Content - Volume 42, Issue 1

About 3 years ago, between the end of 2006 and January 2007, the White Book on Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine in Europe (WB-PRM-Europe) was published simultaneously and with open access in the Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine (JRM) (1) and Europa Medicophysica (2) (now the European Journal of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine (EJPRM)). The two journals went to great efforts to publish t ...

Effective team working plays a crucial role in Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine (PRM). As part of its role of optimizing and harmonizing clinical practice across Europe, the Professional Practice Committee of Union of European Medical Specialists (UEMS) Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine (PRM) Section reviewed patterns of team working and debated recommendations for good practice at a meetin ...

Objective: To determine if repetitive task training after stroke improves functional activity. Design: Systematic review and meta-analysis of trials comparing repetitive task training with attention control or usual care. Data sources: The Cochrane Stroke Trials Register, electronic databases of published, unpublished and non-English language papers; conference proceedings, reference lists, an ...

Objective: To delineate whether functional recovery after stroke, determined by the modified Rankin Scale during the neurologically stable chronic stage, is associated with the presence or absence of motor evoked potential or somatosensory evoked potential measured during the sub-acute stage at the commencement of rehabilitation. Design: Retrospective medical records review. Patients: Consecut ...

Objective: Physical and sonographic evaluation of hemi­plegic shoulder in patients after acute stroke and correlation between the physical/sonographic findings and early-onset hemiplegic shoulder pain. Design: Cross-sectional study. Subjects: Fifty-seven patients after stroke with hemiplegic shoulder. Methods: Subjects were assigned to poor motor function and good motor function groups acco ...

Objectives: A prospective study of 91 consecutive traumatic brain injury admissions to rehabilitation over a 2-year period to determine factors impacting on rehabilitation charges. Methods: Discharge records of 91 adult traumatic brain injury patients comprising total unsubsidized billings for each completed inpatient rehabilitation episode were used to derive total charges. Co-variates analysed ...

Objective: While sensorimotor alterations have been observed in patients with neck pain, it is uncertain whether such changes distinguish whiplash-associated disorders from chronic neck pain without trauma. The aim of this study was to investigate head steadiness during isometric neck flexion in subjects with chronic whiplash-associated disorders (WAD), those with chronic non-traumatic neck pain a ...

Objective: To determine which patient characteristics, postoperative characteristics, and walking features influence patients’ partial weight-bearing performance after total hip arthroplasty. Design: A descriptive prospective study. Patients: Fifty patients with total hip arthroplasty were included; partial weight-bearing was performed at a 10% body weight target load (n = 33) and at a 5 ...

Objective: To test the impact of introducing a format based on the International Classification of Functioning Disability and Health, version for children and youth (ICF-CY) as a road-map for in-hospital paediatric neuro-rehabilitation on target definition, intra-team communication and workload as perceived by involved professionals. Design: Single-centre pilot testing with impact assessment. ...

Objective: To test the hypothesis that cognitive functioning is associated with subjective quality of life of young adults with spina bifida and hydrocephalus (SBHC). Design: Cross-sectional multi-centre study in The Netherlands. Subjects: A total of 110 young adults with SBHC (16–25 years old, 63% female). Methods: Cognitive domains measured were intelligence (Raven Standard Progressive M ...

Objective: To determine the number of employed people in a group of patients with neuromuscular diseases and in 3 separate subgroups (facioscapulo-humeral dystrophy, hereditary motor and sensory neuropathy, and myotonic dystrophy) to investigate any differences in employment status between the patient groups, and to identify factors related to employment status. Design: Cross-sectional study. ...

Objective: Positive expectations predict better outcomes for a variety of health conditions including recovery from whiplash-associated disorders, but we know little about which individuals have negative expectations, and therefore may be at risk for poor whiplash-associated disorders recovery. Methods: We assessed expectations for global recovery in a population-based cohort of 6015 individuals ...

Objective: The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) serves as a unifying model for rehabilitation medicine. Variables of the health status measurements, the Crohn’s Disease Activity Index and the Harvey-Bradshaw Index, have not been linked with the ICF categories and compared with other predictors of rehabil­itation outcomes. Methods: Crohn’s Disease Acti ...

Objective: To examine goal attainment scaling for evaluation of treatment for upper limb post-stroke spasticity with botulinum toxin-A. Design: Secondary analysis of a multi-centre double-blind, placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial. Setting: Six outpatient clinics in Australia. Participants: Patients (n = 90) completing per protocol 2 cycles of treatment/placebo. Mean age 54. 5 ( ...

Objective: To evaluate the construct validity of the Activity Inventory of the Chedoke-McMaster Stroke Assessment and the Clinical Outcome Variables Scale (COVS), 2 measures of functional mobility. Design: A retrospective longitudinal study of 24 inpatients (mean age 83 years (standard deviation 7)) on a geriatric rehabilitation unit. Participants: The primary reasons for admission were decond ...

Sir, We read the article by Dusunceli et al. (1) about the efficacy of neck stabilization exercises for neck pain with interest. The authors present a well-designed study with interesting findings, which concludes that neck stabilization exercises in conjunction with physical therapy agents are superior to isometric and stretching exercises in conjunction with physical therapy agents and to physi ...