Articles

Yoga as an Integrated Therapy for Stroke Rehabilitation – A Case Study

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Background and Purpose: A stroke (cerebrovascular accident) is damage to the brain cells from an interruption of their blood supply due to blockage or rupture of an artery to the brain. It is the second-leading cause of death and long-term disability worldwide. The present study is a case report investigating the effect of yoga therapy in addition to acupressure and physiotherapy on activities of daily living and the quality of life of patients after stroke.  

Subject and method:  It is a single case study of 38-year-old women diagnosed with acute ischemic stroke who have chief complaints of loss of function of the left upper and lower limbs, and hypertension. For better management of stroke and recovery, she was undergoing yoga, physiotherapy, and acupuncture treatment in the CAM department at DSVV. The primary outcome measures were activities of daily living by the Barthel index and quality of life by the stroke-specific quality of life scale. The subject received integrated treatment for 12 weeks consisting of 45-minute, 1-hour yoga sessions 6 days a week, regular physiotherapy in the subject’s home, and acupuncture every 2 weeks. The primary outcome data were collected before and after the treatment intervention phase. 

Result: The subject had improved Barthel’s activity and quality of life score. 

Discussion and Conclusion: The results suggest that yoga integrated with other complementary therapies may be beneficial to stroke survivors in rehabilitation.

Physical Therapy Treatment in Children with Cerebral Palsy

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Background: Cerebral palsy is one of the most frequent disorders of the central nervous system. The various methods and techniques used by physical therapists can be very useful in treating children with cerebral palsy. The purpose of this review is to investigate the various techniques and methods used by physical therapists to improve balance, increase muscle strength, acquire and maintain agility, develop good neuromuscular coordination, improve of physical functionality and the best possible independence of children with cerebral palsy.

Methodology: The review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) reporting guidelines. A search on Pub med, Google scholar and PEDro for research articles that investigated the effectiveness of various methods/techniques used by physical therapists for the treatment program for children with CP of the last 20 years.

Results: A total of 18 articles were included in this review. The methods investigated were hippotherapy (n=3), Neurodevelopmental therapy (Bobath) (n=3), stretching (n=2), hydrotherapy (n=1), resistance and orthotics (n=3), and the parameters of classical physical therapy (n=4).

Conclusion: From the selected article it appeared that modalities such as Bobath and hippotherapy have beneficial effects on balance, static and motor control and may also have beneficial effects on gait on children with CP. Passive stretching researchers agree that there are no significant changes in reducing spasticity, while they help a lot in gaining greater range of motion as does resistance. Braces presented to be a very important tool in the hands of the physical therapist to avoid various deformities.