Content - Volume 47, Issue 7

Objective: To develop and pre-test the Nottwil Environmental Factors Inventory (NEFI), a questionnaire assessing the perceived impact of environmental factors on specific areas of participation (productive life, social life, and community life) experienced by people with spinal cord injury. Subjects/patients: Thirty-seven participants with spinal cord injury in Canada, Switzerland and the USA. M ...

Objective: To characterize existing rehabilitation interventions for patients with disorders of consciousness in long-term care and to evaluate the quality of evidence of these interventions. Data sources: Databases MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, the Cochrane Library, CareLit and SoLit from January 2003 until July 2013. Study selection: Studies were selected that focused on rehabilitation interventi ...

Objective: To determine the physical, functional and psychosocial rehabilitation needs of the injured survivors of the 2013 earthquake in Ya’an, China. Design: Cross-sectional survey. Methods: A total of 143 injured survivors (80 males, 63 females, mean age 41. 4 years (standard deviation (SD) 20. 2)) were recruited for the study. A questionnaire was designed to collect their demographic and ...

Objectives: To investigate the prevalence of disabilities amongst adult hospitalized patients and to estimate their specific needs for rehabilitation support. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in a Moroccan university hospital. A total of 411 patients were included, and assessed for impairments, activity limitations and participation restrictions through medical examination and struc ...

Objective: To describe the course of social support (everyday support, support in problem situations and esteem support) from initial inpatient rehabilitation until 3 years post-stroke and to examine the cross-sectional and longitudinal relationships of social support with depressive symptoms. Design: Prospective cohort study. Subjects: A total of 249 stroke patients. Methods: Depressive sym ...

Objective: To compare changes regarding perceived participation, independence in activities of daily living (ADL) and life satisfaction between 3, 6 and 12 months after inclusion in a study of a client-centred ADL intervention and usual ADL intervention after stroke. Design: A multicentre randomized controlled trial. Methods: Sixteen rehabilitation units were randomly assigned to provide clien ...

Objective: To explore the impact of premorbid physical activity on stroke severity and functioning, measured by activities of daily living, gait and balance during the acute period of first-ever stroke and at one-year follow-up. Methods: Acute phase and one-year follow-up registrations of 183 patients with first-ever stroke or transient ischaemic attack were included in the study. Gender, age, e ...

Objective: To develop and pre-test the Nottwil Environmental Factors Inventory (NEFI), a questionnaire assessing the perceived impact of environmental factors on specific areas of participation (productive life, social life, and community life) experienced by people with spinal cord injury. Subjects/patients: Thirty-seven participants with spinal cord injury in Canada, Switzerland and the USA. M ...

Objectives: To describe a novel early vocational rehabilitation programme (In-Voc) for inpatients with spinal cord injury and to report early vocational outcomes. Design: Observational longitudinal cohort study. Subjects: One hundred adults with spinal cord injury admitted to spinal units in Sydney, Australia within a 24-month period. Methods: In-Voc was offered to all inpatients within the ...

Objective: To evaluate the effect of balance surface type on muscle activity of ankle stabilizing muscles in subjects with chronic ankle instability. Design: Case-controlled, repeated-measures study design. Subjects: Twenty-eight subjects with chronic ankle instability and 28 healthy controls. Methods: Subjects performed a barefooted single-legged stance on uniaxial and multidirectional unst ...

Objective: To investigate whether moderate intensity endurance exercise has similar effects on cardiovascular fitness and autonomic function in patients with fibromyalgia and healthy controls. Design: Case-control intervention study. Subjects: Twenty-five female patients with fibromyalgia and 25 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (age range 40–64 years) were recruited to the study. Fiftee ...

Objective: To examine the association between changes in knee muscle strength (extensor and flexor muscles separately, and mean values) and changes in activity limitations in patients with established knee osteoarthritis at 2 years. Methods: Data from 186 patients with knee osteoarthritis, part of the Amsterdam Osteoarthritis cohort, were gathered at baseline and at 2-year follow-up. Strength of ...

Objective: To examine the measurement properties of the Chronic Pain Acceptance Questionnaire Revised (CPAQ-R) and its subscales with people with knee osteoarthritis using Rasch analysis. Design: Cross-sectional questionnaire study. Patients: A total of 176 participants with radiographic evidence of osteoarthritis of the knee, as identified by a Kellgren-Lawrence grade ≥ 2, and pai ...

Objective: To investigate the use of concepts of capacity and performance when assessing functioning of stroke survivors, measured with the Functional Independence Measure (FIM) and the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). Methods: During an inpatient interdisciplinary rehabilitation programme for 62 subacute stroke survivors, limitations in speaking, walking ...

Objective: Patients with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome experience cognitive difficulties. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of computerized training on working memory in this syndrome. Design: Non-randomized (quasi-experimental) study with no-treatment control group and non-equivalent dependent variable design in a myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syn ...

Objective: Prolonged fever is rare in patients with spinal cord injury. Fever has been shown to be associated with hetero-topic ossification, but prolonged fever is very rare. We report here a case of prolonged fever in a tetraplegic patient who was eventually diagnosed with heterotrophic ossification, and provide a review of the literature. Treatment with sodium etidronate resolved the fever. C ...

Abstract is missing (Letter)