Can Bell’s Palsy Synkinesis Be Improved By PNF?

When a person has facial paralysis, one of the most distressing consequences is face synkinesis. Face synkinesis develops from a pathophysiologic cause: aberrant regrowth of facial nerve fibres that supply specific facial muscle groups. Patients with this kind of aberrant regeneration often have hypertonic contractures and synkinetic motions, including closing their eyes while moving their lips or moving their midface while closing their eyes reflexively or voluntarily. Synkinesis in the platysma is a common symptom that patients report, since it may cause a stiffness in the neck. Isolation and impaired ability to do daily tasks like eating, drinking, and smiling are all possible outcomes of synkinesis. If you are looking for a therapeutic workout to enhance your neuromuscular control and function, PNF is a great choice. It combines neuromuscular facilitation techniques with movement patterns based on functional principles to stimulate motor responsiveness. Therefore, PNF may have an inhibitory or a facilitative effect. Furthermore, it has shown the greatest promise in treating a range of musculoskeletal and neuromuscular conditions. So, we're doing this research to see whether PNF helps with the synkinesis associated with Bell's palsy. Method: Thirty people with Bell's palsy, as certified by a neurologist or otorhinolaryngologist, were randomly assigned to one of two groups of fifteen, with each group receiving 15 patients with facial synkinesis. GROUP A: PNF techniques and Conventional management of Bell’s palsy. GROUP B: Conventional management of Bell’s palsy only. Outcome Measure and Its Measurement: We assessed facial synkinesis at baseline and again at the end of the fourth week from baseline. After 28 days of follow-up, the results were compared to the initial measures. Synkinesis Assessment Questionnaire was used to measure the Synkinesis. Statistical Analysis: In order to determine the extent of synkinesis from the SAQ scores obtained in Bell's palsy patients, we compared the scores at baseline and the end of the fourth week independently. We used the student paired t test for within groups. Using the student's t-test for both groups, we compared the SAQ scores of patients with Bell's palsy at the beginning of the study and again at the conclusion of the fourth week to determine the extent of synkinesis. The threshold of significance was set at p<0.05. Results: Over the course of the four weeks, individuals in both groups showed improvement relative to their baseline measurements. However, Group A showed a statistically significant higher change in SAQ scores than Group B. Conclusion: Results demonstrate that both Group A, which received conventional care in addition to PNF exercises, and Group B, which received conventional management alone, successfully increased the amount of synkinesis in Bell's palsy patients. Group A, which consists of patients receiving both conventional treatment and PNF exercises, seems to have better results than Group B, which consists of patients receiving just conventional treatment, for Bell's palsy synkinesis. Keywords: Bell's Palsy, Electrical Stimulation, Facial Synkinesis, and Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation.