Pre-therapy Neural State of Bilateral Motor and Premotor Cortices Predicts Therapy Gain After Subcortical Stroke: A Pilot Study.

Objective: The aim of the study was to examine whether neural state of spared motor and premotor cortices captured before a therapy predicts therapy-related motor gains in chronic subcortical stroke.

Design: Ten survivors, presenting chronic moderate upper limb impairment, underwent proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy, magnetic resonance imaging, clinical, and kinematics assessments before a 4-wk impairment-oriented training. Clinical/kinematics assessments were repeated after therapy, and motor gain was defined as positive values of clinical upper limb/elbow motion changes and negative values of trunk motion changes.

Remote motor system metabolic profile and surgery outcome in cervical spondylotic myelopathy.

OBJECTIVE In patients with cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM), the motor system may undergo progressive functional/structural changes rostral to the lesion, and these changes may be associated with clinical disability. The extent to which these changes have a prognostic value in the clinical recovery after surgical treatment is not yet known. In this study, magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) was used to test 2 primary hypotheses.

Stroke Rehabilitation: Current American Stroke Association Guidelines, Care, and Implications for Practice.

Stroke attacked approximately 795,000 Americans last year, and it was the fifth leading cause of death in the United States. In 2016, the American Stroke Association published updated guidelines for stroke rehabilitation, with recommendations intended to improve systems of care and functional outcomes for people who suffer stroke and important recommendations regarding specific aspects of care. This article summarizes some of these recommendations with implications for those who treat stroke patients in their practices.

Relationships among religiousness, spirituality, and health for individuals with stroke.

The current study evaluated the relationships among spiritual beliefs, religious practices, physical health, and mental health for individuals with stroke. A cross-sectional analysis of 63 individuals evaluated in outpatient settings, including 32 individuals with stroke and 31 healthy controls was conducted through administration of the Brief Multidimensional Measure of Religiousness/Spirituality (BMMRS) and the Medical Outcomes Scale-Short Form 36 (SF-36). For individuals with stroke, the SF-36 General Mental Health scale was significantly correlated with only the BMMRS Religious and Spiritual Coping scale (r = .

Pharmacologic approaches to geriatric pain management.

Unlabelled: This focused review highlights pharmacologic approaches to geriatric pain management. It is part of the study guide on geriatric rehabilitation in the Self-Directed Physiatric Education Program for practitioners and trainees in physical medicine and rehabilitation. This article specifically focuses on age-specific differences in pain assessment and use of medications for pain management in older adults.