Utilization of a Rehabilitation-Based Approach for Functional Movement Disorders: A Single-Center Experience

Functional movement disorder (FMD) is a disorder of observable motor behavior, movement, or functional deficit that is incongruent with any underlying organic illness. This retrospective review aims to identify the benefit of inpatient rehabilitation for symptom burden reduction and examine possible temporal factors related to presentation and treatment timeframe that may impact symptom improvement.  Methods: A retrospective review was performed of patients admitted between January 1, 2015, to December 31, 2020, with a diagnosis of FMD under the specific program dedicated to rehabilitation management (Child and Adolescent Motor Reprogramming program). Information collected included demographics, type of symptom, time to diagnosis, time to admission, and longevity of symptom improvement at follow-up. WeeFIM® (Uniform Data System for Medical Rehabilitation, Buffalo, New York, United States) scores were also collected.

During the study period, 38 patients were identified. All patients demonstrated improvement in symptom burden at discharge, and the majority noted ongoing improvements at follow-up. Odds ratios calculated for time to diagnosis and time to inpatient admission did not demonstrate statistical variance.  Conclusion: This study demonstrates that an inpatient rehabilitation approach can be beneficial for symptom burden improvement in functional movement disorders. Statistical analysis suggests that improvements can be achieved through this approach regardless of how long a patient has carried this diagnosis.