Examining the Effectiveness of Video-Based Proprioceptive Home Exercise Program in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Patients

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease characterised mainly by degeneration of upper and lower motor neurons. In recent years, the disease paradigm has changed and ALS has been increasingly recognised as a multi-systemic disease in which the sensory system is also affected rather than a disease limited to motor neurons. The proprioceptive system is the primary sensory system that is vital in managing motor control. Recent studies suggest that sensory impairment may occur early in ALS and that there is degeneration in proprioceptive sensory neurons. However, in the current literature, there is no study that clinically evaluates proprioception in ALS patients or provides proprioceptive training to patients. In addition, progressive muscle degeneration is frequently seen in the trunk and distal muscles in ALS, which negatively affects trunk control and leads to a decrease in the independence of patients in daily life activities and thus quality of life. In the project, it was aimed to evaluate the proprioceptive system in the disease, which is still mysterious and therefore has no curative treatment under current conditions, and to examine the effects of the video-based proprioceptive home exercise programme on trunk and limb control and daily life activity as well as trunk and limb control. The study was planned to include 20 patients with a definite diagnosis of ALS. Proprioceptive sensory examination will be performed again in these patients, who are currently being followed up with ALS diagnosis and whose physical examination including neurological examination has been performed in detail, and the "Revised Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Functional Rating Scale" (R-ALSFRS) will be applied to the patients. Subsequently, the patients will be followed up by applying a video-based proprioceptive home exercise programme 3 days a week for 8 weeks. At the end of the 8th week, a detailed neurological examination including proprioceptive sensation will be performed and the R-ALSFRS scale will be applied. In addition, ALS quality of life scale will be applied to the patients before and after the home programme. The data obtained after the treatment programme will be analysed and interpreted. In the literature, the number of publications on proprioception in ALS patients is very limited. The successful completion of this project will shed light on the pathogenesis of the disease and will contribute to the planning of new researches at national and international level.