The spasticity is a problem on the recovery of hemiplegic patients caused by C. V. A.. Many technics and medicines are used clinically to reduce the spasticity.
But the judgment whether they are effective or not must be made quite objectively and frequently before and after the treatment. To that purpose, it is desirable to measure the grade with instrument which has the following conditions,
1) high sensitivity
2) stability
3) reproductivity
4) easy applicability for the clinic
Hither-to many methods to measure the resistance against the passive movement of muscle have been used, but few satisfied the above-mentioned conditions.
We applied the semi-conductor straingage to measure it. Because it has 100 times high sensitivity compared with the usual metal-foil-straingage. Accordingly, we can decrease the amplification grade, so that the S/N ratio will be improved. In spite of the using the manual movement of the fore-arm of the testee, we recognized the satisfying stability, reproductibility and the objectivity owing to the reasonable structure of the instrument. The relative small size of the apparat does not give the patient any feel of tension, and also it's very handy.
Our instrument consists of one pole and two metal arms, the proximal arm fix the upper-arm and the distal arm, attached the cantilever-beam which fit with the semi-conductor straingage, fix the forearm. The metallic-arm can be rotable from 0° to 135° freely. A potentiometer is equipped to the axis. The electric signal from the cantilever-beam and the potentiometer are transmitted through the amplifier to the recorder.
Using our instrument, we obtained same curve on repeating 50 times tests in the hemiplegic patient with spasticity. The same results were obtained even by different examiners.
Therefore we had the confidence of its objectivity, stability and reproductivility.
The curves of normal adults were almost flat and stay near the baseline. In the spastic patients, two types of curve observed, the one rose rapidly and then suddenly fell down according as the stretching. The another rose steadily in proportion to stretching. In the former case, we observed clinically the clasp-knife phenomen.

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We tried to provide the artificial sensory feedback to the AK-prosthesis, and contrived some evaluation to certify its effects.
The feedback system was composed with the portable electric stimulater and the foot-knee sensors.
After the preparatory examination, the most effective and useful stimulating condition was found to be the rectangular wave form of 0.1msec pulse width, 50pps frequency, 50v voltage.
1) The foot sensor was composed of the ON-OFF tape switches.
The switches were laid on the rear (the hind part), the inside and outside of the ball, and the toe of the shoe sole.
The information from the foot sensor was transmitted to posterior, medial, lateral, and anterior aspect of the thigh.
2) The knee sensor (the goniometer) was composed of the potentiometer.
The knee angle information was transmitted to the multiple electrodes those were arranged both anterior and posterior adjoining the suture.
3) The difference limen of floor inclination was perceived more accurately with the foot contact feedback.
On the pedoscope, the sway of the body could be reduced with the aid of the foot sensor.
4) The prosthetic swing motion was measured using a forceplate and a goniometer.
As a result, swing of the prosthesis became smoother and foot strap was much improved when the sensation was available.

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The process of a word-finding therapy program for a 40-year-old female with simple aphasia (according to Schuell's classification) was reported. The period covered by the program was 18 months from 5 post-onset-months (POM) to 23 POM, and the aim of the therapy was focused on the improvement of her word-finding ability throughout. The program was devided into two parts: Part I covering the first 6 months (5 POM-10 POM) contained 54 1/2-hour sessions in which auditory stimulation was emphasized to retrieve the word items of daily objects, and Part II covering the rest of the period (10 POM-23 POM) contained 160 1/2-hour sessions in which “kana” characters were used to improve the phonemic paraphasia in her utterances of common verbs and adjectives as well as names of daily objects. In order to observe the generalization of therapy, naming tests of 55 common words were done before and after Part II program. Within-day and between-day fluctuations were also studied in order to observe the qualitative improvement of naming behavior at two points in time, i.e., point 1 during the Part I program and point 2 immediately after the end of the Part II program.
The result showed a marked improvement not only in the word-finding ability but also in oral description of simple pictures, comprehension of oral and written materials, written responses to dictation, spontaneous writing, and oral reading. However, generalization from naming ability in the trained words to that in untrained words was not recognized. Regarding to the fluctuation of her naming skills, the size of betweenday fluctuation was found to be smaller at point 2 than at point 1, while such was not observed in the size of withinday fluctuation.
On the basis of these findings, the effect of the therapy upon her word-finding ability and other language modalities was discussed.

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In order to know the general features of low back pain and sciatica in the aged, about 1000 cases consisting of four groups aged 60 years or over were analysed. The results are summarized as follows:
1. About 60% of all the cases had low back pain and/or other related symptoms; about 20% had their activities disturbed to some extent; and about 25% wanted to be treated.
2. Low back pain was more frequent than sciatica or intermittent claudication, but the latter was more disabling.
3. Sciatica was very frequent on the affected side of the hemiplegic patients, and it was presumed to be related to some lesion of the central nervous system.
4. Significant relationship between radiographic abnormalities and symptoms or signs could not be detected.
5. Although conservative treatment has been a method of choice in most of the cases, an operative intervention should be considered for the cases of severe symptoms even in aged people.

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