Abstract
Objective
To assess the effects of injecting botulinum toxin into the lower limb muscles of
people with hemiparesis post stroke in terms of their sway areas.
Design
A multicenter randomized double-blind trial on the effects of active botulinum toxin
treatment vs placebo.
Setting
Clinical examinations and postural sway assessments were performed before botulinum
toxin injection and again 4-6 weeks after the injection.
Participants
People with hemiparesis with chronic post stroke lower limb spasticity (N=40).
Interventions
Intramuscular injection of a placebo (physiological serum) was performed on the control
group, and botulinum toxin injections were performed on the treatment group. Participants
and physical and rehabilitation medicine specialists were given no information as
to which of the 2 treatments was applied.
Main Outcome Measures
The sway area of the center of pressure was recorded for 30 seconds in 3 conditions:
eyes open, eyes open in a dual task (a postural control task combined with an arithmetic
task), and eyes closed. Spasticity was measured using the Modified Ashworth Scale.
Results
Forty people post stroke were enrolled and randomized into 2 groups, one of which
was treated with botulinum toxin (n=19) and the other with placebo (n=21). Spasticity
decreased significantly in the treatment group (−0.7, P=.049 in the soleus muscles; −0.8, P=.035 in the gastrocnemii muscles). The sway area did not differ significantly between
the 2 groups before treatment. The most conspicuous effect was observed in the case
of the dual task, where a significant decrease (P=.005) in the sway area occurred in the treatment group (−3.11±6.92) in comparison
with the placebo group (+0.27±3.57).
Conclusion
Treating spasticity by injecting botulinum toxin into people’s lower limb muscles
post stroke seems to improve their postural sway. The dual task used here to assess
sway seems to be a useful, sensitive test for this purpose.
Keywords
List of abbreviations:
BTX-A (botulinum toxin type A), FAC (Functional Ambulation Classification), MAS (Modified Ashworth Scale), PRM (physical and rehabilitation medicine)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article Info
Publication History
Published online: August 27, 2019
Footnotes
Disclosures: Dr Frederic Pellas declared conflicts of interest with Allergan, Merz, and Ipsen companies. The other authors have nothing to disclose.
Supported by the Protocole Hospitalier de Recherche Clinique ( PHRC 2005/21 ).
Clinical Trial Registration No.: NCT03405948.
Identification
Copyright
© 2019 by the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine
