Evaluating inter- and intra-rater reliability in assessing upper limb compensatory movements post-stroke: creating a ground truth through video analysis?

Background: Compensatory movements frequently emerge in the process of motor recovery after a stroke. Given their potential for unfavorable long-term effects, it is crucial to assess and document compensatory movements throughout rehabilitation. However, clinically applicable assessment tools are currently limited.

Technology Use for Home-Based Stroke Rehabilitation in Switzerland From the Perspectives of Persons Living With Stroke, Informal Caregivers, and Therapists: Qualitative Interview and Focus Group Study.

Background: Stroke is a leading cause for long-term disability, requiring both inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation and self-training in the home environment. Technology-based tools are gradually gaining acceptance as additional and suitable options for extending the rehabilitation process. While the experiences of persons living with stroke, therapists, and informal caregivers with respect to technology use have already been investigated in other countries, this topic is underexplored in the Swiss context.

Remotely Assessing Motor Function and Activity of the Upper Extremity After Stroke: A Systematic Review of Validity and Clinical Utility of Tele-Assessments.

Objective: The aim of this systematic review is to identify currently available tele-assessments for motor impairments of the upper extremity in adults after a stroke and to assess their psychometric properties and clinical utility.

Data Sources: We searched for studies describing the psychometric properties of tele-assessments for the motor function of the upper extremity. A systematic search was conducted in the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Medline via OVID, Embase, The Cochrane Library, Scopus, Web of Science and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Xplore from inception until 30 April 2024.

Digital Health for Migrants, Ethnic and Cultural Minorities and the Role of Participatory Development: A Scoping Review.

Digital health interventions (DHIs) are increasingly used to address the health of migrants and ethnic minorities, some of whom have reduced access to health services and worse health outcomes than majority populations. This study aims to give an overview of digital health interventions developed for ethnic or cultural minority and migrant populations, the health problems they address, their effectiveness at the individual level and the degree of participation of target populations during development. We used the methodological approach of the scoping review outlined by Tricco.

Recovery of walking in nonambulatory children with chronic spinal cord injuries: Case series.

The immature central nervous system is recognized as having substantial neuroplastic capacity. In this study, we explored the hypothesis that rehabilitation can exploit that potential and elicit reciprocal walking in nonambulatory children with chronic, severe (i.e.

Evidence for gender differences in the Amphetamine/Methamphetamine ratio in the hair of subjects undergoing Fitness-to-Drive testing.

Background And Aims: Retrospective analysis of hair testing data provides insights in drugs abuse patterns and improves results interpretation. Cases from subjects undergoing driving fitness assessment (2010-2020) were examined to evidence patterns in methamphetamine (MA) abuse.

Materials And Methods: All cases with positive MA (≥0.

Getting the Best Out of Advanced Rehabilitation Technology for the Lower Limbs: Minding Motor Learning Principles.

Advanced technology, including gait-training devices, is increasingly being integrated into neurorehabilitation. However, to use gait-training devices to their optimal potential, it is important that they are applied in accordance with motor learning and locomotor training principles. In this article, we outline the most important principles and explain how advanced gait-training devices are best used to improve therapy outcome.

Retraining walking adaptability following incomplete spinal cord injury.

Introduction: Functional walking requires the ability to modify one's gait pattern to environmental demands and task goals-gait adaptability. Following incomplete spinal cord injury (ISCI), gait rehabilitation such as locomotor training (Basic-LT) emphasizes intense, repetitive stepping practice. Rehabilitation approaches focusing on practice of gait adaptability tasks have not been established for individuals with ISCIs but may promote recovery of higher level walking skills.

Upper Limb Recovery in Spinal Cord Injury: Involvement of Central and Peripheral Motor Pathways.

Background And Objective: The course of central and peripheral motor recovery after cervical spinal cord injury (SCI) may be investigated by electrophysiological measures. The goal of this study was to compare the 2 over the first year after injury in relation to motor gains.

Methods: Compound motor action potentials (CMAPs), motor-evoked potentials (MEPs), and F-waves were recorded from the abductor digiti minimi and CMAP and F-waves from abductor hallucis muscles in 305 patients at about 15 days, 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months following an acute traumatic SCI.

Long-term facilitation of ventilation in humans with chronic spinal cord injury.

Rationale: Intermittent stimulation of the respiratory system with hypoxia causes persistent increases in respiratory motor output (i.e., long-term facilitation) in animals with spinal cord injury.

One-year evolution of ulnar somatosensory potentials after trauma in 365 tetraplegic patients: early prediction of potential upper limb function.

Early prediction of hand function is crucial for efficient rehabilitation of cervical spinal cord injury (cSCI). This study investigated correlations between ulnar somatosensory evoked potentials (ulnar SSEPs) and functional outcome of hand function following acute traumatic cervical cord injury. Neurological assessment of sensory scores and hand function were compared with five ulnar SSEP categories of similar persistence and quality in 365 patients throughout the first year after cSCI.

Spinal cord injury: one-year evolution of motor-evoked potentials and recovery of leg motor function in 255 patients.

Background: The description of the natural course of recovery from a spinal cord injury (SCI) with spontaneous improvement of neurological, neurophysiological, and functional measures is an important prerequisite in appraising effects of upcoming interventional therapies.

Objective: To describe the spontaneous evolution of motor-evoked potentials of the anterior tibial muscle (TA-MEP) and their relation to outcomes of lower extremity motor scores (LEMS) and walking function in patients recovering from an acute SCI.

Methods: TA-MEPs were assessed in 255 SCI subjects within 5 time intervals throughout the first year after SCI with combined neurological and functional measures.

Unexpected recovery after robotic locomotor training at physiologic stepping speed: a single-case design.

Objectives: To investigate the effect of walking speed on the emergence of locomotor electromyogram (EMG) patterns in an individual with chronic incomplete spinal cord injury (SCI), and to determine whether central pattern generator activity during robotic locomotor training (RLT) transfers to volitional EMG activity during overground walking.

Design: Single-case (B-A-B; experimental treatment-withdrawal-experimental treatment) design.

Setting: Freestanding rehabilitation research center.

Computer implementation of the international standards for neurological classification of spinal cord injury for consistent and efficient derivation of its subscores including handling of data from not testable segments.

The International Standards for Neurological Classification of Spinal Cord Injury (ISNCSCI), defined by the American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA), and particularly the ASIA Impairment Scale (AIS) are widely used for research and clinical purposes. Although detailed procedures for scaling, scoring, and classification have been defined, misclassifications remain a major problem, especially for cases with missing (i.e.

Conversion in ASIA impairment scale during the first year after traumatic spinal cord injury.

The neurological severity of a spinal cord injury (SCI) is commonly classified according to the American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) Impairment Scale (AIS). The aim of this study was to assess the course of the AIS following SCI, and to discern the nature of any changes in the classification that occur. Assessments were performed in a European cohort of SCI patients within 2 weeks and at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after the initial injury.

Evolution of tibial SSEP after traumatic spinal cord injury: baseline for clinical trials.

Objective: To describe the spontaneous evolution of tibial somatosensory evoked potentials (tSSEPs) after spinal cord injury (SCI) and its relation to neurological and functional parameters.

Methods: tSSEPs were assessed in 297 patients within five standardized time intervals throughout the first year after injury, along with neurological and functional parameters.

Results: Roughly 60% of the patients did not show any recordable tSSEP throughout the first year after injury.