Deans' stroke musings: S2-3 Improvements in spasticity and motor function using a foot bath for people with chronic hemiparesis following stroke

Changing stroke rehab and research worldwide now.Time is Brain! trillions and trillions of neurons that DIE each day because there are NO effective hyperacute therapies besides tPA(only 12% effective). I have 523 posts on hyperacute therapy, enough for researchers to spend decades proving them out. These are my personal ideas and blog on stroke rehabilitation and stroke research. Do not attempt any of these without checking with your medical provider. Unless you join me in agitating, when you need these therapies they won't be there.

What this blog is for:

My blog is not to help survivors recover, it is to have the 10 million yearly stroke survivors light fires underneath their doctors, stroke hospitals and stroke researchers to get stroke solved. 100% recovery. The stroke medical world is completely failing at that goal, they don't even have it as a goal. Shortly after getting out of the hospital and getting NO information on the process or protocols of stroke rehabilitation and recovery I started searching on the internet and found that no other survivor received useful information. This is an attempt to cover all stroke rehabilitation information that should be readily available to survivors so they can talk with informed knowledge to their medical staff. It lays out what needs to be done to get stroke survivors closer to 100% recovery. It's quite disgusting that this information is not available from every stroke association and doctors group.

Thursday, January 22, 2015

S2-3 Improvements in spasticity and motor function using a foot bath for people with chronic hemiparesis following stroke

If this truly works how many years before your hospital creates a stroke protocol on this. Do not do this on your own. You know how dangerous foot baths would be if it is not prescribed by your doctor.
I'm betting 50 years. I would ask for testing of this on hand and arms. But I have no place to ask for such testing because we have crap for stroke associations.
https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/onki/77/5/77_414/_article

Shuji MATSUMOTO¹⁾

1) Department of Rehabilitation and Physical Medicine, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Kagoshima University

Released 20150115

Keywords: Foot bath, Spasticity, Motor function, High concentration carbon-dioxide, Muscle stiffness

Full Text PDF [41K]

Abstracts

Objectives: Spasticity is defined as a pathological increase in muscle tonus, and increased muscle tonus of lower limbs is a major obstacle to the stroke rehabilitation. Foot baths are considered to provide beneficial thermal therapy for post-stroke patients with spasticity, but their anti-spastic effects have not been investigated comprehensively. The present study aimed to evaluate alterations in spasticity and motor function using foot baths in post-stroke patients with spastic hemiplegia.
Methods: We underwent two separate experiments each consisting of immersion in warm water up to the knee joint level, and measuring spasticity, physiological examination and motor function.
Experiment 1; Fourteen post-stroke patients with lower limb spasticity were enrolled in this study (nine males and five females; mean age 50.4±12.9 years; range, 28-65 years). The subjects’ legs from below the knee joint were immersed in water at 41°C for 15 min. Measurements of F-waves and a physiological examination were carried out immediately (within 5 min) after the foot-bath session, and again 30 min later, while the subject remained wrapped in blankets on the lift-bath stretcher.
Experiment 2; Six post-stroke patients with lower limb spasticity were enrolled in this study (five males and one female; mean age 55.2±14.6 years; range, 39-68 years). The subjects’ legs from below the knee joint were immersed in the artificial high concentration carbon-dioxide (CO₂) water or tap water foot bath at 38°C for 30 min. Measurements of muscle stiffness, motor function (active range of motion: A-ROM) and a physiological examination were carried out immediately (within 5 min) after the foot-bath session, and again 10 min later, while the subject remained wrapped in blankets.
Results: None of the subjects experienced discomfort before, during or after the foot-bath treatment. The physiological examination was completed safely in all subjects.
Experiment 1; The mean values of F-wave parameters were significantly reduced after foot-bath treatment (P<0.01). The anti-spastic effects of foot-bath treatment were indicated by decreased F-wave parameters, in parallel with decreases in modified Ashworth scale (MAS) score. The body temperature was significantly increased both immediately after, and 30 min following foot-bath treatment.
Experiment 2; The changes both in the body and surface skin temperature were higher in the artificial high concentration CO₂ water foot bath compared with the tap water foot bath. The changes in the MAS score, muscle stiffness and A-ROM were also higher in the high concentration CO₂ water foot bath than in the tap water foot bath.
Conclusion: These findings demonstrate that the use of foot baths is an effective non-pharmacological anti-spastic treatment that might facilitate stroke rehabilitation. In addition, the high concentration CO₂ water foot baths appeared to play an important role in decreased spasticity.