Electrical Stimulation and Neuromuscular Disorders

✍ Scribed by G. Vrbová (auth.), Professor Dr. W. A. Nix, Professor Dr. G. Vrbová (eds.)

• Publisher: Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
• Year: 1986
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 148
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

In many cases of neuromuscular disorders the physician is faced with a complete lack of therapeutic approaches. This helplessness places the doctor in a position of conflict between his desire to help and his awareness that there is no treatment. In this situation it is tempting to indiscriminately use any procedure that avoids an admission of medical helplessness while satisfying the patient's demand for treatment. Electrical interventions are often used to avoid this situation. Due to the random use of therapeutic approaches it is not known what really happens. Presumptions and biased empirical observations have led to the exten­ sive use of different forms of electrical stimulation regimes in neuromuscular diseases. Due to this unsatisfactory situation it is necessary to know more about appropriate methods that are being used in particular disorders. The search for a better understanding of nerve-muscle interaction has shown that certain activity patterns can influence muscle. These experi­ mental results provide a rational basis for a possible therapeutic use of electrical stimulation of nerve and muscle. Previously most research has been conducted in normal tissue, and little is known regarding the re­ sponses of diseased muscle. In an interdisciplinary approach to this, it is our intention to present the current knowledge about basic principles of electrical stimulation in normal muscle. Before electrical stimulation can be accepted as a therapeutic tool, we felt it necessary to summarize the effects of activity in normal and diseased muscle and nerve.

✦ Table of Contents

Front Matter....Pages I-IX
Front Matter....Pages 1-1
The Role of Activity in the Development of the Mammalian Motor Unit....Pages 3-11
Skeletal Muscle Adaptation in Response to Chronic Stimulation....Pages 12-20
The Effect of Long-Term Electrical Stimulation on Capillary Supply and Metabolism in Fast Skeletal Muscle....Pages 21-32
The Acetylcholine Receptor and Neural Control of Its Distribution....Pages 33-44
Factors Influencing Motor Nerve Growth....Pages 45-49
Front Matter....Pages 51-51
Neural Activity and the Reorganization of Motor Units in Reinnervated Skeletal Muscle....Pages 53-63
Electrical Activity in Injured Peripheral Nerves....Pages 64-74
Assessment of the Regenerative Capacity of Peripheral Nervous System: Enhancement of Sprouting Capacity by Exogenous Gangliosides....Pages 75-79
Effects of Activity on Restorative Processes in the Autonomic Nervous System....Pages 80-87
Front Matter....Pages 89-89
The Role of Passive Stretch in Retarding Muscle Atrophy....Pages 91-100
Stimulation of Denervated Muscle: What Do Isometric and Isotonic Recordings Tell Us?....Pages 101-113
Effect of Electrical Stimulation on Denervated Muscle....Pages 114-124
Effects of Electrical Stimulation on Normal and Diseased Human Muscle....Pages 125-131
Treatment of Idiopathic Scoliosis with Daily Short-Term Electrostimulation....Pages 132-143
Back Matter....Pages 145-147

✦ Subjects

Neurology; Conservative Orthopedics; Rehabilitation