Brain activation in a myoelectric prosthetic hand: the role of the brain in the rehabilitation of amputees.

Background: Historically, rehabilitation of amputees has focused on developing prostheses, adjusting them to fit the limb, and then submitting the patient to extensive "training" programs. The objective of this study was to investigate whether stimuli from the sensorimotor cortex, observed through functional magnetic resonance imaging, comprises a neuronal network that permits the control of a myoelectric prosthetic hand.

Methods: A comprehensive review of the subject was conducted, and a specific case is presented to illustrate the hypothesis.

The function of proprioceptors in bone organization: a possible explanation for neurogenic heterotopic ossification in patients with neurological damage.

Neurogenic heterotopic ossification is characterized by the formation of extra osseous bone in soft tissue surrounding peripheral joints in neurological patients. It occurs in 25% of spinal cord injury patients, and in 20% of these the pathologic process is severe enough to cause limitations in joint motion. Vascular and metabolic changes resulting from autonomic nervous system impairment may play a role in the etiology of heterotopic ossification.