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Abstract

Background and Aim: Visual impairment affects people's quality of life. Since the effect of rehabilitation services is measured by improving in quality of life, this study was performed to evaluate the effect of rehabilitation services on quality of life in the blind.

Materials and Methods: 121 blind and low vision people who covered by Zahedan Welfare Organization were studied by census method in this descriptive analytical study. Data was collected using demographic questionnaire (including demographic information and rehabilitation services information in the people) and quality of life questionnaire for the blind. This questionnaire was translated to Persian by Tavakol et al wich its and validity and reliability was assessed with using content validity and test-re-test method, respectively (0.89

Results: T-test results showed the mean score of quality of life significantly higher in patients who had rehabilitation service than persons deprived of services (p=0.03). Mann-Whitney test showed these patients have significantly higher quality of life in mobility domain (p=0.01) and self-care (p<0.001).

Conclusion: According to the results, developing rehabilitation services and providing social programs for the blind is suggested.

Keywords: rehabilitation service, quality of life, blind people, low vision people

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Abstract

Background and Aim: The Action Observation stimulates mirror neurons. It is the effective acquisition of skills, motor learning and memory formation and this feature can be used to treat injuries such as stroke. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of action observation on the symmetry of weight distribution in lower limbs and stability indices in semi-dynamic stability.

Materials and Methods: This study was conducted in 91 healthy male and female non-athletes aged 20 to 45 years. Data were collected through questionnaires and clinical examinations. Subjects were randomly assigned to men and women with and without film observation. A 3-minute short film was preapared to stimulate mirror neurons in the standing position on the symmetry weight measurement system and Biodex platform system. In film observation group, before and after viewing the film, distribution of weigh bearing on the right and left sides, and dynamic stability indices in two stability levels of 5 and 8 were measured and calculated indices of total, anterior - posterior and medio- lateral indices were obtained. In without film observation group, measurements were performed at the similar time as a film observation group.

Results: Percentage weight distribution showed no significant difference between the two groups. The comparison of percentage changes between two groups showed that observation of the film improved significantly total index (p <0.002) and anterior – posterior index (p <0.018) in the stability level of 5. Analysis of the results in the separately men and women groups, showed the significant improvement of these parameters only in women group after film observation regardless of film observation, the percentage changes of stability indices showed no significant differences in men groups.

Conclusion: Action Observation (by activating the mirror neurons) can be effective methods to improve the balance standing of healthy people on the stable and unstable surfaces. Significant improvement stability indices in women after viewing the film, may suggest the greater sensitivity of women's mirror neurons related to men.

Keywords: Mirror Neurons, Action Observation, Symmetry of Weight Distribution, Dynamic Stability, Stability

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Abstract

Background and Aim: Nowadays personal lifting assistive devices, in order to reduce the load applied from the lifted weight to muscles - in particular lower back muscles, become more widely used. The objective of our study is to analyze an empirical model of a Weight Lifting Aid Vest (WLAV) during anterior flexion (anteflexion) and studying its effects on reduction of loads on the muscles in particular back muscles. To analyze this, the intensity of signals captured from involved muscles, during the lifting in two case of with and without WLAV, was studied by the use of electromyography amplifier.

Materials and Methods: In this process, 20 subjects who lifted 10-kilogram loads in semi-squatting position were participated. With the use of a tensile-compressive spring, embedded at the back of WLAV, the amount of body stretch and deflection of their hip and knees were measured. The influence of the WLAV on satisfaction during the lifting was studied.

Results: Data were collected from electromyography findings from eight involved muscles in back, stomach and feet. The results depicted that there are a overall reduction of 25.12-percent in activation of all the muscles and particularly a reduction of 57%, 28% and 26.5% in activation of external oblique, lateral hamstring, and erector spine, respectively. In contrast, there is 11% increase in activation of Gluteus Maximus in the case of usage of WLAV.

Conclusion: WLAV can significantly mitigate the activation of back muscles and rate of load insertion on muscles) P<0.005). It also clarified the tendency of the subjects towards users WLAV) P<0.005).

Keywords: Electromyography, Load measurement, Root mean square, Weight lifting aid vest (WLAV), Muscular demand

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Background and Aim: “Executive function” is a term describing the processes required for conscious control of thought, emotion, and action that have centered role in management of one's day-to-day life. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between executive function and performance on selected linguistic tasks in persons with aphasia (PWA) and left frontal lobe lesions.

  

Materials and Methods : Subjects were 12 right-handed, left hemisphere stroke patients and 12 normal adults as control group. Farsi aphasia test were administered to determine of persence and type of aphasia, as well as auditory comperehension(AC) and naming scors. Wisconsin Card Sort Test(WCST) and Tower Of London(TOL) were used to assess the executive function skills of planning, working memory, mental flexibility, self monitoring, inhibition irrelevant behavior, shifting between concept and action.

 

Results: The control group scored higher than the individuals with aphasia on the executive function tests (P<0/001). In WCST there was not a significant correlation between the AC and category completed (CC) as well as preservative errors(PE). There was a significant correlation between the AC and total errors (TE) (p=0/02) . There was a significant correlation between naming and CC (p=0/01) and TE (p=0/005). There was not a significant correlation when comparing the naming and PE (p=0/194). A comparison between naming scores and TOL showed a significant correlation (p=0/009). There was not a significant correlation between AC and TOL (p=0/113).

  

Conclusion: This study showed that individuals with aphasia have cognition disorder, other than language disorder. If they have a good naming ability, patients ' performance ontestsof executive function will be better.

 

Keywords: Aphasia, Executive function, Language function, Naming, Auditory comprehension, Persian Language

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Background and Aim: The aim of present study was to examine effect of attentional focus on balance performance and EMG activity of athletes.

  

Materials and Methods: The semi-dynamic balance task of 10 gymnasts (22.2±2.09 years old) with 3-5 years of experience in two periods, one in internal focus (focus on leg) and one in external focus (focus on stabilometer plate) was assessed. Postural sways were measuredby Biodexstabilometer and muscular activity of tibialis anterior and soleus muscles were recorded using ME6000electromygram device. Data were analyzed using paired t- test.

  

Results : muscular activity for controlling posture was reduced in external focus condition than internal focus. Postural sways is more in internal focus condition than internal focus.

  

Conclusion: Research findings (enhanced performance and reduced EMG) showed that antinational focus conditions (internal or external) have significant effect on athletes balance performance. In conditions that attention is focused on external feedback and information (rather than focus on body itself) balance is enhanced and requirement to muscular activity will reduce.

  

Key words: Attentional focus, Electromyography, Semi-dynamic balance

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 Background and Aim : Cerebral palsy is the most common physical disability in childhood. Children with cerebral palsy require long-term therapy for achieving improved motor function. It seems to be a need for treatment and training at home. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of “handling training” for caregivers at home on the gross motor function of 15-72 months cerebral palsy children.

 

 Materials and Methods : In this experimental single-blinded study, 40 children with cerebral palsy (15-72 months old) were recruited from some of Tehran public or private rehabilitation clinics based on pre-determined inclusion criteria, and after matching for child age, type of clinic referred to (public or private), type of cerebral palsy, IQ score, GMFCS level and number of occupational treatment sessions already provided at the rehabilitation clinic. The children were allocated randomly into intervention and control groups. For data collection, a demographic information questionnaire, gross motor function measurement (GMFM66) test and gross motor function classification system (GMFCS) test were used. Data were collected on three occasions: before the intervention, 1.5 months and 3 months after intervention. For intervention, researchers went to the intervention group's homes and explained educations related to handling for caregivers in a 4-hours session. During 3 months, researchers would follow up to implement the intervention. Data were analyzed by one sample k-S, chi-square, independent sample t test, general linear model and analysis of Covariance.

 

 Results : There were significant differences in gross motor function of two groups in 1.5 months and 3 months after intervention than before intervention (p<0.001). There were significant difference in gross motor function improvement in pre-post (1.5 months after intervention) (p=0.006) and pre-follow (3 months after intervention) (p<0.001) between two groups and was greater in the intervention group.

 

 Conclusion : Handling training on caregivers in home improves gross motor function in 15-72 months old cerebral palsy children.

 

Keywords : Cerebra l palsy, Handling, Gross motor function

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Background and Aim : Schizophrenia is a severe mental illness encompassing a spectrum of cognitive, social, and emotional impairments. One of the serious problems in schizophrenia is functional dysfunction. Emotional face recognition is an effective component of social functioning. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between negative emotional faces perception and global function in patients with schizophrenia.

  

Materials and Methods: The method of this study was analytical- descriptive. Using convenience sampling method 30 patients with schizophrenia (16 male/14female, 20-45 years old) were selected from Roozbeh Psychiatric Hospitalof Tehran University of Medical Science (TUMS) in Tehran, Iran. Their functionswere assessed by Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF), and responses to emotional face perception(N170) were recorded by Event Related Potential(ERP). Data were analyzed using Pearson correlation test and linear regression in SPSS software version 15.

  

Results: Results showed that the mean amplitudes of N170 responses to fearful and angry faces in patients with schizophrenia were significantly correlated with the GAFscores (P<0.001). Besides, the amplitudes of N170 responses to angry faces (as compared to fearful faces) could predicate the % 26 of the GAF scores changes by stepwise regression analysis.

  

Conclusion Findings suggested that the functional dysfunction in patients with schizophrenia is due to the deficit in the early stage of facial expression perception.

  

Key words : Schizophrenia, Emotional Face, Global Functioning, N170, ERP

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Bachground and Aim: Ankle sprain is one of the most common injury among the athletic injuries. Around 70-80% of these injuries tend to be chronic. Despite extensive clinical and basic science research, the incidence of Chronic Ankle Instability(CAI) has not significantly reduced. Because the causes of CAI is not quite clear, the rehabilitation still deals with great challenges . one of the treatment methods which has been under special attention for this injuries is Kinesio Taping(KT). In this study, effects of three KT methods on performance in athletes with CAI was investigated .

 

Materials and Methods: Thirty male athletes (futsall, football) with CAI participated in this study. The KT was used in three distinct times with three different methods (mechanical, functional and ligament- Tendon Correction) for these people and their short- time effects on functional performance of lower limb was evaluated. This evaluation was done thorough two functional performance test (Star Excursion Balance Test and Figure of 8 Hop Test).

 

Results: In taping with the aim of functional and mechanical correction, functional performance after KT dramatically improved but in taping with the aim of Ligament-Tendon correction functional performance did not change significantly after taping.

 

Conclusion: The result of this study suggests that functional and mechanical correction have the significant effect on functional performance of futsaland football athletes with CAI , the ligament-tendon correction has not significant effect.

 

Keywords: Chronic ankle instability, Kinesio tape, Functional performance tests.

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Background and Aim : Athletes from different sport fields are needed to lower extremity dynamic balance for their specific skills. The question can be raised is whether athletes from different sport fields are different in lower extremity dynamic balance? The aim of this study was to compare the dynamic balance of lower extremity of football, handball and taekwondo athletes with functional tests.

  

Material and Methods : Ten football, 10 handball, and 10 taekwondo healthy male athletes with the mean age of 23.83±0.06 years participated voluntarily in this study . The lower extremity dynamic balance was assessed by Shuttle Run test (SR), figure of 8 Hop test (FEH), Side to Side Hop test(SSH) and Agility Hop test (AH). All analyses were conducted using SPSS version 19.

  

Results : The scores of SR, FEH and AH tests were higher in taekwondo players compared to football and handball players (7.11± 0.26, 9.86±1.09 and 9.2 ±1.31, respectively). Football players gained the highest score in SSH test (7.52±0.84). The FEH test score in handball players was higher than football players (9.59±0.94). Statistical analysis showed significant differences between three groups on two tests (SR P=0/03 and AH P=0/01).

  

Conclusion : This study showed that lower extremity function of athletes from different fields of sport may be different. It seems that football and handball players need more agility and speed than taekwondo players for doing their own skills. This issue should be considered in designing the sport specific training protocol for athletes.

 

Key words : Functional test, Football, Handball, Taekwondo

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Background and Aim: In recent years transcranial stimulations, action observation and motor imagery training have emerged as nonaggressive and attractive choices beside the common rehabilitation treatments for neurologic patients. Mirror therapy using visual feedbacks is one of these newfound methods that its therapeutic effects on impaired upper limb of stroke patients are still under investigation. In this case report, Impact of mirror therapy in treatment of the paralyzed upper extremity in 2 stroke patients will be described. Materials and Methods: Two adult patients with hemiplegia due to cerebrovascular accident and with 1 and 5 years passed since stroke went under 12 sessions of mirror therapy. Each session of mirror therapy lasted 45 to 60 minutes in which patients have been practicing specific exercises under direct supervision of therapist. Patients were evaluated for function and motor recovery level, spasticity, range of motion and power grip before and after one month of treatment. Results: In both individual, function and motor recovery level, active range of motion, and power grip were improved and spasticity just showed a decrease in one of the patient. Conclusion: Mirror therapy for 12 sessions can be beneficial to treatment of affected upper extremity in these two stroke patients

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  Background and Aim: Since many of people in their functional activities mostly place their knee joint in flexed position, the hamstring muscles tend to be shortened. On the other hand, shortness of these muscles affect the knee joint directly and the ankle and hip joints indirectly. It predisposes the individual to musculo-skeletal injuries. Thus, by early diagnosing and treatment of it, the tension may be decreased, the relaxation increased and the development of injuries can be prevented. In order to achieve this goal, various stretching techniques are used. The purpose of this study is to compare the effects of static and PNF stretching on shortness of hamstring muscles in 18-30 years young women.

  

  Materials and Methods: Thirty 18-30 years old nonathletic women without any history of pathology in hip, knee or back were selected. They were divided into three groups with 10 women in each group(static stretch, PNF stretch and control). The two stretch groups were received stretching program five days every week for three weeks, while the control group was not.

  Results: The range of knee extension of both groups of static and PNF stretching increased (p<0/05). However there was no significant difference between these two groups (p>0/05).

  

  Conclusion: Employing of both methods (static and PNF stretching) increase the hamstring muscles flexibility. However there was no significant difference between two groups in increasing rang of knee extension.

  

  Key words: Hamstring muscles, static stretching, PNF stretching

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 Background and Aim: Total Hip Replacement (THR) is done comprehensively all over the world. Despite the effects of braces on control of THR complications , few studies have been performed on this subject. The purpose of this study was to evaluate immediate effect of hip abduction brace on mobility and functional balance of patients with THR.

  

 Materials and Methods: Eight men and nine women with THR participated in this study. Mobility and functional balance were assessed and compared with and without brace conditions by means of TUG, FR and Berg tests.

  

  Results : A significantly higher TUG, FR and Berg scores were seen in brace condition compared to without brace situation (P < 0.05).

  

  Conclusion: Hip abduction brace can increase mobility and functional balance in patients with THR.

  

  Keywords: Total Hip Replacement, Functional balance, Functional Mobility, Hip Abduction Brace

  

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  Background and Aim: Speech in noise test (SINT) surveys the ability of person in extracting speech from ambient noise. Temporal resolution (TR) is ability of person to understand changes of stimulus over time that has important role in speech perception. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of age and sex on SINT and TR in individuals with normal hearing.

  

  Materials and Methods: SINT was done in the most comfortable level in 3 SNRs 0,-10 and -20 dB and Gap detection test (GDT) in 4 intensity levels in two age groups 25-40 yrs old (included 14 persons) and 41 -55 yrs old ( included 15 persons).

  

  Results: There was a significant difference between word recognition scores (WRSs) in quiet and in the presence of noise in each age group (P<0.0001). Significant difference was shown between two age groups in WRS s in two SINs of - 10 and- 20 dB (P≤0.02). WRS difference between silence and 3 SINs in two sexes was significant (P≤0.04). Significant difference was the revealed between GDT thresholds in 4 intensity levels (P<0.0001). Sex and age had no effects on GDT thresholds .

  

  Conclusions: According to our results, despite of normal hearing thresholds with increasing age WRS and GDT are reduced. It seems that, WRS and speech perception in female are better than male.

  

  Key words: Speech in Noise Test, Temporal Resolution, Age, Sex

 

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  Background and Aim: Cerebral palsy is an umbrella term used to describe disorders of motor function, emerge on early years of life , resulting from a brain injury or malfunction. These disorders may be accompanied by speech, auditory and visual disorders, seizure, learning disabilities , mental retardation and so on. Due to all these disorders, it seems that people with cerebral palsy have some special needs that understanding them are essential. As a result, it was done a study to understand the rehabilitation needs of people with cerebral palsy. One part of these requirements was social needs which are presented in this article separately because of its importance.

  

  Materials and Methods: This research was done as a qualitative type and with phenomenology method and sampling was purposeful. Participants were 17 cerebral palsy people (6 female and 11 male, with aged 15 to 43 years old). Data were collected by observation and deep interview with open-end questions and analyzed by Collaizi method.

  

  Results: S ocial needs domain of participants was appeared in 12 sub-themes and 7 themes. Themes were consisted of: to help and companionship with others, social acceptance , marriage, work, access to urban facilities , education and supportive organization.

 

  Conclusion: Social needs are an important and great part of cerebral palsy people's needs. So, it is necessary that organizations , institutes, families and all community members related to cerebral palsy people, consider this group's needs, especially their social needs and try to provide them .

  

  Key words: Cerebral palsy, Social needs, Qualitative study

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Background and Aim: Sacroiliac joint (SIJ) is one of the most important elements in normal musculoskeletal function during gait cycle and serve as a shock absorber during heel strike and load transfer from lower limbs to trunk. Its stabilizing is the product of osseous, ligamentus and muscular elements which muscle activity of these muscles (Gluteus Maximus, Biceps Femoris, Multifidus, Erector Spinea, and Latissimus Dorsi) is important in load transfer through SIJ. It seems that the function of the given muscles in sacroiliac joint pain subjects is interrupted. So, the aim of the present study is to compare muscle activity during different events of stance phase of gait cycle during preferred and slow speed between sacroiliac joint pain and healthy subjects.

  

Methods and Materials: Thirteen SIJ pain subjects (12 females, 1 male) and thirteen healthy subjects (11 females, 2 male) participated in this study. Muscle activity based on RMS from selected muscles was recorded during different events of stance phase of gait either preferred or slow speed by EMG Data-link Biometrics and normalized according to muscle activity during a 500 ms period in rest position before starting walking called Baseline Correction.

  

Results: Significant statistical differences were found between two groups in muscle activity based RMS during different events of stance (p=0/006), but there was no significant difference in effect of speed on RMS between two groups (p=0/37). Significant Statistical differences were also seen between selected muscles in each group separately during slow speed of walking (p=0/003) but no significant statistical difference during preferred speed in SIJ pain group (p=0/14).

  

Conclusion: SIJ subjects have showed increased levels of muscle activity during different events of stance phase of gait with preferred and slow speeds. These increased levels can be interpreted as a mechanism to control trunk movements effectively, provide sufficient support and transfer load to lumbar area efficiently.

  

Key words: Muscle activity, Sacroiliac joint, Gait, Trunk muscle, Lower limb muscles

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Background and Aim: Some of the patients with chronic low back pain commonly do not experience full recovery with the conventional physical therapy. It is revealed that may be there are some items in subjects with low back, which are not studied well till now. Since there are some evidences about breathing pattern disorder in low back pain patients, the purpose of this study was to compare between some important breathing pattern index in non-specific chronic low back pain and healthy subjects .

  

Materials and Methods : In this descriptive analysis study, there were 16 patients with chronic non-specific low back pain and 16 healthy subjects. Both groups were matched and selected by some of the demographic characteristics. Respiratory data including respiratory rate, volumetric, time depended and chemical index were calculated by K4b2 instrument.

  

Results: They have significant differences in some of the respiratory parameters including respiratory rate, inspiration and expiration times and total time of respiration between two groups, whereas inspiration total time ratio, volumetric and chemical index do not have significant differences.

  

Conclusion: Existence of disorders in some parameters of respiratory patterns in patients with low back pain are revealed that survey of respiratory system in patients with chronic non-specific low back pain can be effective in diagnosis and treatment process in physiotherapy centers.

  

Keywords: Low back pain, Breathing, Respiratory chemistry.

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Back ground and Aim: Some left brain- damaged stroke patients display both oral and verbal apraxia, while others may appear to have one or none of them. So the present study was focused on investigating the severity and relationship of oral and verbal apraxia in these patients.

  

Materials and Methods: In this cross sectional descriptive-analytic study, 20 left hemisphere damaged patients due to a single ischemic CVA (8 women, 12 men) with an average age of 60.68 years (range, 35-73) were recruited using convenience sampling. An oral apraxia task was applied to examine imitation of oral motor gestures, and the verbal apraxia was tested by a speech production task. Data were analyzed by U Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis and Pearson correlation.

  

Results: Analysis of data revealed that 4 patients showed prominent oral apraxia, 12 patients suffered from prominent verbal apraxia and 4 had a combination of both types with relative equal severities. No significant correlation between oral apraxia and verbal apraxia was observed (p= 0.899).

  

Conclusion: According to the findings, the co-occurrence pattern of oral and verbal apraxia seems not to be a predictable one. Despite of the fact that ischemic lesions lead to damage of neighboring neural substrates, half of the patients revealed dissociation of oral and verbal apraxia. This dissociation may be interpreted as an evidence of a modular task-specific neuromotor control system , which considers non-speech oral movement control independent of speech motor control .

  

Key words: Apraxia, Oral apraxia, Verbal apraxia, oral apraxia prominence, Verbal apraxia prominence

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Background and Aim: Many studies investigated the effect of ankle-foot orthosis on reducing the incidence of sprain. In this study the influence of elastic and semirigid stirrup type orthosis on the onset latency of peroneus longus muscle activity as the most important support of ankle- foot region in response to sudden perturbation was assessed in healthy group and athletes with functional ankle instability.

 

Materials and Methods: Thirteen healthy female athletes and 10 female athletes with functional ankle instability (17 to 27 years old) were perturbed unexpectedly by a custom made ankle perturbation system in frontal plane under three conditions of without orthotics, using elastic orthosis, and using semirigid stirrup-type orthosis. Simultaneous recording of electrical activity of peronus longus muscle was performed with surface electromyography.

 

Results: The results showed the significant differences between muscular latency of injured and control groups without orthosis (P=0.018). The onset latency reduced using each type of the orthoses in injured group but it was not significant (P>0.05).

 

Conclusion: Although the latency time of peroneus longus muscle response delay didn’t show significant reduction using orthoses in injured group, it seems that using orthoses leads to proprioception improvement and sensiomotor control increasement by stimulation of cutaneous mechanoreceptors.

 

Key words: Functional ankle instability, Invertory perturbation, Electromyography, Orthosis

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Background and Aim: Presently, lecturing is widely used as a teaching method at all Universities particularly, if the aim is to convey the materials to a large class of students. However, nowadays recording the voice of the lecturer has become a common practice and has introduced as a new learning technique. There are studies in which researchers acknowledged this method and have mentioned many advantages for it. On the other hand, many others have declared that this method which might be used for students with certain disabilities may cause distraction and reduces the learning that can occur. The purpose of this study was to compare the method of recorded lectures with note-making in class on undergraduate physiotherapy students’ learning.

  

Materials and Methods : In a descriptive- cross sectional study 29 undergraduate physiotherapy students classified in two groups according to studying methods one group used the method of note-making in class and the other one utilized the method of the voice recording . Four dependent variables including written exam grades, teacher’s evaluation scores, course satisfaction scores, and students’ grades on difficult questions were measured.

  

Results: There were no significant differences between two groups in written exam grades (P=0.92), teacher’s evaluation scores (P=0.55), course satisfaction scores (P=0.57), and on difficult questions grades (P=0.53).

  

Conclusion: Using voice recorders had no significant effect on students’ learning. The results are related to one specific course and can not be extended to other courses.

  

Key words: Lecturing, Voice recording, written exam grades, Teacher’s evaluation scores

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Background and Aim: The normal response of H-reflex depression (HD) was reduced in chronic spinal cord injury (SCI) patients. The reduction of this normal response can lead to increase the muscle tone and spasticity. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of tripolar cathodal stimulation on HD in SCI patients.

 

Materials and Methods: This study was conducted in 10 volunteered SCI patients and 13 healthy male and female aged 28.91 ± 5.78 years. H-reflexes were elicited at 0.2, 5 and 0.2 Hz and intensity of 65-70 percent of the maximum H-reflex amplitude, before and after tripolar cathodal electrical stimulation of the spinal cord at T₁₁ level.

 

Results : Before trioplar stimulation, H-reflex amplitude decreased with increasing stimulation frequency only in healthy group. H-reflex amplitude decreased from 2.60 ± 1.48 to 1.34 ± 1.30 by 5Hz frequency (P=0.000). After trioplar stimulation in SCI patients group, HD increased with increasing stimulation frequency and H-reflex amplitude decreased significantly from 2.21 ± 1.98 by 0.2 Hz frequency to 1.29 ± 1.50 by 5Hz frequency(P=0.014).

Conclusion: Application of one session of cathodal trioplar stimulation can result the returning of normal HD in SCI patients. Cathodal trioplar stimulation is a non-invasive, without side effects, and an inexpensive method that may be a valuable tool to return the normal inhibition and modulating behavior of the spinal cord circuits.

  

Keywords: Spinal cord injury , Tripolar stimulation, H-reflex depression, Soleus muscle