Related Research Articles
Torticollis, also known as wry neck, is a painful, dystonic condition defined by an abnormal, asymmetrical head or neck position, which may be due to a variety of causes. The term torticollis is derived from Latin tortus 'twisted' and collum 'neck'.
Kinesiology is the scientific study of human body movement. Kinesiology addresses physiological, anatomical, biomechanical, pathological, neuropsychological principles and mechanisms of movement. Applications of kinesiology to human health include biomechanics and orthopedics; strength and conditioning; sport psychology; motor control; skill acquisition and motor learning; methods of rehabilitation, such as physical and occupational therapy; and sport and exercise physiology. Studies of human and animal motion include measures from motion tracking systems, electrophysiology of muscle and brain activity, various methods for monitoring physiological function, and other behavioral and cognitive research techniques.
Writer's cramp or focal hand dystonia (FHD) is an idiopathic movement disorder of adult onset, characterized by abnormal posturing and movement of the hand and/or forearm during tasks requiring skilled hand use, such as writing. Overcontraction of affected muscles, cocontraction of agonist and antagonist pairs, and activation of muscles inappropriate to a task all impair use of the affected hand.
Dystonia is a neurological hyperkinetic movement disorder in which sustained or repetitive muscle contractions occur involuntarily, resulting in twisting and repetitive movements or abnormal fixed postures. The movements may resemble a tremor. Dystonia is often intensified or exacerbated by physical activity, and symptoms may progress into adjacent muscles.
Labyrinthitis is inflammation of the labyrinth, a maze of fluid-filled channels in the inner ear. Vestibular neuritis is inflammation of the vestibular nerve. Both conditions involve inflammation of the inner ear. Labyrinths that house the vestibular system sense changes in the head's position or the head's motion. Inflammation of these inner ear parts results in a vertigo and also possible hearing loss or tinnitus. It can occur as a single attack, a series of attacks, or a persistent condition that diminishes over three to six weeks. It may be associated with nausea, vomiting, and eye nystagmus.
The primary goals of stroke management are to reduce brain injury and promote maximum patient recovery. Rapid detection and appropriate emergency medical care are essential for optimizing health outcomes. When available, patients are admitted to an acute stroke unit for treatment. These units specialize in providing medical and surgical care aimed at stabilizing the patient's medical status. Standardized assessments are also performed to aid in the development of an appropriate care plan. Current research suggests that stroke units may be effective in reducing in-hospital fatality rates and the length of hospital stays.
Progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) is a late-onset neurodegenerative disease involving the gradual deterioration and death of specific volumes of the brain. The condition leads to symptoms including loss of balance, slowing of movement, difficulty moving the eyes, and cognitive impairment. PSP may be mistaken for other types of neurodegeneration such as Parkinson's disease, frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer's disease. The cause of the condition is uncertain, but involves the accumulation of tau protein within the brain. Medications such as levodopa and amantadine may be useful in some cases.
Focal dystonia, also called focal task-specific dystonia, is a neurological condition that affects a muscle or group of muscles in a specific part of the body during specific activities, causing involuntary muscular contractions (spasms) and abnormal postures. There are many different types of focal dystonia, each affecting a different region of the body. For example, in focal hand dystonia, or writer's cramp, the fingers either curl into the palm or extend outward without control. In musicians, the condition is called musician's focal dystonia, or simply, musician's dystonia. In sports, it may be involved in what is commonly referred to as the yips. The condition appears to be associated with over-training, and individualized treatment strategies may involve medications, retraining techniques, and procedures.
Neuroplasticity, also known as neural plasticity or just plasticity, is the ability of neural networks in the brain to change through growth and reorganization. Neuroplasticity refers to the brain's ability to reorganize and rewire its neural connections, enabling it to adapt and function in ways that differ from its prior state. This process can occur in response to learning new skills, experiencing environmental changes, recovering from injuries, or adapting to sensory or cognitive deficits. Such adaptability highlights the dynamic and ever-evolving nature of the brain, even into adulthood. These changes range from individual neuron pathways making new connections, to systematic adjustments like cortical remapping or neural oscillation. Other forms of neuroplasticity include homologous area adaptation, cross modal reassignment, map expansion, and compensatory masquerade. Examples of neuroplasticity include circuit and network changes that result from learning a new ability, information acquisition, environmental influences, pregnancy, caloric intake, practice/training, and psychological stress.
Blepharospasm is a neurological disorder characterized by intermittent, involuntary spasms and contractions of the orbicularis oculi (eyelid) muscles around both eyes. These result in abnormal twitching or blinking, and in the extreme, sustained eyelid closure resulting in functional blindness.
Spasmodic torticollis is an extremely painful chronic neurological movement disorder causing the neck to involuntarily turn to the left, right, upwards, and/or downwards. The condition is also referred to as "cervical dystonia". Both agonist and antagonist muscles contract simultaneously during dystonic movement. Causes of the disorder are predominantly idiopathic. A small number of patients develop the disorder as a result of another disorder or disease. Most patients first experience symptoms midlife. The most common treatment for spasmodic torticollis is the use of botulinum toxin type A.
Edward Taub is a behavioral neuroscientist on the faculty at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He is best known for his involvement in the Silver Spring monkeys case, for making discoveries in the area of neuroplasticity, and developing constraint-induced movement therapy; a family of techniques which helps the rehabilitation of people who have developed learned non-use as a result of suffering neurological injuries from a stroke or other cause.
In sports, the yips are a sudden and unexplained loss of ability to execute certain skills in experienced athletes. Symptoms of the yips are losing fine motor skills and psychological issues that impact the muscle memory and decision-making of athletes, leaving them unable to perform basic skills of their sport.
Functional training is a classification of exercise which involves training the body for the activities performed in daily life.
Michael Matthias Merzenich is an American neuroscientist and professor emeritus at the University of California, San Francisco. He took the sensory cortex maps developed by his predecessors and refined them using dense micro-electrode mapping techniques. Using this, he definitively showed there to be multiple somatotopic maps of the body in the postcentral sulcus, and multiple tonotopic maps of the acoustic inputs in the superior temporal plane.
The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science is a book on neuroplasticity by psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Norman Doidge.
Paul Bach-y-Rita was an American neuroscientist whose most notable work was in the field of neuroplasticity. Bach-y-Rita was one of the first to seriously study the idea of neuroplasticity, and to introduce sensory substitution as a tool to treat patients with neurological disorders.
Norman Doidge is a Canadian psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, and author of The Brain that Changes Itself and The Brain's Way of Healing.
Rehabilitation robotics is a field of research dedicated to understanding and augmenting rehabilitation through the application of robotic devices. Rehabilitation robotics includes development of robotic devices tailored for assisting different sensorimotor functions(e.g. arm, hand, leg, ankle), development of different schemes of assisting therapeutic training, and assessment of sensorimotor performance of patient; here, robots are used mainly as therapy aids instead of assistive devices. Rehabilitation using robotics is generally well tolerated by patients, and has been found to be an effective adjunct to therapy in individuals with motor impairments, especially due to stroke.
Randolph J. Nudo is an American neuroscientist and academic known for his contributions to rehabilitation medicine and neuroplasticity. He currently holds the position of University Distinguished Professor and Vice Chair of Research in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Kansas Medical Center.
References
- 1 2 3 4 "Focal Dystonia: A Musician Overcomes a Movement Disorder With a Change of Mind". Discover Magazine. Retrieved 2024-03-09.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Así es la misteriosa enfermedad que silencia a los músicos: "Mi sonido empezó a temblar y no era capaz de sacar una nota"". ELMUNDO (in Spanish). 2023-10-05. Retrieved 2024-03-09.
- 1 2 3 "After seven years of debilitating muscle spasms, I have hope". The Globe and Mail . 2015-03-06. Retrieved 2024-03-09.
- 1 2 3 "JOAQUIN FARIAS, PhD, M.S., M.A. – Music and Health Science Research Collaboratory". University of Toronto. Archived from the original on 9 March 2024. Retrieved 2024-03-09.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Using the brain to retrain the body to overcome dystonia". The Globe and Mail. 2015-03-06. Retrieved 2024-04-05.
- ↑ "Dystonia plagues musicians and has no easy remedies | Aeon Essays". Aeon. Retrieved 2024-03-09.
- ↑ "Joaquin Farias – Focal Dystonia". Farias Technique. Retrieved 2024-03-09.
- ↑ "Inside the Mysterious Malady Known as Runner's Dystonia". Runner's World. 2023-01-17. Retrieved 2024-04-05.