Vol 16, No 1 (2017)

The article features the practices related to the multi-faceted rehabilitation of patients presenting with the severe combined injuries that affect both the spine and the spinal cord. The issues of interest in terms of the immediate post-operative rehabilitation as well as the experience gained during the treatment of major locomotor disorders are defined and discussed. The article presents the guidelines concerning the development of the rehabilitation programs and the major drug-free rehabilitation strategies including those based on the application of the up-to-date robot-assisted technologies. The training devices and other instruments of the domestic and foreign production being currently put into use are considered along with the practical guidelines designed to facilitate decisions making as regards the prescription of one or another treatment modality taking into account the relevant indications. It has been found that the precise body weight support systems efficiently help to improve walking performance through unloading of the patient’s body which is conducive to the sensory stimulation that best fits the concrete patient. The advantage of robot-assisted rehabilitation consists of the possibility to do training in the sub-maximum regimen that enables the patient to carry out the exercises controlled in terms of both their overall number and intensity level. The immediate post-operative rehabilitation aims primarily at the enhancement of motor performance by allowing the patient to develop the ability to stand upright within the shortest time possible. it would take roughly 20-40 days for a patient to adapt to standing upright in the absence of the specialized training devices whereas the use of the tilt tables with built-in robotic continuous passive and active motion devices for the training of the lower extremities eliminates a number of factors impeding rehabilitation of the patients and thereby makes it 2-3 times faster for a patient to adapt to standing upright. The suspension systems have been found to be promising for the rehabilitation of the patients experiencing the locomotor problems following a severe injury to the spinal cord.

The possibility to enhance the biological potential of drinking mineral waters is of great theoretical and practical significance. The authors of the present publication undertook an attempt to address this issue based on the analysis of the experience of domestic and foreign researchers. The article presents the results of clinical and experimental investigations of mineral waters and their combinations with various pharmaceutical products, herbal raw materials, and dosage forms of herbal medicines, silver and selenium nanoparticles. The modifying additives contained various groups of biologically active compounds responsible for their activity and were used for the correction of metabolic disorders associated with a variety of diseases. The results of the study provide a basis for the development of the rationale for the elaboration of the novel therapeutic and prophylactic algorithms for the application of drinking mineral waters in the combination with the aforementioned modifying additives.

The objective of the present study was the elaboration of the scientifically grounded rationale for the development of the technology of application of the low-frequency alternating magnetic field for the treatment of the patients presenting with gastroesophageal reflux disease and the concomitant bronchial asthma. Materials and methods. We undertook the comparative evaluation of the effectiveness of the rehabilitative therapeutic modalities and their influence on the course of gastroesophageal reflux disease in 47 patients with the concomitant bronchial asthma. The study was designed to carry out the clinical examination of the patients and verification of the diagnosis, random formation of the study groups, and their control studies with special reference to the clinical symptoms based on the results of esophagogastroduodenoscopy, chest X-ray, the study of external respiratory function, analysis of sputum, and assessment of inflammation. Results. It has been demonstrated that the low-frequency alternating magnetic field in the combination with the local applications of naftalan has the beneficial influence on the clinical course of gastroesophageal reflux disease with the concomitant bronchial asthma. The proposed combined treatment modality made it possible to improve the clinical symptoms of the composite pathology and resulted in the reduction of the inflammatory activity as appeared from the decreased amount of eosinophils, reduced fibrinogen, anti-inflammatory cytokines, tumour necrosis factor, and interleukin-1p levels in the blood, normalization of the physical properties and microscopic characteristics of the sputum, and the improvement of the external respiratory function.

The present work deals with the problem of psychological rehabilitation of the students presenting with functional disorders of the musculoskeletal system. The selected methods for the psychological rehabilitation of such patients are described.