상지신경 가동기법이 뇌졸중 후 편마비 환자의 기능회복에 미치는 영향

Effect of the Upper Limb Nerve Mobilization on Functional Recovery in Hemiplegic Patients Following Stroke

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of the upper limb nerve mobilization (ULNM) on functional recovery of upper extremity in hemiplegic patients following stroke. Twenty patients who had functional impairment on upper extremity were participated. Subjects were randomly divided into two groups: Control group (n=10) received traditional physical therapy only for 4 weeks; Experimental group (n=10) received ULNM treatment along with traditional physical therapy for the same period. Upper extremity functions were assessed by manual muscle test (MMT), modified Ashworth scale (MAS), and Fugl-Meyer assessment (FMA) before and after the treatment. In both experimental and control group, upper extremity functions were significantly improved in MMT (p<.01) and FMA (p<.01), however only experimental group showed significant improvement in FMA after the treatment (p<.05). Moreover, experimental group showed significantly greater improvement than control group in MMT (p<.05), MAS (p<.05), and FMA (p<.05). We conclude that the upper extremity functions is a useful additional therapeutic technique for the effective treatment of upper extremity deficits in hemiplegic patients.