Disability and rehabilitation
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To explore and describe what physiotherapists experience they need to know about patients with non-specific low back pain (NSLBP) to make decisions about intervention. ⋯ The physiotherapists' clinical reasoning reflected a broad view on patients with NSLBP, with variations related to case complexity. The use of ICF codes contributed to understanding that the physiotherapists applied a broad perspective on NSLBP as a health condition as well as to knowledge about how physiotherapists' understand patients with NSLBP. Physiotherapists' use of the ICF in clinical practice might facilitate identification and assessment of specific patient's back pain problem as they occur in daily life and therefore be helpful in rehabilitation planning. Findings might also have an educational value.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
Transcranial direct current stimulation: electrode montage in stroke.
Neurophysiological and computer modelling studies have shown that electrode montage is a critical parameter to determine the neuromodulatory effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). We tested these results clinically by systematically investigating optimal tDCS electrode montage in stroke. Ten patients received in a counterbalanced and randomised order the following conditions of stimulation (i) anodal stimulation of affected M1 (primary motor cortex) and cathodal stimulation of unaffected M1 ('bilateral tDCS'); (ii) anodal stimulation of affected M1 and cathodal stimulation of contralateral supraorbital area ('anodal tDCS'); (iii) cathodal stimulation of unaffected M1 and anodal stimulation of contralateral supraorbital area ('cathodal tDCS'); (iv) anodal stimulation of affected M1 and cathodal stimulation of contralateral deltoid muscle ('extra-cephalic tDCS') and (v) sham stimulation. ⋯ Bilateral tDCS, anodal tDCS and cathodal tDCS were shown to be associated with significant improvements on the JTT. Placing the reference electrode in an extracephalic position and use of sham stimulation did not induce any significant effects. This small sham controlled cross-over clinical trial is important to provide additional data on the clinical effects of tDCS in stroke and for planning and designing future large tDCS trials in patients with stroke.
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Multicenter Study
Assessing disability in morbidly obese individuals: the Italian Society of Obesity test for obesity-related disabilities.
To validate a new obesity-specific disability assessment test: the Obesity-related Disability test (Test SIO Disabilità Obesità Correlata, TSD-OC). ⋯ The TSD-OC is a reliable and valid instrument for measuring self-reported disability in obese subjects. It may represent an important tool for establishing rehabilitation needs in individuals with obesity-related disability, for planning appropriate rehabilitation programmes and for evaluating their effectiveness.
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Comparative Study
The Italian version of the Sickness Impact Profile-Roland Scale for chronic pain: cross-cultural adaptation, reliability, validity and sensitivity to change.
As no adapted form of the 23-item Sickness Impact Profile (SIP)-Roland Scale for patients with chronic pain has ever been validated in the Italian population, the aim of this study was to translate, culturally adapt and validate an Italian version. ⋯ The SIP-Roland scale was successfully translated into Italian, showing satisfactory psychometric properties. The measure can be recommended for use in research and clinical practice to improve the assessment of physical dysfunction in subjects with chronic pain.
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Multicenter Study
Changes in falls risk factors for geriatric diagnostic groups across inpatient, outpatient and domiciliary rehabilitation settings.
To compare falls event rates and risk factors for falls across three rehabilitation settings. ⋯ Risk factors for falls, including medical diagnosis, are not necessarily universal across settings. Balance performance was a significant risk factor for outpatient and domiciliary settings but was not a risk factor for inpatients. Cognitive status and a previous history of falls were, however, consistent risk factors across all settings. This suggests that different approaches for the prevention of falls may be required for the same diagnostic group of patients depending on the location of the rehabilitation setting.