Minimal Brain Dysfunction. Children and adults. Clinical and Psychological Symptoms. Examples of pathology. Rules of Therapy

In the paper there are presented observations from the years 1995-2021. Material content of 1355 children and youths in the ages between 2 and 18 years and adults 20-70 years old. In the article they are present the clinical symptoms of Minimal Brain Dysfunction [MBD]. Clinically there are: valgus deformity of the feet, hyperextension of the knees, anterior tilt of the pelvis, hyperlordosis of the lumbar spine. These symptoms are as result of spasticity or sub-spasticity of the muscles. At the same time, we observe in this group of patients “laxity of joints” and this is a result of the changes in the properties of collagen. In the MBD group of patients-there are very often also psychological disorders-similarly like in cases of Attention Deficit & Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Children with MBD often present inclination to hyperactivity-frequent jumping-and it is the main cause of Perthes disease. There are also psychological changes in behavior in adults-and this is described in “Discussion”. It is also given information about physiotherapy of the diseases and disorders in movement system.

Rotation Distortion Syndrome of Ankle Joint and Knee in Car Drivers and Passengers

The most common feet pathologies of children are valgus and valgus planus deformities, which are congenital or connected with neurological dysfunctions (Minimal Brain Dysfunction). In adults, and mostly in women, we observe: 1. Köhler’s disease among girls wearing improper shoes. 2. Insufficiency and pain of the front part of feet connected with limited toes flexion, 3. Valgus deformity of the big toes (hallux valgus), 4. “Ankle Joint Pain Syndrome” (AJPS)-sometimes also “Knee Joint Pain Syndrome” (KJPS)-described by us only in USA, India and Czech Republic. In presented article, we describe this special type of foot insufficiency- “instability of ankle or knee, or both joints”-on left leg in drivers and right leg in passengers in countries with right-hand traffic. More frequent it concerns the foot and article focus on this problem.

Back Pain, Causes, Symptoms and Physiotherapy

Every fourth woman and every sixth man in the world coming to the Orthopedic or Neurology Departments complain of spinal pains - information from WHO, D ecade of Bones and Joints 2000 - 2010 (Lars Lidgren). According to our observations there are six main causes of such spinal disorders: 1. Lumbar Hyperlordosis causes by flexion contracture of hips and in result anterior tilt of the pelvis. Common in persons with Minimal Brain Dysfunction (MBD). Pain syndromes appear after overstress in some kinds of jobs or in sport. 2. Lumbar or thoracic - lumbar left convex “C” scoliosis in 2nd/A etiopathological group (epg) or ”S” scoliosis in 2nd/B epg in Lublin classification. Pain syndromes appear after overstr ess in some kinds of jobs or in sport. 3. Stiffness of the spine as clinical sign of “I” scoliosis in 3rd epg group in Lublin classification. 4. Spondylolisth esis or spodylolisis in sacral - lumbar or lumbar spine. 5. Urgent “nucleus prolapsed” (in German “Hexen Sch uss”). 6. Extremely cooling of the back part of trunk during work or intensive walking in low temperature. In many of patients in clinical examination we see positive Laseguae test. Sometimes we see weakness of extensors of the feet or paresis of the foot. Our observations confirm that not surgery, but physiotherapy can be beneficial to the patients with spinal problems.

Minimal Brain Dysfunction, Ritalin, and Racial Politics

This chapter examines psychologists’ involvement in the 1960s and 1970s in inventing a diagnosis known as “minimal brain dysfunction” (MBD) – a precursor to attention deficit attention disorder (ADHD). Although asserted to be a physiological matter, one best treated with stimulant drugs like methylphenidate (Ritalin), MBD was not based on a clear medical symptom. Quite soon, the modal individual for whom Ritalin became considered the most appropriate treatment was a white and middle-class child. As desegregation was often followed by the new phenomenon of tracking within schools, and as more African American children were labeled as suffering from “mild mental retardation,” the contrasting diagnosis of MBD represented a new disease entity to address the cognitive challenges sometimes faced by privileged children of the predominantly white suburbs. Simultaneously, a growing number of commentators, both African American and anti-racist white, came fiercely to protest what they perceived to be a disturbing tendency to overprescribe stimulant medications to poor children of color.