Conventional cystometry are applied routinely in clinical use, and cystometry is a very important method to evaluate spinal cord injuries. Most of urodynamic studies are conducted in the laboratory during a brief recording time and under nonphysiological conditions and, thus, may fail to unfold the nature of pathological conditions of lower urinary tract. In this point of view, we have developed a convenient method of 24-hour cystometry system and applied it to spinal cord injuries. The study group consisted of 16 spinal cord injuries, 14 males and 2 females (mean age, 32.6 years), duration of injuries are 59 to 233 days. There were 4 patients with cervical lesion, 12 with thoracolumbar lesions. The severity of the paralysis was evaluated according to the Frankel classification, 9 patients are classified into A, 3 into B, 3 into C and 1 into D. We compared the results of cystometry and of 24-hour cystometry. The patterns of 24-hour cystometrogram were divided into three wave forms. Type I showed spike waves within few seconds and rest of them were fiat, Type II showed single continuous waves over 30 cmH₂O and their durations were over 5 minutes, Type III showed continuous waves frequently. There were 3 patients considered as type I, 5 as type II and 8 as type III. There were 3 patients who were considered as hypo or normal active bladder by cystometry, but these three patients were classified into type II or III by 24-hour cystometry. Also we observed frequent continuous detrucer hyperactivity during natural filling of urine in patients considered as type III. 24-hour cystometry are useful to record natural status of bladder in spinal cord injuries.

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The present study examined family needs perceived by British family members who were living with traumatic brain injured patients (F-TBI) (n=18) and those who were living with stroke patients (F-STR) (n=16). Face to face interviews were conducted at their home or at an outpatient clinic. A questionnaire was developed by authors. It contained 14 items covering important elements such as information and training for the families, emotional support for the families and community services. Family members in F-TBI reported that information services were likely to be the most important compared with those in F-STR who reported that equipment and home care services were likely to be the most important. In Japan, there have been few studies exploring the needs for services and resources identified family members living with TBI patients. The preliminary results of this study have several implications for provision of services for families who are coping with TBI in Japan.

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The purpose of this study was to quantitatively investigate the gait of the patients with varus osteoarthritic knees by measuring the floor reaction force. Analysis was carried out on 11 patients (mean age 65.0 years). As control, age matched 14 normal volunteers (mean age 64.9 years) without knee symptoms were analysed with the same method. In fore-and-after component of floor reaction force, the magnitudes of both peaks were reduced and the first peak appeared earlier in the stance phase of the osteoarthritic knees. In vertical component of floor reaction force, osteoarthritic knees showed reduced magnitudes of two common peaks which could be seen in the heel contact and toe off phase. However, force between these peaks was maintained higher in the patient group. Furthermore, we compared the patients before and after knee surgery (total knee arthroplasty 13 joints, high tibial osteotomy : 9 joints), and the effect of the laterally wedged insoles was also tested. We used the laterally wedged insoles of 10 mm height in this study. The value of impulse of lateral component of floor reaction force was 0.063 ± 0.016 in the patient group and 0.041 ± 0.007 in the control group, and this difference was statistically significant (p<0.01). Both the use of laterally wedged insoles and knee surgery reduced the value of impulse to 0.038 ± 0.010 (p< 0.01) and 0.040 ± 0.004 (p<0.01), respectively. The impulse of lateral component of floor reaction force seemed to be a useful index for quantitative analysis of the gait.

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The purpose of this study was to investigate the difference in endurance of the bilateral back muscles in hemiplegic patients. Ten hemiplegic men and ten healthy men were studied during a trunk holding test using surface electromyographic power spectrum analysis. Median frequency (MF) was calculated using spectrum analysis program, and the decrease rate of MF slope was evaluated. The negative MF slope of the affected back muscle was not significantly different from that of the unaffected. The results suggest that the back muscle of affected side in hemiplegic patients has about the same endurance as that of the unaffected side.

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