Voluntary ambulation using voluntary upper limb muscle activity and Hybrid Assistive Limb® (HAL®) in a patient with complete paraplegia due to chronic spinal cord injury: A case report

Context: We sought to describe our experience with the Hybrid Assistive Limb® (HAL®) for active knee extension and voluntary ambulation with remaining muscle activity in a patient with complete paraplegia after spinal cord injury.

Findings: A 30-year-old man with complete paraplegia used the HAL® for 1 month (10 sessions) using his remaining muscle activity, including hip flexor and upper limb activity. Electromyography was used to evaluate muscle activity of the gluteus maximus, tensor fascia lata, quadriceps femoris, and hamstring muscles in synchronization with the Vicon motion capture system. A HAL® session included a knee extension session with the hip flexor and voluntary gait with upper limb activity. After using the HAL® for one month, the patient’s manual muscle hip flexor scores improved from 1/5 to 2/5 for the right and from 2/5 to 3/5 for the left knee, and from 0/5 to 1/5 for the extension of both knees.

Conclusion/clinical relevance: Knee extension sessions with HAL®, and hip flexor and upper-limb-triggered HAL® ambulation seem a safe and feasible option in a patient with complete paraplegia due to spinal cord injury.     

Continuous passive motion following total knee replacement: a prospective randomized trial with follow-up to 1 year

We have carried out a prospective randomised, single blind clinical trial to investigate the effect of continuous passive motion on range of knee flexion, lack of extension, pain levels and analgesic use after total knee replacement surgery. 85 subjects were randomly allocated to control or study group. All subjects followed the existing rehabilitation protocol, which permits immediate active range of motion exercises and mobilisation with the study group using continuous passive motion for 1 h, twice a day. Outcome measures employed were range of motion, pain assessed on a visual analogue scale and analgesic use according to the WHO ladder. Blinded evaluation was carried out preoperatively, at time of discharge from hospital, 6 weeks, 6 and 12 months postoperation. No significant difference was observed between groups at all time intervals for each outcome variable using Wilcoxon Rank sum tests. The results substantiate previous findings that short duration continuous passive motion following total knee arthroplasty does not influence outcome of range of motion or reported pain.     

锁骨钩钢板内固定配合康复治疗锁骨远端骨折

目的探讨和分析应用锁骨钩钢板内固定配合康复治疗锁骨远端骨折的新方法。方法42例应用锁骨钩钢板配合术后早期康复治疗锁骨远端骨折的患者全部得到了随访,随访时间2～46个月(平均15.6个月),患者年龄36～57岁,平均45.6岁。术后2d患肩按照制定的康复训练方法进行功能训练,最终随访按Lazzcano评价标准〔1〕评价治疗结果。结果42例患者术后X线检查均达到满意复位与固定,局部Lazzcano功能评定关节功能恢复优良率97.6%。结论应用锁骨钩钢板治疗锁骨远端骨折手术操作简单,配合术后完善的康复治疗,可得到非常满意的结果。