Content - Volume 38, Issue 2

Background: It is often suggested that immigrants with long-term pain do not benefit from rehabilitation to the same extent as native Swedish patients. In this study, an 8-week rehabilitation programme was evaluated according to its adaptation for immigrants.Objectives: To establish whether there is a difference between immigrants and native Swedes concerning: (i) return-to-work, the ...

Objective: To determine the significance of degree of symptom-specificity in the disablement condition in chronic back pain.Design: Cross-sectional design.Subjects: All inhabitants of a restricted geographical area of Norway, who had had 8 weeks of sick-leave due to back pain during a 2-year period, were included in this study. Following examination they were diagnosed as havi ...

Objectives: To evaluate the feasibility of study design and method for evaluating effects of interventions on patients with long-lasting neck pain and to compare treatment effects of: (i) a pain and stress management group intervention with applied relaxation, and (ii) individual physiotherapy treatment as usual.Design: Randomized controlled pilot study.Subjects: Thirty-seven ...

Objective: This aim of this study was to determine the reliability and validity of an established ideomotor apraxia test when applied to a Turkish stroke patient population and to healthy controls.Subjects: The study group comprised 50 patients with right hemiplegia and 36 with left hemiplegia, who had developed the condition as a result of a cerebrovascular accident, and 33 age-matc ...

Objective: Delayed admission to rehabilitation may result in poorer outcomes by reducing exposure to therapeutic interventions at a time when the brain is primed for neurological recovery. The present study examined the effects of early vs delayed admission on functional outcome and length of stay in patients admitted to a rehabilitation unit for first-ever unilateral stroke.Design: ...

Objective: To examine the reliability of the Assessment of Capacity for Myoelectric Control (ACMC) in children and adults with a myoelectric prosthetic hand.Design. Intra-rater and inter-rater reliability estimated from reported assessments by 3 different raters.Patients: A sample of convenience of 26 subjects (11 males, 15 females) with upper limb reduction deficiency or ampu ...

Objective: To assess whether liver transplant recipients have a hypoactive (sedentary) lifestyle and whether the level of everyday physical activity is related to complaints of fatigue. In addition, we explored the relationship between activity level and health-related quality of life.Design: Case comparison.Subjects. Eight persons 6–36 months after liver transplantation wit ...

Objective: To investigate the effects of regular submaximal exercise on quality of life, exercise capacity and pulmonary function in asthmatic children.

Patients and methods: Sixty-two children with mild–moderate asthma (mean age 10.4 (SD 2.1) years) were randomly allocated into exercise and control groups. The exercise group underwent a moderately intensive basketball train ...

A 79-year-old man with previous bulbar poliomyelitis developed dysphagia and was diagnosed as having post-polio syndrome. Over 2 years, his swallowing deteriorated and he suffered an aspiration pneumonia. Only after the subsequent development of fatigue and facial weakness was myasthenia gravis diagnosed. Diagnostic criteria for post-polio syndrome include the exclusion of all other neurological c ...

Objective: To analyse changes in muscle strength, physical performance and quality of life during intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) treatment in patients with post-polio syndrome.Design: Open clinical trial.Patients: A total of 14 patients (6 women, 8 men; mean age 57 years, range 43–67 years) were included in the study.Intervention: Treatment with 90 g IVIg (30 g dai ...

Objective: To evaluate the burden on families with a family member suffering traumatic brain injury sequelae in Japan.Design: Cross-sectional study.Methods: Family members' burden from the sequelae of traumatic brain injury was estimated by use of willingness-to-pay models and the contingent valuation method. A national survey among 1707 members of the Japan Traumatic Brain In ...