Content - Volume 41, Issue 4

Objective: There is confusion in the rehabilitation literature about case-control studies because terms such as “cases” and “controls”, used to refer to the subjects in the study, are confused with the design of the study. The aim of this study was to estimate the extent to which the label “case-control study” is misused in the rehabilitation literature and in the literature of other h ...

Rehabilitation professionals rarely ask questions about the etiology of health events or outcomes and may not have formal training or relevant experience in the design of studies whose intent is to identify causal factors. The case-control study, which is one design used to answer questions about etiology, is particularly difficult to understand and research has shown that this study design label ...

Objective: To study the influence of physical impairments on hip bone mineral density in women with Parkinson’s disease. Design: Cross-sectional study. Subjects/patients: Thirty-four women with Parkinson’s disease and 30 age-matched healthy controls. Methods: Patients with Parkinson’s disease underwent a hip scan using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry and total hip bone mineral density ...

Objective: To examine the effect of using a mitt during shortened constraint-induced movement therapy for patients in the subacute phase after stroke. Subjects: Twenty-four patients with stroke (mean age 57. 6 (standard deviation (SD) 8. 5) years; average 7 weeks post-stroke) with mild to moderate impaired hand function. Methods: The patients were randomized to mitt use or no mitt use on the l ...

Objective: To examine the prognostic value of coping strategies of patients after stroke at time of discharge on quality of life approximately one year later. In addition, we estimated the maximum cost of improving quality of life by enhancing coping strategies using strict assumptions. Methods: Eighty patients with a stroke completed several questionnaires, at discharge to home and 9–12 month ...

Objective: To determine whether short-term propulsion of a functional electrical stimulation-assisted leg-cycling wheelchair (FES-LW) in patients with stroke can reduce spasticity of the affected leg and whether FES has additional effects on reducing spasticity. Design: Within-subject comparison. Subjects: A total of 17 patients after stroke were recruited from the university hospital. Metho ...

Objective: To compare the effects of a supervised fitness centre-based exercise programme with an unsupervised home-based exercise programme on cardiorespiratory fitness and psychosocial functioning in people with traumatic brain injury. Design: Multi-centre, assessor-blinded, parallel group, ran¬domized controlled trial. Participants: Sixty-two participants with severe traumatic brain injuri ...

Objective: To examine the efficacy of transcranial electrical stimulation as a non-invasive method of reducing pain. Design: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Subjects: A total of 119 patients with chronic pain. Methods: Patients were treated with either transcranial electrical stimulation or an active placebo device. Short- and long-term follow-ups were evaluated for tre ...

Objective: To establish the level of cardiorespiratory fitness and the rate of decrease in maximal aerobic capacity according to age in patients with chronic low back pain and compare these with normative data. Design: Prospective case series with historical controls. Subjects/patients: Seventy patients with chronic low back pain. Methods: A maximal cycle ergometer protocol was used to measu ...

Objective: To investigate whether the provision of detailed information on participation and activity limitations, compared with medical information alone, influences the assessment of work limitations by physicians. Methods: Three groups each of 9 insurance physicians used written interview reports to assess work limitations in 30 patients with low back pain or lower extremity problems. Each gr ...

Objectives: To examine the reliability and validity of a Chinese version of the Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory in children with cerebral palsy. Design: A prospective study. Subjects: Two samples: 58 children with cerebral palsy (mean age 65. 4 (standard deviation 29. 9) months) and 89 normally developing children (mean age 43. 5 (standard deviation 20. 6) months). Methods: The ...

Objective: Analysis of the impact of an individualized comprehensive focal spasticity management on health-related quality of life. Design: Prospective observational and interventional 12-week trial in a single-centre rehabilitation outpatient clinic. Patients: Forty-one adult patients with upper motor neurone lesions (23 men), mean age 52 (standard deviation 13) years; 27 stroke, 7 cerebral p ...

Objective: To investigate adaptive changes in bone and muscle parameters in the paralysed limbs after detraining or reduced functional electrical stimulation (FES) induced cycling following high-volume FES-cycling in chronic spinal cord injury. Subjects: Five subjects with motor-sensory complete spinal cord injury (age 38. 6 years, lesion duration 11. 4 years) were included. Four subjects stoppe ...

Objective: To report an unusual case of significant motor recovery in a patient with T7 complete paraplegia treated with etanercept for ankylosing spondylitis. Design: Case report. Results: During the first year sensory-motor recovery occurred, and the American Spinal Injury Association Impairment Scale (AIS) improved from A to D. Conclusion: Initial spinal cord injury is a direct consequenc ...

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This artice does not have an abstract

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