This review addresses the role of exercise as an intervention for treating neurological disease. It focuses on three major neurological diseases that either present in acute or neurodegenerative forms—Parkinson’s disease, cerebellar ataxia, and cortical stroke. Each of the diseases affects primarily different brain structures, namely the basal ganglia, the cerebellum, and the cerebrum. These structures are all known to be involved in motor control, and the dysfunction of each structure leads to distinct movement deficits. The review summarizes current knowledge on how exercise can aid rehabilitation or therapeutic efforts. In addition, it addresses the role of robotic devices in enhancing available therapies by reviewing how robot-aided therapies may promote the recovery for stroke survivors. It highlights recent scientific evidence in support of exercise as a treatment for brain dysfunction, but also outlines the still open challenges for unequivocally demonstrating the benefits of exercise.
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Yu-Ting Tseng, Sanaz Khosravani, Arash Mahnan, and Jürgen Konczak
Joanne E. Folker, Bruce E. Murdoch, Louise M. Cahill, Kristin M. Rosen, Martin B. Delatycki, Louise A. Corben, and Adam P. Vogel
Electromagnetic articulography (EMA) was used to investigate the tongue kinematics in the dysarthria associated with Friedreich’s ataxia (FRDA). The subject group consisted of four individuals diagnosed with FRDA. Five nonneurologically impaired individuals, matched for age and gender, served as controls. Each participant was assessed using the AG-200 EMA system during six repetitions of the tongue tip sentence Tess told Dan to stay fit and the tongue back sentence Karl got a croaking frog. Results revealed reduced speed measures (i.e., maximum acceleration / deceleration / velocity), greater movement durations and increased articulatory distances for the approach phases of consonant productions. The approach phase, involving movement up to the palate, was more affected than the release phase. It is suggested that deviant lingual kinematics could be the outcome of disturbances to cerebellar function, or possibly in combination with disturbances to upper motor neuron systems.
Joanne E. Folker, Bruce E. Murdoch, Louise M. Cahill, Kristin M. Rosen, Martin B. Delatycki, Louise A. Corben, and Adam P. Vogel
Electropalatography (EPG) was used to describe the pattern of linguopalatal contact and the consonant phase durations exhibited by a group of seven individuals with dysarthria associated with Friedreich’s ataxia (FRDA). A group of 14 non-neurologically impaired individuals served as controls. The Reading Electropalatograph (EPG3) system was used to record linguopalatal contact during production of the target consonants (/t/, /l/, /s/, /k/) elicited in five words of CV and CVC construction, with the target consonants in word initial position. These words were embedded into short sentences and repeated five times by each participant. The FRDA group exhibited significantly increased consonant durations compared with the controls while maintaining normal linguopalatal contact patterns. These findings suggest that the articulatory impairment in FRDA manifests as a temporal rather than spatial disturbance.
Javier Yanci, Daniel Castillo, Aitor Iturricastillo, Astrid Aracama, Alba Roldan, and Raúl Reina
the game. 7 , 8 The functional classification system for CP football is based on the assessment of the type of impairment (ie, hypertonia, ataxia, or athetosis), the topography or body area affected, and the severity of the impairment, establishing a minimum impairment criterion to be eligible for
Nima Dehghansai, Veronica Allan, Ross A. Pinder, and Joe Baker
.g., cerebral palsy, spinal cord injury) and subsequent International Paralympic Committee (IPC) impairment classification (e.g., impaired muscle power, ataxia, athetosis) will lead to different opportunities and challenges throughout their sporting careers ( Dehghansai et al., 2020 ; Howe & Silva, 2018 ). To our
Iván Peña-González, Alba Roldan, Carlos Toledo, Tomás Urbán, and Raúl Reina
pitch and goal posts, no offside law, and throw-ins can be made by rolling the ball into play. To be eligible for para-sport competition, footballers must meet a minimum impairment criterion of hypertonia, athetosis, or ataxia (HAA), which represent 3 of the 8 eligible impairments in Paralympic sports
Peter S. Myers, Kerri S. Rawson, Elinor C. Harrison, Adam P. Horin, Ellen N. Sutter, Marie E. McNeely, and Gammon M. Earhart
suggests freezing of gait involves dysfunction of the cerebellum, 7 – 9 and the cerebellum is integral to coordinating joints during movement. 10 Individuals with cerebellar dysfunction exhibit gait ataxia (ie, altered intralimb joint coordination). 11 To mitigate this symptom, individuals with
Iván Peña-González, José M. Sarabia, Alba Roldan, Agustín Manresa-Rocamora, and Manuel Moya-Ramón
6 × 2-m goals, and the offside rule does not apply, among others. 2 Eligible players for CP football must show the minimum impairment criteria for hypertonia, athetosis, or ataxia according to the International Federation of Cerebral Palsy Football Classification Rulebook. 3 Traditionally, CP
Raúl Reina, Aitor Iturricastillo, Rafael Sabido, Maria Campayo-Piernas, and Javier Yanci
football for people with hypertonia, ataxia, or athetosis, very few studies have examined whether VJ performance is affected by athletes’ level of impairment or the sport class defined by the International Federation for CP Football (IFCPF). Specifically, Yanci et al 11 found no association between IFCPF
Meg E. Letton, Jeanette M. Thom, and Rachel E. Ward
floor exercises including travelling steps (20 min) and cooldown (5 min) 1 h, 2 d/wk 16 ↓ Ataxia (58%) ↑ Static and dynamic balance (42%) ↑ Smoothness of gait (7.5%) 12 Note: All values are reported as mean (SD) unless otherwise stated. ↑ increased; ↓ decreased; ↔ no change reported % change indicates
