OBJECTIVE The purpose of the study was to evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of robot-assisted hand rehabilitation in improving arm function abilities in sub-acute hemiplegic patients. DESIGN Randomized controlled pilot study. SETTING Inpatient rehabilitation centers. PARTICIPANTS Thirty hemiplegic stroke patients (Ashworth spasticity index <3) were recruited and randomly divided into ...

BACKGROUND: Shoulder subluxation is a frequent complication after stroke causing joint instability, shoulder pain, decreased activities of daily living, and impedance to rehabilitation progress. Electrical stimulation (ES) considered an effective modality reduce in acute stroke. However, few studies have investigated the effect position-triggered ES, which induces active muscle contraction thou...

BACKGROUND Early prognosis, adequate goal setting, and referral are important for stroke management. OBJECTIVE To investigate if independent gait 6 months poststroke can be accurately predicted within the first 72 hours poststroke, based on simple clinical bedside tests. Reassessment on days 5 and 9 was used to check whether accuracy changed over time. METHODS In 154 first-ever ischemic str...

[Purpose] The aims of this study were to identify the relationship between motor recovery and gait velocity during dual tasks in patients with chronic stroke and determine automatic gait ability following stroke. [Subjects and Methods] Thirty-three outpatients and twelve healthy subjects participated in a cross-sectional assessment. Community ambulation was assessed using a self-administered qu...

Although visual neglect is a predictor of poor outcome after stroke, some patients regain independence, whilst others take up considerable rehabilitation resources. Intensive treatment of visual neglect is available and a knowledge of the predictive features in the recovery of these patients would be helpful in the early selection of patients for treatment. A study was therefore carried out to ...

This study aimed to evaluate the clinical significance of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in the early diagnosis of pyramidal tract Wallerian degeneration (WD) and assessment of neurological recovery following cerebral infarction. This study included 23 patients with acute cerebral infarction and 10 healthy adult controls. All participants underwent both magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and DTI ...

The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of an RCT to investigate VR mediated therapy in comparison to standard physiotherapy alone in the motor rehabilitation of the upper limb following stroke, and to provide data to inform a power analysis to determine numbers for a future trial. A single blinded randomised controlled trial was conducted. Participants were recruited from two hospi...

This study's aims were (1) to test whether training on an arm ergometer improves motor performance, and (2) to develop a technique to quantify individual muscle spasticity. Nine patients with a stabilized hemisyndrome (in average 22 months after ischemic stroke in the territory of middle cerebral artery) underwent a 3-week training on an arm ergometer, 5 days/week. The patients were tested one ...

Single-photon emission computed tomography with thallium-201-labeled diethyldithiocarbamate was performed in 26 consecutive patients less than or equal to 24 hours after a supratentorial brain infarction. Computed tomography excluded other relevant pathology. Two observers assessed the initial regional cerebral blood flow deficit using a semiquantitative visual method. The size of the initial f...