BACKGROUND To investigate the effectiveness of upper limb rehabilitation, sound measures of upper limb function, capacity, and performance are paramount. OBJECTIVES This systematic review investigates reliability and responsiveness of upper limb measurement tools used in pediatric neurorehabilitation. METHODS A 2-tiered search was conducted up to July 2014. The first search identified upper...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Botulinum toxin is increasingly used to treat upper limb spasticity due to stroke, but its impact on arm function is unclear. We evaluated botulinum toxin for upper limb spasticity and function poststroke. METHODS Three hundred thirty-three patients with stroke with upper limb spasticity and reduced arm function participated in a multicenter randomized controlled trial....

BACKGROUND Work as a librarian involves exposure to potential risk factors for developing upper limb disorders. The prevalence of upper limb symptoms has, however, not previously been assessed in this occupational group. AIMS To estimate the 7-day and annual prevalence of self-reported neck and upper limb symptoms in librarians and to examine associations with specific tasks and ergonomic ris...

Existing functional evaluation tools do not accurately reveal the improved function following botulinum toxin A (BTX-A) injection for post-stroke upper limb spasticity. With the aim of developing an alternate method of measuring functional improvement following BTX-A injection, this study tested the feasibility, validity and reliability of video clip analysis performed by the clinicians. Sevent...

Direct evidence supporting the contribution of upper limb motion on the generation of locomotive motor output in humans is still limited. Here, we aimed to examine the effect of upper limb motion on locomotor-like muscle activities in the lower limb in persons with spinal cord injury (SCI). By imposing passive locomotion-like leg movements, all cervical incomplete (n = 7) and thoracic complete ...

We used an instrumented wheelchair ergometer and 3D motion analysis system to collect joint kinematic and temporal data, as well as hand rim and joint kinetics, in 47 manual wheelchair users (MWCUs) (15 with upper-limb impairment and 32 without upper-limb impairment). The group with upper-limb impairment propelled with a higher stroke frequency and reduced hand-rim contact time, and smaller pea...

Cathodal transcranial direct current stimulation (c-tDCS) can reduce excitability of neurons in primary motor cortex (M1) and may facilitate motor recovery after stroke. However, little is known about the neurophysiological effects of tDCS on proximal upper limb function. We hypothesized that suppression of contralesional M1 (cM1) excitability would produce neurophysiological effects that depen...

Recent studies on neurologically intact individuals and individuals with spinal cord injury indicate that rhythmic upper limb muscle activation has an excitatory effect on lower limb muscle activation during locomotor-like tasks. This finding suggests that gait rehabilitation therapy after neurological injury should incorporate simultaneous upper limb and lower limb rhythmic exercise to take ad...

Background: Tai chi (TC) has been reported as being beneficial for improving balance post stroke, yet its utility in upper limb rehabilitation remains unknown. Methods: Twelve chronic stroke survivors with persistent paresis of an upper limb underwent 60 minutes of adapted TC twice a week for eight weeks, with a 4-week follow up. A 10-min TC home program was recommended for the days without ses...

BACKGROUND Complex regional pain syndrome type 1 (CRPSt1) of the upper limb is a painful and debilitating condition, frequent after stroke, and interferes with the rehabilitative process and outcome. However, treatments used for CRPSt1 of the upper limb are limited. OBJECTIVE . This randomized controlled study was conducted to compare the effectiveness on pain and upper limb function of mirro...