recovery and decrease medication required for spasticity, which may help reduce the side effects that are possible with oral drug treatments. a 2004 study compared the effects of hydrotherapy on spasticity, oral baclofen dosage and functional independence measure (fim) scores of patients with a spinal cord injury (sci). it was found that subjects who received hydrotherapy treatment obtained increased fim scores and a decreased intake of oral baclofen medication. a 2009 study looked at the effect of hydrotherapy to decrease spasticity on post-stroke, hemiparetic patients with limited mobility and concluded that there was a significantly larger increase in fim scores compared to the control group that did not receive hydrotherapy. prognosis the prognosis for those with spastic muscles depends on multiple factors, including the severity of the spasticity and the associated movement disorder, access to specialised and intensive management, and ability of the affected individual to maintain the management plan (particularly an exercise program). most people with a significant umn lesion will have ongoing impairment, but most of these will be able to make progress. the most important factor to indicate ability to progress is seeing improvement, but improvement in many spastic movement disorders may not be seen until the affected individual receives help from a specialised team or health professional. research doublecortin positive cells, similar to stem cells, are extremely adaptable and, when extracted from a brain, cultured and then re-injected in a lesioned area of the same brain, they can help repair and rebuild it. the treatment using them would take some time to be available for general public use, as it has to clear regulations and trials. history historical progression of spasticity and the upper motor neuron lesion on which it is based has progressed considerably in recent decades. however, the term "spasticity" is still often used interchangeably with "upper motor neuron syndrome" in the clinical settings, and it is not unusual to see patients labeled as "spastic" who actually demonstrate not just spasticity alone, but also an array of upper motor neuron findings. research has clearly shown that exercise is beneficial for spastic muscles, even though in the very early days of research it was assumed that strength exercise would increase spasticity. also, from at least the 1950s through at least the 1980s, there was a strong focus on other interventions for spastic muscles, particularly stretching and splinting, but the evidence does not support these as effective. while splinting is not considered effective for decreasing spasticity, a range of different orthotics are effectively used for preventing muscle contractures on patients with spasticity. in the case of spastic diplegia there is also a permanent neurosurgical treatment for spasticity, selective dorsal rhizotomy, that directly targets nerves in the spine that cause the spasticity, and destroys them, so that the spasticity cannot be activated at all.