Content - Volume 23, Issue 4

The predictive validity of Katz' Index of ADL (Activities of Daily Living) regarding length of hospital stay, discharge to own home or death within one month, and its reproducibility in clinical practice was studied prospectively in Södertälje and in Enköping, Sweden. The Södertälje study included 124 consecutive patients, who were all assessed on days 5-7 after stroke by an occupational ther ...

The cumulative structure of personal daily activities (Katz' Index of ADL) and four well-defined instrumental activities (cooking, transportation, shopping, and cleaning) have been studied in a population of 76-year-olds (N = 659) in Gothenburg, Sweden. Sixty-five percent of the population were independent, 22% were dependent in instrumental activities, and 13% were dependent in both instrumental ...

The aim of our study was to test grip strength and assess the effects of various degrees of standardization on repeatability and level of peak force. Sixteen healthy persons and eight subjects with an impaired hand function have been tested using a strain-gauge dynamometer. We compared four measurement protocols: (A) the subject is free to assume a comfortable arm position; (B) the subject is also ...

The influence of functional electrical muscle stimulation (FES) on selected properties of vastus lateralis muscle fibres was studied in patients recovering from total knee arthroplasty for osteoarthritis. Prior to surgery, on the average, muscle biopsies from the vastus lateralis could be characterized as having a predominance of Type I fibres which were significantly larger in cross-sectional are ...

A controlled study of the effects of ultrasound on healing chronic leg ulcers was carried out in conjunction with standard treatment on 38 patients divided randomly into two groups. All patients received standard treatment (paste impregnated bandage and a self-adhesive elastic bandage plus placebo ultrasound or ultrasound (1. 0 watt/cm2 at 1 MHz, for 10 min) twice weekly for 8 weeks. Percentage he ...

To illustrate both physical and psychosocial effects of moderate gonarthrosis, clinical examination of patients has been supplemented with a questionnaire SIP (Sickness Impact Profile), to describe the functional health status. Sixty patients, 35 women and 25 men, mean age 63 years, with moderate medial osteoarthrosis of the knee and no symptoms from other joints, were included in the study. The m ...