title: Balance and coordination training and endurance training after nerve injury.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Different rehabilitation treatments have proven useful in accelerating regeneration.
  
  
  METHODS
  After sciatic nerve crush in rats, we tested balance and coordination training (BCT) and endurance training (ET) through sensorimotor tests and analyzed nerve and muscle morphology.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After BCT and ET, rats performed better in sensorimotor tests than did non-trained animals. However, only BCT maintained sensorimotor function during training. Furthermore, BCT and ET produced significantly larger muscle area than in non-trained animals.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings indicate that BCT and ET, when initiated in the early phase after sciatic nerve injury, improve morphological properties of the soleus muscle and sciatic nerve, but only the task-oriented BCT maintained sensorimotor function. The success of rehabilitative strategies appears to be highly task-specific, and strategies that stimulate sensory pathways are the most effective in improving balance and/or coordination parameters.
authors.affiliation: Programa de Pós-Graduação em Neurociências, Instituto de Ciências Básicas da Saúde, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil; Laboratório de Histofisiologia Comparada, Departamento de Ciências Morfológicas, Instituto de Ciências Básicas da Saúde, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Sarmento Leite 500, CEP: 90050-170, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
authors.forename: Leandro Viçosa
authors.initials: LV
authors.lastname: Bonetti
authors.forename: Ana Paula Krauthein
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Schneider
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Barbosa
authors.forename: Jocemar
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ilha
authors.forename: Maria Cristina
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Faccioni-Heuser
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005081:Exercise Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D008124:Locomotion / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000473:pathology; D009409:Nerve Crush / Q000379:methods; D009413:Nerve Fibers, Myelinated / Q000473:pathology; D010807:Physical Endurance / Q000502:physiology*; D004856:Postural Balance / Q000502:physiology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D020127:Recovery of Function / Q000502:physiology; D020426:Sciatic Neuropathy / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000534:rehabilitation*
keywords: balance; coordination; endurance; muscle; nerve