Vestibular Stimulation May Drive Multisensory Processing: Principles for Targeted Sensorimotor Therapy (TSMT).

At birth, the vestibular system is fully mature, whilst higher order sensory processing is yet to develop in the full-term neonate. The current paper lays out a theoretical framework to account for the role vestibular stimulation may have driving multisensory and sensorimotor integration. Accordingly, vestibular stimulation, by activating the parieto-insular vestibular cortex, and/or the posterior parietal cortex may provide the cortical input for multisensory neurons in the superior colliculus that is needed for multisensory processing.

Application of a vibrating device for the prevention of flexion contracture after total knee arthroplasty.

Our research team developed a new, heel support-based static and vibrating complementary treatment method for the prevention of flexion contractures often arising after total knee arthroplasty. We examined the efficiency of the method performing a randomized clinical trial with 144 patients undergoing total knee replacement. Seventy-nine patients were treated for 1 week with a generally used continuous passive motion (CPM) device complemented with our new method, which was based on the application of a static and an alternating heel support.