Deans' stroke musings: First study on the effects of unstable shoes with curved soles on trunk muscles and lumbar lordosis

Changing stroke rehab and research worldwide now.Time is Brain! trillions and trillions of neurons that DIE each day because there are NO effective hyperacute therapies besides tPA(only 12% effective). I have 523 posts on hyperacute therapy, enough for researchers to spend decades proving them out. These are my personal ideas and blog on stroke rehabilitation and stroke research. Do not attempt any of these without checking with your medical provider. Unless you join me in agitating, when you need these therapies they won't be there.

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My blog is not to help survivors recover, it is to have the 10 million yearly stroke survivors light fires underneath their doctors, stroke hospitals and stroke researchers to get stroke solved. 100% recovery. The stroke medical world is completely failing at that goal, they don't even have it as a goal. Shortly after getting out of the hospital and getting NO information on the process or protocols of stroke rehabilitation and recovery I started searching on the internet and found that no other survivor received useful information. This is an attempt to cover all stroke rehabilitation information that should be readily available to survivors so they can talk with informed knowledge to their medical staff. It lays out what needs to be done to get stroke survivors closer to 100% recovery. It's quite disgusting that this information is not available from every stroke association and doctors group.

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

First study on the effects of unstable shoes with curved soles on trunk muscles and lumbar lordosis

How would this help our balance and prevent falls? Your PT will need to run a clinical trial to find out.
http://www.alphagalileo.org/ViewItem.aspx?ItemId=152768&CultureCode=en
The study shows that the unstable shoes – compared to normal shoes – improve trunk muscle activity in order to maintain balance, which in turn favours spine stability and can help reduce low back pain. The research project, led by researchers at the University CEU Cardenal Herrera in cooperation with the University of Valencia, has been accepted for publication in the European Journal of Physical Rehabilitation and Medicine. The few studies that have been conducted so far on this type of footwear have focused on the positive effects the shoes have on leg muscles, but so far no study had analysed the effects they have on the lumbar region.
Since the mid-nineties various companies have introduced a special kind of “unstable footwear” onto the market, which is characterised by its curved sole and its flexible outsole. This curvature of the sole provides an unstable base for the feet to simulate walking barefoot, compared to conventional shoes that contribute to the stability and thus can weaken the muscles that develop this stabilising function because they are rarely used.
The possible long-term effects of those shoes, such as easing pain or preventing injuries are of interest for biomechanics, doctors, physiotherapists and trainers.
The few existing scientific studies on unstable shoes have focused on analysing the effects on leg muscles. Now researchers of Physical Therapy at the University CEU Cardenal Herrera and the University of Valencia have carried out the first global study on the effects of this type of footwear on the lumbar region. Their research work titled “Effects of Unstable Shoes on Trunk Muscle Activity and Lumbar Spine Kinematics”, has been accepted for publication in the European Journal of Physical Rehabilitation and Medicine.
The research team, led by the Vice Dean of Medicine at the University CEU Cardenal Herrera, Juan Francisco Lisón, has studied the changes that wearing this type of shoes have on the electromyographic activity of erector spinae (ES), rectus abdominis (RA) and lumbar spine sagittal plane range of motion (ROM).
According to the professor of Physiotherapy at the University CEU Cardenal Herrera, Pablo Salvador, coauthor of the paper, “increased co-contraction of the trunk muscles increases spine stability and is related to low back pain”.
The study involving 48 healthy test persons, 24 men and 24 women, who had not worn this type of unstable shoes before, was carried out by comparing muscle activity when walking with a control shoe. During the tests a measurement protocol of the lumbar spine was conducted by means of electromyography. Additionally, by means of electrogoniometry, the level of lumbar lordosis was examined during walking with both types of shoes.
Main results
The results obtained in this study determine that the unstable shoe – compared to the control shoe - improves the activity and strength of the trunk muscles (erector spinae and rectus abdominis) in every phase of walking.
“The footwear with curved soles, which simulates an unstable surface, requires a constant muscle activity of the trunk to stabilize the lumbar area and maintain balance. This increase in co-contraction of the trunk muscles improves the stability of the spine, which can help prevent or ease low back pain,” said Professor Pablo Salvador.
The researchers of the Faculty of Heath Sciences at the University CEU Cardenal Herrera, Juan Francisco Lisón and Pablo Salvador, and of the Departments of Physical Education and Anatomy at the University of Valencia, Pedro Pérez, Salvador Llana and Daniel Sánchez-Zuriaga, have also observed significant effects on the curvature of the spine or lumbar lordosis when wearing this footwear. “This natural biomechanical mechanism is considered to be the best adjustment for the spine to absorb the vertical impact when walking,” added the professor of University CEU Cardenal Herrera Pablo Salvador.