Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation
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Arch Phys Med Rehabil · Apr 2015
ReviewNoninvasive brain stimulation: the potential for use in the rehabilitation of pediatric acquired brain injury.
Noninvasive brain stimulation (NIBS) offers the potential to modulate neural activity and recovery after acquired brain injury. There are few studies of NIBS in children, but a survey of those studies might provide insight into the potential for NIBS to modulate motor rehabilitation, seizures, and behavior in children. We surveyed the published literature prior to July 2014 for articles pertaining to children and NIBS with a focus on case series or trials. ⋯ NIBS may serve as a tool for pediatric neurorehabilitation, but many gaps in our knowledge must be filled before NIBS can be adopted as a clinical intervention. To move forward, the field needs adequately powered trials that can answer these questions. Such trials will be challenging to perform, will likely require multicenter collaboration, and may need to adopt novel trial designs that have been used with rare disorders.
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Arch Phys Med Rehabil · Apr 2015
Clinical TrialImproved cognitive performance following aerobic exercise training in people with traumatic brain injury.
To examine cognitive function in individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI) prior to and after participation in an aerobic exercise training program. ⋯ These findings suggest that vigorous aerobic exercise training may improve specific aspects of cognitive function in individuals with TBI and cardiorespiratory fitness gains may be a determinant of these improvements.
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Arch Phys Med Rehabil · Mar 2015
ReviewEvaluation of measures of upper limb functioning and disability in people with Parkinson disease: a systematic review.
To identify measurement tools used for upper limb evaluation in people with Parkinson disease (PD), to summarize the content of each tool using the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health, and to examine the reliability, validity, clinical utility, and responsiveness of the measurement tools specific to this clinical group. ⋯ There are relatively few high-quality studies to support the measurement properties, particularly the validity and responsiveness, of tools currently used to evaluate upper limb disability and function in people with PD. Further research is needed to inform measurement tool selection and treatment evaluation in this clinical group.
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Arch Phys Med Rehabil · Mar 2015
Randomized Controlled TrialImproving motor control in walking: a randomized clinical trial in older adults with subclinical walking difficulty.
To test the proposed mechanism of action of a task-specific motor learning intervention by examining its effect on measures of the motor control of gait. ⋯ Among older adults with subclinical walking difficulty, there is initial evidence that task-oriented motor learning exercise results in gains in the motor control of walking, while standard exercise does not. Task-oriented motor learning exercise is a promising intervention for improving timing and coordination deficits related to mobility difficulties in older adults, and needs to be evaluated in a definitive larger trial.
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Arch Phys Med Rehabil · Mar 2015
Comparative StudyComparison of self-report sleep measures for individuals with multiple sclerosis and spinal cord injury.
To investigate self-report measures of sleep disturbances and sleep-related impairments in samples of individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS) or spinal cord injury (SCI). ⋯ Although the MOS-S scores for the MS and SCI cohorts clearly indicated significantly high levels of sleep-related problems and were consistent with existing literature, the more ambiguous findings from the PROMIS sleep disturbance short form and PROMIS sleep-related impairments short form suggest that not enough is currently known about how these instruments function when applied to those with chronic neurologic dysfunction.