A series observation on therapeutic effectiveness of the electromyography biofeedback procedure responses in the long term patients with cervical spinal cord injury

Objective:To determine if the EMG biofeedback treatment can significantly increase the voluntary EMG signal and muscle strength of the upper extremities in patients with long term cervical(C1-C6) spinal cord injury (SCI) based on the function from the last course of biofeedback procedure.Method:39 patients with cervical(C1-C6) spinal cord injury were the out-patient of the Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation, Jackson Medical Center, University of Miami School of Medicine. All of them had more than 6-month history of injury, had less than normal muscle strength and reached a plateau in function recovery by other rehabilitation methods. All the patients had 4 courses of treatment.The data of surface EMG and muscle strength before and after were obtained on the middle deltoid, biceps, triceps, wrist extensor, wrist flexor, finger extensor and finger flexor respectively.The data were compared and analyzed statistically.Result:The increases of both voluntary EMG signal and muscle strength before and after 3 year′s biofeedback services were significant(P0.01). Conclusion:EMG Biofeedback procedure using continuously as an operant conditioning paradigm can significantly increase the voluntary EMG signal and muscle strength of the upper extremities in patients with long term cervical(C1-C6) spinal cord injury(SCI) based on the therapeutic effectiveness that was received from last treatment course of biofeedback procedure.