American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation

OBJECTIVE: To examine the circumstances surrounding the worst fall experienced by full time manual wheelchair users in the past 12 months, the recovery process, and influence on community participation. DESIGN: Mixed-methods. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to understand the circumstances of the worst fall experienced and the recovery process. A quantitative fear of falling assessment and the Community Participation Indicators (CPI) were used to further evaluate the influence of the fall...

OBJECTIVE: To compare the effectiveness of the integration of orthotic intervention (OI) and scoliosis specific exercise (SSE) with orthotic intervention only via assessing the spinal deformity, back muscle endurance and pulmonary function of the patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS). DESIGN: It is a prospective randomized controlled study. Patients who fulfilled the SRS criteria for OI were randomly assigned to the OE group (combined orthotic and exercise intervention) or the OI group (orthotic intervention only)...

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate the feasibility and potential effectiveness of mirror-aided cross-education compared to cross-education alone in post-stroke upper limb recovery. DESIGN: A pilot randomized controlled parallel group study was carried out. Thirty-two chronic stroke patients followed a 4-week isometric strength-training programme performed with the less-affected upper limb 3 times per week. Participants in the mirror and strength training group observed the reflection of the exercising arm in the mirror; Participants in the strength training only group exercised without a mirror entirely...

Functional electrical stimulation therapy (FEST) is a state-of-the-art treatment for retraining motor function following neurological injuries. Recent literature suggests that FEST can be further improved with brain-computer interface (BCI) technology. In this case study, we assessed the feasibility of using BCI-triggered FEST (BCI-FEST) to restore upper-limb function in a 57-year old male with severe left hemiplegia resulting from a stroke six years prior to enrollment in the study. The intervention consisted of two blocks of 40 one-hour BCI-FEST sessions (total of 80 sessions) for the left upper limb, with three sessions delivered weekly...

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association between body mass index (BMI) and rehabilitation outcome in hemiparetic patients with stroke in subacute phase. DESIGN: This was a prospective study testing the correlation between BMI and the effectiveness of rehabilitation, measured using Barthel Index (BI) scores. We enrolled patients with subacute stroke (n=664, age 68±14 years, length of hospital stay 84±34 days). We assessed the BMI and BI both at admission and discharge...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

OBJECTIVE: This study evaluated the effectiveness of ergonomic latex pillows in terms of clinical and biomechanical (cervical range of motion) outcome measures in patients with cervical spondylosis. DESIGN: This parallel-group randomized controlled trial randomly assigned 42 patients with cervical spondylosis to the experimental and control groups. Both groups received 12 sessions of routine physical therapy for four weeks. While the experimental group received an ergonomic latex pillow, the control group slept on their own usual pillow during the mentioned four-week period...

Although accurate targeting of the causative muscles is of paramount importance in the treatment of focal dystonia, this is often challenging due to distortion of the affected anatomical structures and difficulty in proper positioning of injections. We report a case of idiopathic cervical dystonia that was treated by CT-guided injection of botulinum toxin (BTX) into multiple deep muscles.Based on clinical presentation of combined torticollis and retrocollis, and needle electromyography (EMG) results, BTX was injected under EMG guidance...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Historically, medical students have received little training about working with patients with disability, but there is now a greater recognition of the need to educate medical students in this domain. The goals of this review were to define the body of literature and determine effective strategies for teaching medical students about disability. A systematic search protocol executed across six databases identified journal articles reporting interventions implemented to teach disability to medical students. Seventy-seven articles spanning 1960-2018 met inclusion criteria...

OBJECTIVE: To systematically review and quantitatively synthesize the existing evidence of balance and gait alternations lasting more than two weeks following concussion in adults. DESIGN: A systematic review was conducted through PubMed, CINAHL, SPORTDiscus, and Web of Science. Investigations must include adult participants with at least 1 concussion, were measured over 14 days after injury, and reported balance or gait measures. Balance error scoring system (BESS) scores, center of pressure (COP) sway area and displacement, and gait velocity were extracted for the meta-analysis...

Pneumatically driven intermittent abdominal pressure ventilators (IAPVs) were a popular means of daytime ventilatory support until the late 1960's paradigm shift to invasive (tracheostomy) mechanical ventilation (TMV). However, although many patients still use IAPVs, currently available turbine-driven portable home care ventilators are not powerful enough to always successfully operate them. We describe a new mechanically driven IAPV operated by a 1 lb. motor that provided a depth of abdominal compression of almost 2 inches in 1...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the effects of single intra-articular platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and corticosteroid (CS) injections in patients with adhesive capsulitis (AC) of the shoulder. DESIGN: Patients aged 18-70 years of either sex, diagnosed with AC of shoulder, with <6 months duration were included. In IA-CS (control) group, 30 patients received single injection (4ml) of IA-CS and in IA-PRP (test) group, 30 patients received single IA-PRP injection (4ml) into the GH joint under ultrasound guidance...

OBJECTIVE: The contribution of the contralesional motor cortex to the impaired limbs is still controversial. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of descending projections from the contralesional hemisphere during voluntary elbow flexion on the paretic side. DESIGN: Eleven healthy and 10 stroke subjects performed unilateral isometric elbow flexion tasks at various submaximal levels. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was delivered to the hot spot of biceps muscles ipsilateral to the target side (paretic side in stroke subjects or right side in controls) at rest and during elbow flexion tasks...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

OBJECTIVE: Electrodiagnostic study (EDX) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are commonly used in the diagnosis of brachial plexopathy, but the agreement between these two studies is unknown. The aim of this study is to evaluate the agreement of EDX and MRI in patients with brachial plexopathy. DESIGN: The records of 69 patients with symptoms of brachial plexopathy who underwent EDX and MRI were reviewed. Based on the degree of agreement of EDX and MRI results, patients were classified as a "complete match," "partial match" and, "mismatch"...