Rehametrics was an active participant at this year’s Annual Meeting of the Spanish Neurological Society (SEN) -celebrated in Valencia, Spain. During the meeting, Dr. Elena Olmo presented the results of a pilot study that compared the effects of conventional treatment options (like occupational therapy) and new treatments, based on the Rehametrics virtual rehabilitation platform, on patients suffering from neuromuscular conditions.
The main objective of Dr. Olmo’s study was to improve motor function, comparing any changes experienced by patients suffering from neuromuscular conditions after receiving a Rehametrics-based treatment with those obtained from a conventional occupational therapy treatment. Among the main factors monitored during the study were dynamic and static balance and upper extremity range of motion. Similarly, other objectives of this study, as stated by Dr. Olmo, were: “to improve dynamic and static balance -as measured by the Berg Balance Scale (BBS)-, to improve upper extremity function and to maintain and/or improve overall motor function -as measured by the Motor Function Measure scale (MFM)-, and for patients to assess their own performance in the exercises prescribed to them by therapists -using the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM).”
Initially, Dr. Olmo placed a group of 20 subjects into a control group consisting of 11 participants who received a conventional treatment, and an experimental group with 9 participants, who only used a Rehametrics-based treatment. Rehabilitation sessions had an average duration of 45 minutes, once a week during 3 months. Furthermore, all selected participants suffered from different neuromuscular conditions such as muscular dystrophy, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and ataxias. Although the results obtained cannot be considered conclusive because of the heterogeneous nature (from a health condition perspective) of the participants in the experimental group, it is an important first step towards the development of future clinical studies that include a larger and more homogeneous patient population.
In conclusion, both the experimental and control groups showed improvements in motor function and balance control, but the experimental group obtained better results in both areas. In addition, thanks to the data from the COPM scale it was possible to see that subjects had a better perception of their execution and performance with the exercises prescribed with Rehametrics than with a traditional treatment.
Content:
MFM (Motor Function Measure): provides therapists with a percentage measure of a patient’s motor function. The higher the percentage, the higher the level of motor function.
BBS (Berg Balance Scale): clinical scale that assesses a patient’s balance control.
COPM (Canadian Occupational Performance Measure): subjective scale that allows patients to score from 0 to 5 their performance in a number of activities. It also measures their level of satisfaction.
