Content - Volume 37, Issue 2

Objective: Electrical stimulation can be applied in a variety of ways to the hemiparetic upper extremity following stroke. The aim of this review is to explore the relationship between characteristics of stimulation and the effect of electrical stimulation on the recovery of upper limb motor control following stroke. Methods: A systematic literature search was performed to identify clinical trials ...

Objective: To assess the reliability of 6 gait performance tests in individuals with chronic mild to moderate post-stroke hemiparesis. Design: An intra-rater (between occasions) test-retest reliability study. Subjects: Fifty men and women (mean age 58±6. 4 years) 6-46 months post-stroke. Methods: The Timed "Up & Go" test, the Comfortable and the Fast Gait Speed tests, the Stair Climbing ascen ...

Objective: To determine whether hemiplegic patients can propel a leg-pedalling wheelchair and whether it is easier and faster for them to pedal the wheelchair using both legs alternately than to propel an ordinary wheelchair with their unaffected hand and leg. Design: Within-subject comparison. Subjects: Subjects comprised 10 hemiplegic in-patients (8 males, 2 females), aged 63. 7 (SD 12. 7) years ...

Objective: This study set out to elucidate which factors are associated with or predictive for the use of analgesic drugs in patients with spinal cord injury and pain. Design: A cross-sectional descriptive study with a partly prospective cohort. Patients: One hundred and twenty-three patients with a spinal cord injury matched for gender, age, level of lesion and completeness of injury. Methods: Qu ...

Objective: To compare measures of disability, psychological factors, pain and physical performance in healthy controls, and patients with sub-acute and chronic low back pain. To evaluate the concept of the deconditioning syndrome and to explore factors that may contribute to chronicity. Design: Case-control study. Subjects: Three age- and gender-matched groups were included in the study; healthy c ...

Objective: To explore whether coping strategy use predicted levels of adjustment in chronic low back pain after controlling for the influence of catastrophic thinking and self-efficacy for pain control. Methods: Eighty-four patients with chronic low back pain completed the Coping Strategies Questionnaire, a pain VAS and the Roland Disability Questionnaire. To derive composite measures of coping, t ...

Objective: To determine the place of a novel Upper Limb Activity Monitor in the field of instruments measuring functioning and health in upper limb complex regional pain syndrome type I, by exploring the correlation between the Upper Limb Activity Monitor and 4 questionnaires. Method: Subjects (n =30) were measured at home and correlations were calculated between the Upper Limb Activity Monitor an ...

Objective: To compare the effectiveness of exercise therapy aimed at restoring neuromuscular control mechanisms at the shoulder with other conservative interventions for the treatment of chronic shoulder pain with and without accompanying stiffness. Design: Randomized control trial. Patients: A total of 138 volunteers with unilateral shoulder pain of local mechanical origin. Methods: Subjects were ...

Objective: To investigate the incidence of fever during the post-acute rehabilitation phase in patients with brain injury. Design: Prospective study. Subjects: Seventy-four patients with brain injury. Methods: Patients were evaluated for the presence of fever during the rehabilitation phase. Demographics, time since injury, acute hospital and rehabilitation stay, brain injury and clinical characte ...

This article does not have an abstract.