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Treatment of spasticity with repetitive magnetic stimulation; a double-blind placebo-controlled study

Department of Neurology, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark

Thomas Sinkjaer

Center for Sensory-Motor Interaction, Department of Medical Informatics and Image Analysis, Aalborg University, Denmark

Johannes Jakobsen

Department of Neurology, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark

The effect of repetitive magnetic stimulation on spasticity was evaluated in 38 patients with multiple sclerosis in a double-blind placebo-controlled study. One group was treated with repetitive magnetic stimulation (n=2l) and the other group with sham stimulation (n=l7). Both groups were seated twice daily for 7 consecutive days. Primary end-points of the study were changes in the patients self-score, in clinical spasticity score, and in the stretch reflex threshold. The self-score of ease of daily day activities improved by 22% (P=0.007) after treatment and by 29% (P=0.004) after sham stimulation. The clinical spasticity score improved 3.3±4.7 arbitrary unit (AU) in treated patients and 0.7±2.5 AU in sham stimulation (P-0.003). The stretch reflex threshold increased 4.3±7.5 degls in treated patients and-3.8±9.7 degls in sham stimulation (P=0.001). The data presented in this study supports the idea that repetitive magnetic stimulation has an antispastic effect in multiple sclerosis. Future studies should darify the optimal treatment regimen.

Key Words: repetitive magnetic stimulation • multiple sclerosis • spasticity • treatment • stretch reflex

Multiple Sclerosis, Vol. 2, No. 5, 227-232 (1996)
DOI: 10.1177/135245859600200503


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