title: The effects of proprioceptive stimulation on cognitive processes in patients after traumatic brain injury.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the hypothesis that proprioceptive stimulation may be effective in the treatment of brain injury, using neurophysiologic and neuropsychologic measures.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cohort analytic study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients recovering from traumatic brain injury (TBI) in a neurologic rehabilitation hospital were examined.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eleven patients with TBI (Glasgow Coma Scale score > 3) and 11 healthy control subjects matched for age and education.
  
  
  METHODS
  Subjects were examined with the event-related potential (ERP) technique during a computerized choice-reaction-time task, in which they had to discriminate between even and odd digits. There were experimental runs with and without vibratory stimuli applied to the left forearm serving as proprioceptive stimulation. In addition, ERPs were recorded to vibratory stimuli without any additional task.
  
  
  METHODS
  Outcome measures included latencies and amplitudes of the P300 ERP component and of the late negative component.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the passive vibration condition, both groups showed the same ERP distribution. In the choice-reaction-time task, latencies and amplitudes of the P300 differed between the 2 groups. The patient group showed longer P300 latencies, which were shortened by vibratory stimuli. In contrast, the control subjects were not affected by vibratory stimuli.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings support the hypothesis that pathologic cognitive processes after TBI can be improved by proprioceptive stimulation. Muscle vibration has positive effects on pathologically slowed cognitive processes but not in healthy subjects.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Medical School Hannover, Hannover, Germany. sandra.mueller@nat.uni-magdeburg.de
authors.forename: Sandra V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.forename: Amelie Jarosch
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: von Schweder
authors.forename: Bernd
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Frank
authors.forename: Reinhard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dengler
authors.forename: Thomas F
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Münte
authors.forename: Sóuke
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Johannes
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005071:Evoked Potentials; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011434:Proprioception; D011930:Reaction Time; D014732:Vibration