The Effectiveness of Compression Sleeve on Sensorimotor Function and Clinical Application on Individuals with Humeral Lateral Epicondylitis

• Main Authors: Wen-Wen Yang, 楊雯雯
• Other Authors: Chen-Sheng Chen
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2017
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/55622898924628088625

博士 === 國立陽明大學 === 物理治療暨輔助科技學系 === 105 === Background and purposes: Humeral lateral epicondylitis (LE) as a prevalent musculoskeletal disorder causes pain and weakened strength. Sensorimotor function deficits can not be ignored in individuals with LE. Since additional sensory inputs may induce various mechanisms to solve the overall problems of LE, this study designed a long compression sleeve (LCS) to achieve this goal by proving continuous and strong sensory inputs. Moreover, poor reaction performance is a critical sensorimotor deficit in individuals with LE; however, the effect and mechanism of compression sleeve on the reaction performance has not been clarified. Accordingly, our study first tried to understand the LCS effectiveness on sensorimotor function in healthy persons, then clinically applied it as the treatment of LE. Therefore, the purposes of this study were to 1) investigate the effect of wearing LCS on force sense, motor control, sensorimotor integration and reaction performance in healthy adults and 2) evaluate the LCS effect on pain, strength and sensorimotor function in individuals with LE. Methods: Experiment 1: Sixteen healthy subjects were enrolled and performed reaction test and force sense test of grip randomly with or without LCS. Various parameters were analyzed, including absolute difference of force sense, percent coefficient of variation of force, corticomuscular coherence (CMC), pre-motor time (PMT), electromechanical delay (EMD) and reaction time (RT). Experiment 2: Sixteen subjects with LE were recruited and performed a series of wrist extension and grip related tests randomly with or without LCS. The tests included pain evaluation, strength, position sense, force sense, and reaction time tests. The related parameters were analyzed, including pain scores, pain-free strength and maximal strength, absolute difference of force sense and that of position sense, PMT, EMD and RT. Paired nonparametric test was used to compare the difference of pain level and paired t test was used to compare the differences of other parameters between both conditions. Results: Experiment 1: Wearing LCS significantly reduced CMC, improved force sense, reduced percent coefficient of variation of force of force and reduced PMT leading to faster RT (p < 0.05) in healthy persons. Experiment 2: Wearing LCS significantly enhanced pain-free strength of wrist extension and grip, decreased pain level during griping along with increased maximal grip strength, improved position sense and force sense and reduced RT as a result of the reduction of PMT and EMD (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Wearing LCS could bring benefits to sensorimotor function in both healthy persons and in individuals with LE. In healthy persons, wearing LCS not only improved proprioception leading to better motor control but also regulated CMC resulting in shorter PMT and in turn led to better RT. As for the clinical application of LE, wearing LCS improved proprioception and reaction time. Moreover, when the LCS was worn, pain was relieved and further enhanced pain-free strength and maximal grip strength.