title: Rehabilitation Management of the Charcot-Marie-Tooth Syndrome: A Systematic Review of the Literature.
abstract: The Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT) causes significant muscular deficits in the affected patients, restricts daily activities (ADL), and involves a severe disability. Although the conservative intervention is the only treatment for the disease, there is no scientific evidence so far on rehabilitation treatment. Objectives of the review are: research the best literary evidence so far on the rehabilitation treatment of CMT; critically analyze the outcome, to build an evidence-based work protocol.A systematic review of the rehabilitation of a patient with CMT, including the results from the following databases: Pubmed, Medline, Embase, Pedro, Cinahl, Ebsco discovery. Criteria for inclusion: randomized/controlled studies, analytic studies, transversal studies on a cohort of at least 10 individuals; medium/long-term report of the results.Eleven studies in total have been admitted to the final review phase; trials about physiotherapy CMT treatment (5), about orthosis treatment (6). Despite the wide range of outcomes and proposed interventions, the data points to the following: strength or endurance trainings improve functionality and ADLs of affected patients, while orthotic role is, at the moment, not completely clear.Physiotherapy treatment is a useful tool to manage CMT; more studies on a larger number of cases are needed to define orthosis utility and to establish the gold standard of the treatment.
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Public Health, University of Naples Federico II (BC, GC, CB), Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Corrado
authors.forename: Gianluca
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ciardi
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bargigli
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000145:classification; D002607:Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D006801:Humans; D009989:Orthotic Devices; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care; D010807:Physical Endurance; D026741:Physical Therapy Modalities; D055070:Resistance Training