Biomedical subjects

E A Posuniak

Publications and source records attributed to E A Posuniak.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1987

Wrist extensor recovery in traumatic quadriplegia.

Wrist extensor recovery is of major functional significance in many quadriplegic patients. In this retrospective study, we investigated a method for prognosticating wrist extensor recovery and the underlying mechanisms for improvement in strength. Thirty-five quadriplegic patients at the C4, C5, and C6 neurologic levels, admitted over a four-year period, were examined at one week, two months, and eight months postinjury for biceps and wrist extensor strength. Initial biceps strength was compared to final wrist extensor strength. All 16 C5 patients whose initial biceps strength was grade 3 showed wrist extensor improvement to grade 3; only three of 16 C4 patients showed the same improvement. We concluded that initial biceps strength is a reliable indicator of wrist extensor recovery, and most, if not all, C5 neurologic patients will gain one full motor level. This improvement may be due to compensatory factors, such as overwork hypertrophy and peripheral sprouting of nerves within the muscle, rather than to recovery of a root level.

Accidents↗

PubMed1985

Energy expenditure after spinal cord injury: an evaluation of stable rehabilitating patients.

Caloric requirements for spinal cord patients are not well understood. Energy expenditure was measured by indirect calorimetry and compared with predicted expenditure by manipulations of the Harris-Benedict (Long and Rutten), Quebbeman, and Spanier and Shizgal equations, using actual and ideal body weight: 45 measurements were made on 22 spinally injured patients, who were medically stable in their early rehabilitation phase of treatment, and included quadriplegics, paraplegics, and patients with Brown-Sequard syndrome. Other nutritional parameters were also followed. Equations based on normal patients consistently overestimated energy requirements of spinally injured patients. From the time of injury, spinally injured patients appear to have a reduction in their energy needs proportional to the amount of muscle which has been denervated. This decrease in caloric requirements continues throughout the rehabilitation and plateau phases. We have demonstrated that stable, rehabilitating spinally injured patients require 23.4 kcal/kg/day. As a group, quadriplegics required 22.7 kcal/kg/day, and paraplegics 27.9 kcal/kg/day. This represents only 45 to 90% of the recommended calories for maintenance as calculated by any of these recognized formulae, based on normal heights, weights, age, and sex, when using either current weight or ideal body weight. Spinally injured patients as a group are subjected to fluctuations in weight during treatment. Our own patients tended to become obese approximately 12 months after spinal cord injury on uncontrolled diets. All patients underwent an initial weight loss which was greater in the quadriplegics as a group, compared with paraplegics. On uncontrolled diets, our patients gained an average of 1.7 kg/wk and this was also greater in the quadriplegic group.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1984

Electrodiagnosis and nerve conduction studies.

The use of electrodiagnostic techniques in evaluation of complaints in the lower extremities provides an objective method of assessment. A basic understanding of principles of neurophysiology, EMG and NCV methodology, and neuropathology of peripheral nerves greatly enhances physical diagnosis and improves the state of the art in treatment of the lower extremity, especially foot and ankle injuries. Familiarity with the method of reporting electrodiagnostic studies and appreciation of the electromyographer's interpretation of the EMG/NCV studies also reflects an enhanced fund of knowledge, skills, and attitudes as pertains to one's level of professional expertise. Information regarding the etiology of positive sharp waves, fibrillation potentials, fasciculation, and normal motor action potentials and conduction studies serves as a sound basis for the appreciation of the categories of nerve injury. Competence in understanding the degree of axonal or myelin function or dysfunction in a nerve improve one's effectiveness not only in medical/surgical treatment but in prognostication of recovery of function. A review of the entrapment syndromes in the lower extremity with emphasis on tarsal tunnel syndrome summarizes the most common nerve entrapments germane to the practice of podiatry. With regard to tarsal tunnel syndrome, the earliest electrodiagnostic study to suggest compression was reported to be the EMG of the foot and leg muscles, even before prolonged nerve latency was noted.

Ankle Injuries↗