Exercise testing protocol using a roller system for manual wheelchair users with spinal cord injury.

Objective: Determine the validity and reliability of an exercise testing protocol to evaluate cardiorespiratory measures in manual wheelchair users (MWUs) with spinal cord injury (SCI) using a roller-based (RS) wheelchair system.

Design: Repeated measures within-subject design.

Setting: Community-based research laboratory.

A Method for Quantifying Upper Limb Performance in Daily Life Using Accelerometers.

A key reason for referral to rehabilitation services after stroke and other neurological conditions is to improve one's ability to function in daily life. It has become important to measure a person's activities in daily life, and not just measure their capacity for activity in the structured environment of a clinic or laboratory. A wearable sensor that is now enabling measurement of daily movement is the accelerometer.

Does Task-Specific Training Improve Upper Limb Performance in Daily Life Poststroke?

Background: A common assumption is that changes in upper limb (UL) capacity, or what an individual is capable of doing, translates to improved UL performance in daily life, or what an individual actually does. This assumption should be explicitly tested for individuals with UL paresis poststroke.

Objective: To examine changes in UL performance after an intensive, individualized, progressive, task-specific UL intervention for individuals at least 6 months poststroke.

A motor learning approach to training wheelchair propulsion biomechanics for new manual wheelchair users: A pilot study.

Context/objective: Developing an evidence-based approach to teaching wheelchair skills and proper propulsion for everyday wheelchair users with a spinal cord injury (SCI) is important to their rehabilitation. The purpose of this project was to pilot test manual wheelchair training based on motor learning and repetition-based approaches for new manual wheelchair users with an SCI.

Design: A repeated measures within-subject design was used with participants acting as their own controls.

Quantifying Real-World Upper-Limb Activity in Nondisabled Adults and Adults With Chronic Stroke.

Background: Motor capability is commonly assessed inside the clinic, but motor performance in real-world settings (ie, outside of the clinic) is seldom assessed because measurement tools are lacking.

Objective: To quantify real-world bilateral upper-limb (UL) activity in nondisabled adults and adults with stroke using a recently developed accelerometry-based methodology.

Methods: Nondisabled adults (n = 74) and adults with chronic stroke (n = 48) wore accelerometers on both wrists for 25 to 26 hours.

An accelerometry-based methodology for assessment of real-world bilateral upper extremity activity.

Background: The use of both upper extremities (UE) is necessary for the completion of many everyday tasks. Few clinical assessments measure the abilities of the UEs to work together; rather, they assess unilateral function and compare it between affected and unaffected UEs. Furthermore, clinical assessments are unable to measure function that occurs in the real-world, outside the clinic.

Effect of metatarsal phalangeal joint extension on plantar soft tissue stiffness and thickness.

Background: Plantar soft tissue stiffness and thickness are important biomechanical variables to understand stress concentrations that may contribute to tissue injury.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of passive metatarsal phalangeal joint (MPJ) extension on plantar soft tissue stiffness and thickness.

Methods: Seventeen healthy participants (7 male, 10 female, mean age 25.

Validity and reliability of a system to measure passive tissue characteristics of the lumbar region during trunk lateral bending in people with and people without low back pain.

The current study examined the validity and reliability of a new system that was developed to measure lumbar region passive stiffness and end range of motion during a trunk lateral bending movement in vivo. Variables measured included force, end range lumbar region motion, torque, lumbar region stiffness, and passive elastic energy. Validity of the force measurements was examined using standard weights.

Foot pressures during level walking are strongly associated with pressures during other ambulatory activities in subjects with diabetic neuropathy.

Objective: To assess the relationship between foot pressures measured during level walking and other types of ambulatory activity in subjects with diabetes mellitus (DM) and peripheral neuropathy (PN).

Design: Descriptive survey with repeated measures.

Setting: University medical center.

Plantar tissue stiffness in patients with diabetes mellitus and peripheral neuropathy.

Objective: To determine if a difference exists in the plantar soft tissue of patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) and peripheral neuropathy (PN) compared with age-matched controls.

Design: Case-control study with a parallel 3-element 1-dimensional viscoelastic model developed to characterize indentation data.

Setting: Data collection performed in an academic physical therapy laboratory.