Content - Volume 39, Issue 2

Despite dramatic advances in the management of thrombo­lysis and acute stroke, organized rehabilitation remains the cornerstone of recovery from stroke. The importance of organized stroke care in facilitating recovery has been recognized for the last 10 years, but it is still unclear how organized rehabilitation contributes to improved outcomes. This paper presents a synthesis of evidence of the ...

Patients after stroke conventionally receive much of their rehabilitation in hospital. Services have been developed that offer patients an early discharge from hospital with more rehabilitation at home (early supported discharge). This paper sets out a systematic review of all randomized trials of early supported discharge services that included 12 trials (1659 patients). There was a reduced odds ...

Despite being different conditions, complex regional pain syndrome type 1, phantom limb pain and stroke share some potentially important similarities. This report examines experimental and clinical findings from each patient population. It identifies common aspects of symptomatic presentation, sensory phenomena and patterns of cortical reorganization. Based on these common findings, we argue that ...

Objective: To develop a clinical and instrumental protocol to assess the postural and dynamic effects following treatment with botulinum neurotoxin A in children with cerebral palsy affected by spastic equinus. Design: Open study, in which every patient served as his or her own control. Patients: Ten sequential children with cerebral palsy and spastic dynamic equinus foot. Methods: Botulinum ...

Objective: To elucidate the effects of physical exercise in severely fatigued patients with Guillain-Barré syndrome and chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, and to clarify the mutual relationships between 5 domains studied in these patients: physical fitness, fatigue, objectively measured actual mobility, perceived physical functioning, and perceived mental functioning. Design: Ca ...

Objective: To compare the effects of manual therapy and stretching exercise on neck pain and disability. Design: An examiner-blinded randomized cross-over trial. Patients: A total of 125 women with non-specific neck pain. Methods: Patients were randomized into 2 groups. Group 1 received manual therapy twice weekly and Group 2 perform­ed stretching exercises 5 times a week. After 4 weeks the ...

Objective: Psychophysical lift capacity tests are lifting tests in which the performance, expressed in Newtons, is divided by the perceived exertion, expressed on a Borg scale. The aim of this study was to analyse test-retest reliability of psycho­physical lift capacity tests. Subjects: Patients with non-specific chronic low back pain (n=20) and healthy subjects (n=20). Methods: Psychophysica ...

Objective: To assess the psychometric properties of the Mobility Section of the Prosthesis Evaluation Questionnaire (PEQ-MS). Design: A postal survey, including self-report assessment of prosthetic capability and performance with the PEQ-MS and the Locomotor Capabilities Index, and of other variables associated with prosthetic wear and use. The PEQ-MS data underwent Rasch analysis for rating sca ...

Objectives: To study mortality, cause of death and risk indicators for death in Norwegian patients with spinal cord injury. Design: A cross-sectional study with retrospective data. Subjects: All patients (n=387) with traumatic spinal cord injury admitted to Sunnaas Rehabilitation Hospital, Norway, during the period 1961–82. Methods: Medical records were reviewed retrospectively. Causes of ...

Objective: To estimate sexual activity and sexual satisfaction in men with spinal cord lesion. Design: Cross-sectional study. Subjects: All adult citizens in Helsinki with traumatic spinal cord lesion were identified. The final study group comprised 92 male subjects, corresponding to a participation rate of 79%. Methods: A structured questionnaire was sent to all subjects and they were invit ...

Objective: To evaluate aspects of internal scale validity and reliability of the Swedish version of the Impact on Participation and Autonomy questionnaire (IPA-S) for use in people with spinal cord injury. Subjects: A total of 161 persons with spinal cord injury. Method: IPA-S psychometric properties were evaluated using Rasch rating scale analysis. Results: The results show that the IPA-S h ...

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate uni­dimensionality and differential item functioning of the SF-36 physical functioning scale (PF10) in patients with various neurological disorders. Patients: Patients post-stroke (n = 198), with multiple sclero­sis (n = 151) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (n = 193) partici­pated. Methods: Unidimensionality of the PF10 within the patien ...

Objective: To assess the ability of the Wisconsin Gait Scale to evaluate qualitative features of changes in hemiplegic gait in post-stroke patients. Design: A prospective observational study. Subjects: Ten healthy subjects and 56 hemiplegic outpatients, more than 12 months post-stroke, consecutively admitted in a rehabilitation centre. Methods: Patients were videotaped while walking at a com ...

Objective: To evaluate changes over time in a clinically based cohort of individuals with post-polio syndrome. Design: A prospective longitudinal study. Subjects: A total of 106 individuals with poliomyelitis sequelae were included in the study. They were self-referred or had been referred to the post-polio clinic. After 4 years subjects were called for a follow-up and underwent the same measu ...

Objective: To illustrate that a patient with distal spinal muscular atrophy can recover gait with a combination of orthoses and orthopaedic shoes. Subject: A 28-year-old man with distal spinal muscular atrophy affecting only the distal muscles of the lower limbs. Clinical examination showed a bilateral pes cavus with a varus and a 90° equinus of the ankle joint. Methods: The patient was fitte ...

As with eye movements in locked-in syndrome, severe motor dysfunction should be coped with by an agreed system of interpretation to express feelings and needs. However, it is possible that such patients might make errors in the agreed system of interpretation through fatigue, which would cause misunderstandings. We report here a new questioning and verifying strategy for an agreed system of interp ...