[tri-med] FYI - Physical Therapy Can Help Reset Brain

      ****I am forwarding this article or URL for your information (FYI) as
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      believe it may be of interest and is from a reliable source. As
always,
      check the information with your own doctor or health care professional
      before starting or changing any treatments.****

      Physical Therapy Can Help Reset Brain
      May 20, 2003
      WASHINGTON (AP) -- Physical therapy changes the way body parts are
represented in the brain, a finding researchers hope will lead to improved
therapies.

      A team of researchers in Germany and the United States studied 10
musicians suffering from focal hand dystonia, which causes the hands to
cramp into abnormal positions and make uncoordinated movements.

      The musicians underwent therapy in which parts of their hands were
immobilized with a splint while they exercised. The magnetic currents in the
patients' brains were measured before therapy and after it had been under
way for eight days.

      Before the therapy the brains had an abnormal representation of the
hand, according to the team led by Victor Candia of the University of
Konstanz, Germany.

      After treatment of the hand, manual dexterity was improved and the
brain representation of the affected hand became more like that of the
normal hand.

      The study "demonstrates that in the case of motor disorders, but also
for other brain disorders -- for example after brain injury -- highly
specific therapeutic plans have to be developed," Candia said.

      Such research, he said, combined with other studies under way, can
help in the development of new therapies and improve rehabilitation of motor
and sensory disorders.

      Working with Candia were other researchers at Konstanz and at
Pennsylvania State University.

      Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.


http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/EMIHC267/333/341/364730.html?d=dmtICNNews

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