OBJECTIVE To test the potential of wrist guards to prevent wrist injury in recreational activities that require good grip strength and hand dexterity. METHODS Forty eight children aged 5-8 years from one Melbourne school volunteered for tests chosen or devised following a review of the literature on the effects of orthoses use and hand function. RESULTS Wrist guard wearing significantly deg...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the clinical efficacy of zoledronic acid in patients with diabetes and acute Charcot neuroarthropathy. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Thirty-nine consecutive patients were randomly assigned to placebo or three intravenous infusions of 4 mg zoledronic acid. The primary outcome was clinical resolution of acute Charcot neuroarthropathy determined by total immobilization tim...

Searching The Cochrane Library (Issue 3, 2000), RECAL Information Services, MEDLINE, CINAHL, EMBASE, SIGLE, AMED and Inspec were searched from 1994 to 2000. Unpublished studies were sought in the UK National Research Register, through the National Health Service Research and Development website, ASLIB Index to Theses (UK theses) and Dissertation Abstracts (including North America). The Internet...

The interactive effects of neuro-developmental treatment and inhibitive ankle-height orthoses on gait were examined via a single-subject research design. Knee flexion during gait at initial contact, mid-stance, heel-off, and mid-swing were measured in a 2-year-old girl with diplegia by use of a goniometer and freeze-frame videography. During the treatment and treatment/orthoses phases, a decrea...

Introduction: Prefabricated foot orthoses are being widely used in the management of foot and lower limb foot pathology (Landorf et al, 2001). There are many difference brands with many different design parameters available on the market for clinical use. They have been shown effective in the clinical management of pathology (Pfeffer et al, 1999; Landorf et al, 2003; Payne & Dawes, 2004). Given...

This author’s perspective is possibly unique among the other contributors to this volume because he witnessed the early evolution of rehabilitation engineering in Canada and the United States, first working as a young clinical rehabilitation engineer and later as an academic researcher in both countries. This contribution focuses largely on the Canadian contribution, with emphasis on the politi...

Previous publications have reported on the flexibility of ankle-foot orthoses (AFO) only in the same plane as the applied load. This paper reports on a test apparatus developed to detect the flexibility of an AFO in 5 degrees of freedom when subjected to a plantar/dorsiflexion moment, a medial/lateral moment or a torque. A moment applied to an AFO in one plane induces angulation and translation...

Brain-machine interfaces (BMI) may support motor impaired patients during activities of daily living by controlling external devices such as prostheses (assistive BMI). Moreover, BMIs are applied in conjunction with robotic orthoses for rehabilitation of lost motor function via neurofeedback training (restorative BMI). Using assistive BMI in a rehabilitation context does not automatically turn ...

BACKGROUND Despite increasing use of assistive devices (ADs) by physically disabled (PD) children, the use rate, number, effects and related services have seldom been studied. Understanding AD utilization is helpful in improving the related services. This study describes the usage of ADs by children with physical disabilities (PDs). METHODS This regional survey enrolled children with PDs. The...

Methods We examined 106 patients (96 females, 10 males) affected by AIS. The patients were treated with different types of orthoses (Lionese, Milwaukee, P.A.S.B., Lionese+P.A.S.B., Milwaukee+P.A.S.B., Milwaukee+Lionese). In order to evaluate the compliance and the final results related to the patient's behavior, we considered the following: the patient's compliance as related to bracing method,...