Nafeesa Zamurd*, Mirza Obaid Baig
Stroke is a leading cause of death and long term disability. In Asia, There are almost 75.2% mortalities related to stroke cases. Stroke results in variety of deficits including motor, sensory, cognitive, language, perceptual deficits and also affect level of consciousness. The main aim of this study is to carry out qualitative analysis of the studies that investigated the effects of neurodynamics in stroke patients. The following Databases were explored including; Research Gate, Google Scholar, PEDRO and PUBMED. Following keywords were used for the searches; e.g. neurodynamics, neural mobilization, upper motor neuron lesions, stroke, peripheral nerve mobilization and neural tension technique. The studies are selected by reviewing their abstracts, methodology, results and conclusion. There were 16 studies selected for the review including, 1 case study, 3 clinical trials, 3 systematic reviews and 9 randomized control trails (RCTs). There was a difference noted in application of the neurodynamic techniques in almost all reviewed studies. Out of 9 RCTs, only 1 study (Jacob Lorentzen) reported that neurodynamics was not effective to reduce spasticity. However it concluded the beneficial effects of neural mobilization to improve range of motion. There was 1 case study which reported that combination of neurodynamics with Botulinum toxin A was effective to reduce pain and increase range of motion. There were 3 systemic reviews which concluded that there was lack of qualitative and quantitative evidence to support the effects of neurodynamics on stroke. There were 3 clinical trials (quasi experimental studies) which supported the effects of neural mobilization technique. This review showed the beneficial effects obtained by the application of neurodynamics to improve range of motion, flexibility, tone reduction, pain intensity, nerve conduction velocity, cerebral cortical activity and post stroke functionality. This review concluded that there is limited evidence to support the effects of neurodynamics in stroke patients and further research is acquired in future.
KeywordsDynamic neural mobilization; Neural mobilization; Rhythmic neurodynamics; Spasticity; Stork
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