1.The Role of Rehabilitation Medicine in Large-scale Disasters
The Japanese Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine 2015;52(3):207-211
In recent decades, natural disasters have increased markedly. A large-scale disaster can cause not only severe injuries but also stress-related diseases such as cardiovascular events. Particularly, the elderly and persons with preexisting disabilities are at greater risk for injuries, worsening disabilities and deaths in a disaster. The Great East Japan Earthquake 2011 revealed that rehabilitation medicine had some essential roles for people requiring assistance in a large-scale disaster. Firstly, in the acute phase immediately after the disaster, it was important to protect elderly and disabled people from dangerous situations. In this instance, even though significant numbers of vulnerable people requiring assistance remained in the affected area, there were insufficient sheltered locations available, because a large number of medical and welfare facilities were destroyed. Secondly, in the post acute phase after the earthquake, the medical rehabilitation needs for disaster-related disease such as cerebrovascular accidents increased. Finally, in the chronic phase of the disaster, the community based rehabilitation needs to prevent deconditioning syndrome had gradually grown. The aging of the Japanese population is a crucial issue. In this regard, disaster rehabilitation for vulnerable people is similar to comprehensive community care in many aspects. To support disaster victims, the Disaster Acute Rehabilitation Team (DART) and the Japan Rehabilitation Assistance Team (JART) have been proposed to take the lead in disaster rehabilitation. To support these and other ongoing efforts and to better prepare for the future, the Japanese Association of Rehabilitation Medicine and other related rehabilitation professional societies should provide specialized training on disaster rehabilitation.
3.A Case Report of a Patient who Achieved Recovery of Walking Independence with the Adjustment of the Prosthesis after Bilateral Leg Amputation and Spinal Cord Injury.
Masamune EBARA ; Rina ABE ; Dai FUJIWARA ; Kentaro KANARI ; Tsuyoshi MIZUSHIRI ; Shinichi IZUMI
The Japanese Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine 2023;():23025-
This report describes a case of an amputee with a lumber spinal cord injury who successfully recovered ambulation with the use of prosthesis.A 30-year-old man with schizophrenia underwent amputation of the lower legs and concurrently developed lumbar spinal cord injury from of a suicide attempt. After the treatment of stump plasty and posterior fusion, the patient was transferred to our facility. Lower-extremity prostheses for both legs were fitted, and orthostatic training was commenced following admission. During the initial evaluation, the patient could not maintain a stable standing position because of weakness in the hip extensor muscle. An inflexion angle of the prosthesis was set to 0° to extend the knee joint and achieve standing stability. Appropriate adjustments of the prosthesis were made as required, specifically addressing the paraplegia caused by his lumbar spinal cord injury. Thus, the patient successfully regained ambulation with the treatment.Recovering walking independence after bilateral lower leg amputations or paraplegia caused by lumber spinal cord injury is not uncommon. However, this case is unique in that the muscle weakness caused by lumbar spinal cord injury presented unforeseen difficulties for the patient to achieve ambulation, which is not ordinarily observed in amputation rehabilitation cases. No similar cases have been reported in which patients concurrently suffered from both these conditions in Japan;therefore, this case is extremely rare.
4.A Case Report of a Patient who Achieved Recovery of Walking Independence with the Adjustment of the Prosthesis after Bilateral Leg Amputation and Spinal Cord Injury.
Masamune EBARA ; Rina ABE ; Dai FUJIWARA ; Kentaro KANARI ; Tsuyoshi MIZUSHIRI ; Shinichi IZUMI
The Japanese Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine 2023;60(9):799-804
This report describes a case of an amputee with a lumber spinal cord injury who successfully recovered ambulation with the use of prosthesis.A 30-year-old man with schizophrenia underwent amputation of the lower legs and concurrently developed lumbar spinal cord injury from of a suicide attempt. After the treatment of stump plasty and posterior fusion, the patient was transferred to our facility. Lower-extremity prostheses for both legs were fitted, and orthostatic training was commenced following admission. During the initial evaluation, the patient could not maintain a stable standing position because of weakness in the hip extensor muscle. An inflexion angle of the prosthesis was set to 0° to extend the knee joint and achieve standing stability. Appropriate adjustments of the prosthesis were made as required, specifically addressing the paraplegia caused by his lumbar spinal cord injury. Thus, the patient successfully regained ambulation with the treatment.Recovering walking independence after bilateral lower leg amputations or paraplegia caused by lumber spinal cord injury is not uncommon. However, this case is unique in that the muscle weakness caused by lumbar spinal cord injury presented unforeseen difficulties for the patient to achieve ambulation, which is not ordinarily observed in amputation rehabilitation cases. No similar cases have been reported in which patients concurrently suffered from both these conditions in Japan;therefore, this case is extremely rare.
5.An Experiment of Orthoptic Therapy for a Patient with Diplopia in a Convalescent Rehabilitation Ward Where a Certified Orthoptist is Unavailable
Masamune EBARA ; Rina ABE ; Takashi HARADA ; Kentaro KANARI ; Tsuyoshi MIZUSHIRI
The Japanese Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine 2025;():24021-
Oculomotor disorder and diplopia cause a decline in quality of life and activities of daily living. The usefulness of orthoptic exercise for oculomotor disorder has been proven. However, there are few reports about orthoptic therapy with diplopia after a cerebrovascular accident in a convalescent rehabilitation ward which usually has no certified orthoptist. A previous study reported that diplopia caused by traumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage was improved after binocular gaze training. On the other hand, it was also reported that binocular training alone did not lead to complete recovery of diplopia, as no improvement was seen after the sixth day. We experienced a case of abducens nerve palsy and diplopia due to subarachnoid hemorrhage. Orthoptic treatment without special equipment restores disordered eye movement and improves double vision. Notably, binocular gazing training, devised to move the gazing target farther away or to the side, improved over a long period, unlike in a previous report. We report this case because it showed the availability of our attempted treatment for oculomotor disorder in a convalescent rehabilitation ward.
6.An Experiment of Orthoptic Therapy for a Patient with Diplopia in a Convalescent Rehabilitation Ward Where a Certified Orthoptist is Unavailable
Masamune EBARA ; Rina ABE ; Takashi HARADA ; Kentaro KANARI ; Tsuyoshi MIZUSHIRI
The Japanese Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine 2025;62(3):297-304
Oculomotor disorder and diplopia cause a decline in quality of life and activities of daily living. The usefulness of orthoptic exercise for oculomotor disorder has been proven. However, there are few reports about orthoptic therapy with diplopia after a cerebrovascular accident in a convalescent rehabilitation ward which usually has no certified orthoptist. A previous study reported that diplopia caused by traumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage was improved after binocular gaze training. On the other hand, it was also reported that binocular training alone did not lead to complete recovery of diplopia, as no improvement was seen after the sixth day. We experienced a case of abducens nerve palsy and diplopia due to subarachnoid hemorrhage. Orthoptic treatment without special equipment restores disordered eye movement and improves double vision. Notably, binocular gazing training, devised to move the gazing target farther away or to the side, improved over a long period, unlike in a previous report. We report this case because it showed the availability of our attempted treatment for oculomotor disorder in a convalescent rehabilitation ward.