting position was still low in several patients who had gained walking capability. Eleven patients who could already walk before LB therapy improved in speed and endurance. Of the 44 patients, six were capable of staircase walking before LB therapy compared with 34 afterwards. In order to validate the apparent superiority of LB therapy two types of comparisons were performed. In a ‘temporal’ control ...