Physical rehabilitation improves muscle function following volumetric XXXX .

@entity1184 @entity1373 @entity6229 @entity19310 @entity1810 @entity35 @entity121 @entity130 @entity2798
BACKGROUND: Given the clinical practice of prescribing physical rehabilitation for the treatment of @entity121 , the present study examined the functional and histomorphological adaptations in the volumetric muscle loss (VML) injured muscle to physical rehabilitation. METHODS: Tibialis anterior muscle VML injury was created in Lewis @entity35 (n   =   32), and were randomly assigned to either sedentary (SED) or physical rehabilitation (RUN) group. After 1  week, RUN @entity35 were given unlimited access to @entity2798 wheels either 1 or 7  weeks (2 or 8  weeks @entity130 ). At 2  weeks @entity130 , TA muscles were harvested for molecular analyses. At 8  weeks @entity130 , the @entity35 underwent in vivo function testing. The explanted tissue was analyzed using histological and immunofluorescence procedures. RESULTS: The primary findings of the study are that physical rehabilitation in the form of @entity2798 promotes   ~   17% improvement in maximal isometric torque, and a   ~   13% increase in weight of the injured muscle, but it did so without significant morphological adaptations (e.g., no @entity1184 and @entity1373 ). Wheel running up-regulated metabolic genes ( @entity19310 , @entity6229 ) only in the uninjured muscles, and a greater deposition of fibrous tissue in the defect area of the injured muscle preceded by an up-regulation of pro-fibrotic genes (Collagen I, @entity1810 ). Therefore, it is plausible that the wheel running related functional improvements were due to improved force transmission and not muscle regeneration. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study to demonstrate improvement in functional performance of non-repaired VML injured muscle with physical rehabilitation in the form of @entity2798 . This study provides information for the first time on the basic changes in the VML injured muscle with physical rehabilitation, which may aid in the development of appropriate physical rehabilitation regimen(s).
