An observational study of the impact of professional walking aid prescription on gait parameters for individuals with suspected balance impairments.

Background: The primary management strategy for gait impairment is the adoption of a walking aid. However, there are no established criteria upon which to base a decision regarding the need for a walking aid. It appears clinicians prescribe aids based on preference, clinical experience and intuition rather than standardised objective rationale.

Predicting post-surgical outcomes in idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus using clinically important changes from the cerebrospinal fluid tap test.

Objective: Patients diagnosed with idiopathic Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus (iNPH) typically experience symptom improvements after undergoing a cerebrospinal fluid-tap test (CSF-TT), These improvements are recognized as indicative of potential improvements following surgical intervention. As gait disturbance is the most common iNPH symptom, gait improvements are of predominant interest. The purpose of this study was to examine if clinically important changes in gait and balance from CSF-TT predict meaningful changes following surgery.

Ten-Second Tandem Stance Test: A Potential Tool to Assist Walking Aid Prescription and Falls Risk in Balance Impaired Individuals.

Objective: To assess the utility of a 10-second tandem stance test in predicting gait impairment and the need for a mobility aid.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: Public hospital ambulatory and hospitalized care.

Determining the benefits of transcranial direct current stimulation on functional upper limb movement in chronic stroke.

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has been proposed as a tool to enhance stroke rehabilitation; however, evidence to support its use is lacking. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of anodal and cathodal tDCS on upper limb function in chronic stroke patients. Twenty five participants were allocated to receive 20 min of 1 mA of anodal, cathodal or sham cortical stimulation in a random, counterbalanced order.

Corrigendum: No Effect of Anodal Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Over the Motor Cortex on Response-Related ERPs during a Conflict Task.

[This corrects the article on p. 384 in vol. 10, PMID: 27547180.

No Effect of Anodal Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Over the Motor Cortex on Response-Related ERPs during a Conflict Task.

Anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the motor cortex is considered a potential treatment for motor rehabilitation following stroke and other neurological pathologies. However, both the context under which this stimulation is effective and the underlying mechanisms remain to be determined. In this study, we examined the mechanisms by which anodal tDCS may affect motor performance by recording event-related potentials (ERPs) during a cued go/nogo task after anodal tDCS over dominant primary motor cortex (M1) in young adults (Experiment 1) and both dominant and non-dominant M1 in older adults (Experiment 2).

Community-dwelling stroke survivors: function is not the whole story with quality of life.

Objective: To compare function and quality of life in community-dwelling stroke survivors at 1, 3, and 5 years after stroke.

Design: A community-based, cross-sectional study of 3 retrospective cohorts.

Setting: Community-dwelling stroke survivors in Australia.