Neuroproprioceptive "Facilitation, Inhibition" and Brain Plasticity (NEFAI)

Neuroproprioceptive Facilitation and Inhibition Physical Therapy Activates Adaptive and Plastic Changes in the Central Nervous System

This study investigates whether neuroproprioceptive "facilitation, inhibition" physical therapy induces plastic and adaptive processes of the CNS (white matter integrity changes), if they relate to clinical improvement, and whether therapeutic effect differs between different kinds of therapies.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Multiple Sclerosis
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Motor program activating therapy; Behavioral: Vojta's reflex locomotion; Behavioral: Functional electric stimulation

Detailed Description

In the Multi-Arm Parallel-Group Exploratory Trial, patients with multiple sclerosis were divided into three groups by an independent study coordinator, and underwent three kinds of neuroproprioceptive "facilitation, inhibition" physical therapy. At baseline and after the end of the two months' therapeutic program, a blinded assessor evaluated clinical outcomes and data from DTI .

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 92
• Phase: Not Applicable

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 70 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• prevailed spastic paraparesis, stable clinical status and treatment in the preceding 3 months determined by neurologist,
• Expanded Disability Status Scale score (EDSS) max. 7.5

Exclusion Criteria:

• other neurological disease or conditions disabling movement

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Triple

Number of Arms

3

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Motor program activating therapy; MPAT is method developed and verified by our team. In this therapy, patients are corrected into a postural position where the joints are functionally centered. Somatosensory (manual and verbal) stimuli are then applied to activate motor programs in the brain, which then lead to the co-contraction of the patient's whole body when laying, sitting, standing up or moving forward. Activated programs are repeated under various conditions and in different situations and environments to teach the patients to automatically use the acquired motor skills in daily life. Therapy was realized within the ambulatory area of the Department of Neurology at Kralovske Vinohrady University Hospital in Prague.	Behavioral: Motor program activating therapy; Pacients underwent two months' therapy consisted of 16 face-to-face sessions (1 hour, twice a week for two months).
Experimental: Vojta's reflex locomotion; VRL is a standard approach for patients with MS in the Czech Republic. In the therapy, global patterns of the reflex locomotion are activated by stimulation of specific zones, with the individual placed in a precisely determined initial position (supine, prone and side laying, low kneeling position). These movement patterns have the qualities of the forward movement (locomotion) and the movement responses are precisely defined. Reflex locomotion (reflex turning and reflex creeping) is used in therapy to activate involuntarily responses of muscle function, which are necessary for spontaneous movements. Therapy was realized at the Department of Rehabilitation and Sport Medicine at Motol University Hospital.	Behavioral: Vojta's reflex locomotion; Pacients underwent two months' therapy consisted of 16 face-to-face sessions (1 hour, twice a week for two months).
Experimental: Functional electric stimulation; Functional electric stimulation in the postural corrected position was developed at our workplace. Participants first underwent individual two-hour session consisting of postural correction using MPAT and the device (The WalkAide® System, Innovative Neurotronics Inc., 4999 Aircenter Circle, Suite 103 Reno, NV 89502, USA) programming (28). Patients received the device to use as much as they felt they were able to during their normal daily living activities thereafter.	Behavioral: Functional electric stimulation; Pacients uderwent two months' therapy. They used the whole time Functional electric stimulation during activities of daily living and underwent 2 individual sessions of Motor program activating therapy.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
White Matter Integrity	Magnetic resonance imaging on a 3T magnetic resonance scanner (Siemens Trio Tim, Erlangen, Germany) using a 12-channel phased-array head coil. A diffusion tensor was fitted to each voxel of the brain, and a fractional anisotropy (FA) map was created for each subject. The images were further analyzed using tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS). Fractional anisotropy (FA) is a scalar value between zero and one that describes the degree of anisotropy of a diffusion process. A value of zero means that diffusion is isotropic, i.e. it is unrestricted (or equally restricted) in all directions. A value of one means that diffusion occurs only along one axis and is fully restricted along all other directions. FA is a measure often used in diffusion imaging where it is thought to reflect fiber density, axonal diameter, and myelination in white matter. The FA is an extension of the concept of eccentricity of conic sections in 3 dimensions, normalized to the unit range.	2 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Berg Balance Scale, BBS	14 items objective measure of static balance and risk of falls (0 the best, 56 the worse)	2 months
Timed up and go Test, TUG	time necessary to stand up, go 3 meters, turn around, go back and sit to chair (longer time in seconds is worse function)	2 months
the 12-item Multiple Sclerosis Walking Scale, MSWS - 12	The Multiple Sclerosis Walking Scale is a self-assessment scale which measures the impact of MS on walking. It consists of 12 questions concerning the limitations to walking due to MS during the past 2 weeks. Each item can be answered with 5 options, with 1 meaning no limitation and 5 extreme limitation. A total score can be generated and transformed to a 0 to 100 scale by subtracting the minimum score possible (12) from the patient's score, dividing by the maximum score possible minus the minimum possible (60-12 or 48), and multiplying the result by 100. Walking improvement on the MSWS-12 is indicated by negative change scores.	2 months
the 29-item Multiple Sclerosis Impact Scale, MSIS -29	a 29-item self-report measure with 20 items associated with a physical scale and 9 items with a psychological scale. Items ask about the impact of MS on day-to-day life in the past two weeks. All items have 5 response options: 1 "not at all" to 5"extremely". Each of the two scales are scored by summing the responses across items, then converting to a 0-100 scale where 100 indicates greater impact of disease on daily function (worse health).	2 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Charles University, Czech Republic

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Rasova K, Buckova B, Prokopiusova T, Prochazkova M, Angel G, Markova M, Hruskova N, Stetkarova I, Spanhelova S, Mares J, Tintera J, Zach P, Musil V, Hlinka J. A Three-Arm Parallel-group Exploratory Trial documents balance improvement without much evidence of white matter integrity changes in people with multiple sclerosis following two months ambulatory neuroproprioceptive "facilitation and inhibition" physical therapy. Eur J Phys Rehabil Med. 2021 Dec;57(6):889-899. doi: 10.23736/S1973-9087.21.06701-0. Epub 2021 Feb 10.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): May 20, 2015
• Primary Completion (Actual): May 20, 2017
• Study Completion (Actual): August 1, 2019

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 18, 2020
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 20, 2020
• First Posted (Actual): April 21, 2020

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): July 17, 2020
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 2, 2020
• Last Verified: July 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: multiple sclerosis; physical therapy; functional recovery; dehydroepiandrosterone; white matter integrity; neuroproprioceptive "facilitation, inhibition"; network reorganization; neurohormones
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Pathologic Processes; Nervous System Diseases; Immune System Diseases; Demyelinating Autoimmune Diseases, CNS; Autoimmune Diseases of the Nervous System; Demyelinating Diseases; Autoimmune Diseases; Multiple Sclerosis; Sclerosis
• Other Study ID Numbers: VP/22/0/2014

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: No

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No