Content - Volume 40, Issue 4

Controversy regarding the aetiology and treatment of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome continues among the medical professions. The Cochrane Collaboration advises practitioners to implement graded exercise therapy for patients with chronic fatigue syndrome using cognitive behavioural principles. Conversely, there is evidence that exercise can exacerbate symptoms in chronic fatigue syndrome, i ...

Objective: To evaluate the feasibility of 8 months of supervised exercise therapy in warm water and its effects on the impact of fibromyalgia on physical and mental health and physical fitness in affected women. Methods: Thirty women with fibromyalgia were randomly assigned to an exercise therapy group (n = 15) or a control group (inactive) (n = 15). The impact of fibromyalgia on physica ...

Objective: To examine the impact of home modifications on self-rated ability in everyday life from various aspects for people ageing with disabilities. Methods: The study sample was recruited from an agency providing home modification services in Sweden and comprised 73 subjects whose referrals had been approved and who were scheduled to receive home modifications (intervention group) and 41 sub ...

Objective: To predict the discharge destination of rehabilitation patients using signal detection analysis. Design: Cross-sectional and follow-up studies. Subject: The subjects were 324 patients discharged from a hospital in Fukuoka, Japan, between April 2005 and March 2006 and 313 patients discharged from the same hospital between 1 April and 31 October 2006. Methods: The discharge destinat ...

Objective: To investigate the time-courses of lung function and respiratory muscle pressure generating capacity after spinal cord injury. Design: Multi-centre, prospective cohort study. Subjects: One hundred and nine subjects with recent, motor complete spinal cord injury. Methods: Lung function and respiratory muscle pressure generating capacity were measured at first mobilization, at disch ...

Objective: To document the prevalence of shoulder pain, associated patient characteristics, and intensity and interference with shoulder function in activities in wheelchair users. Design: A cross-sectional survey. Patients: Individuals with a thoracic spinal cord injury. Methods: A 3-part questionnaire on patient characteristics, medical history, supplemental questions, and the Wheelchair U ...

Objective: To identify the determinants of improvement in walking capacity following therapeutic exercise in chronic stroke survivors. Design: A secondary analysis of data obtained from a prospective, single-blind, randomized controlled intervention trial. Subjects: Sixty-three community-dwelling individuals (mean age = 65 years, age range =   50–87 years) with a chronic stroke ( ...

Objectives: First, to identify occupational therapists' stroke rehabilitation practices related to leisure and social aspects of participation and potential explanatory variables associated with these practices. Secondly, to identify occupational therapists' desired assessment and treatment practices related to participation. Design: A Canada-wide telephone survey. Subjects: A random sample of ...

Objective: Recent reports demonstrated that low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) over the unaffected hemisphere improved the affected hand function in chronic stroke patients. We investigated whether 1 Hz rTMS improved the motor learning of the affected hand in patients after stroke. Design: A double-blind study. Patients: Twenty patients with chronic subcortical s ...

Objective: To investigate the association of muscle function and subgroups of low back pain (no low back pain, pelvic girdle pain, lumbar pain and combined pelvic girdle pain and lumbar pain) in relation to pregnancy. Design: Prospective cohort study. Subjects: Consecutively enrolled pregnant women seen in gestational weeks 12–18 (n = 301) and 3 months postpartum (n = 262). Methods ...

Objective: To describe the use of mirror therapy in 2 patients with complex regional pain syndrome type II following traumatic nerve injury. Design: Two case reports. Subjects: Two patients with complex regional pain syndrome type II. Methods: Two patients received mirror therapy with the painful hand hidden behind the mirror while the non-painful hand was positioned so that, from the perspe ...

Objective: Use of botulinum toxin is expanding as clinical studies demonstrate new potential therapeutic applications. In rehabilitation, botulinum toxin is predominantly used as adjunct therapy for the treatment of spasticity, but it may prove useful for other atypical clinical situations. Case history: A 73-year-old man had a severe sub-arachnoid haemorrhage following the rupture of a giant an ...

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