Collaboration of Volunteer Activities by Older Adults and Pro Bono…Hitoshi OTA 243

Welfare Services for the Patients Suffering from Rare and Intractable Diseases…Hisayoshi MORIOKA 246

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Objective : Scoliosis in cerebral palsy can seriously disturb the patient's daily life. To help alleviate this we developed a new original orthosis and named it the Dynamic Spinal Brace (DSB). In this study, we investigated the effectiveness of the DSB in daily life with patients and caregivers. Methods : We studied 222 cerebral palsy patients treated with the DSB. We carried out a questionnaire survey of the caregivers and measured X-ray results of the scoliosis deformities. Results: In the questionnaire, more than 80% of the patients improved in their sitting position and posture and more than 50 % of the patients improved in the transfer or ambulation assistance and meal assistance requirement by the caregivers. Higher age (over 18 years old) revealed improved muscle tonus. Breathing and muscle tonus showed improvement as scoliosis was advanced. Conclusion : DSB for scoliosis in cerebral palsy showed effectiveness in the sitting position, posture, transfer or ambulation assistance and meal assistance. DSB is also effective for muscle tonus in patients after growth maturity and breathing and muscle tonus in patients with severe scoliosis.

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Osteoarthritis (OA) is a non-inflammatory joint disease that is characterized by cartilage degeneration. OA can develop in any joint with synovium and articular cartilage. OA is a very common disease in old age which can cause patients to become housebound or to require nursing care. Epidemiological research in Japan showed that the estimated number of patients with radiographic knee OA was 25 million and those with radiographic lumbar OA was 38 million. OA induces pain, contracture, hydrarthrosis and joint deformity. These in turn lead to gait disturbance in the lower limb and disorders of ADL in the upper limb. On plain radiography, joint space narrowing, osteophyte formation and bone cysts are observed. Several treatment guidelines for OA were published by several academies associated with OA. Various conservative treatments and surgical treatments are often applied to OA. Patient education, exercise and orthoses are effective in improving pain and functional impairment. As a drug therapy, acetaminophen, NSAIDs and opioids are used to reduce pain in OA. Additionally, steroid and hyaluronic intra-articular injection are widely used in the treatment of OA. If the conservative therapies are not effective, surgical therapies are considered. Surgical therapies are categorized into osteotomy, arthroplasty, arthrodesis and replacement arthroplasty. Recently, total knee and hip arthroplasties are becoming very common. Since exercise and orthosis therapy are effective for OA, rehabilitation doctors should have an understanding of the pathology and treatment of OA. In addition, rehabilitation is very important before and after surgery.

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Understanding the societal and personal impact of immobilization or disuse syndrome is important in Japan with its large elderly population. The indication of disuse syndrome for rehabilitation was narrowed and the fee for disuse syndrome was set at a low level. Muscle strength decreases at a rate of 2.3 % per day in 40 % of the people. Also, the muscle fractional synthetic rate decreased with 10 days rest. Other functional or morphological changes also occur in the neuromuscular junction and the muscle internal structure. Additionally, we must consider the contribution of muscle to the limitation of joint angle after immobilization. Both elasticity and viscosity increase. Cardiac wall thickness and cardiorespiratory fitness decrease during immobilization. Gravitational dependent lung disease or deep vein thrombosis may occur. The brain is also affected by immobilization, leading to condition of learned non-use. The best solution for immobilization is to be active ; however, we must have a detailed knowledge of the pathophysiology of a patient's disease in order increase their activity level. In an acute hospital setting, prevention of immobilization is crucial. The system used in Japan, whereby therapists are assigned full-time in the ward was introduced in April 2014. Furthermore, even though 20.35% of maximal strength training is effective in atrophied muscles, it is ineffective in trained muscles. Another sticking point is that there is no evidence-based recommendation for range of motion exercise. However, rehabilitation intervention in respirator patients improves their ADL. Prophylaxis of deep vein thrombosis is also very important. And learned non-use of the brain may be diminished by the skillful application of vibrations that makes patients feel that their hand is moving even when it is not. Finally, the mechanism of hibernation may be the key to improving our rehabilitation against immobilization in the future.

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