CONNECTing Concussion Care with Research Across Ontario.

Common data elements (CDEs) for concussion, as established by international bodies, are not being widely used in Ontario, resulting in significant variability in the data being assessed and collected across clinics. CDEs support standardization of care as well as large-scale data sharing for high impact research. A collaborative network - - comprised of health care professionals, researchers, members from advocacy groups, and patients was formed to establish and implement CDEs for concussion care and research.

Current Practice, Barriers to, and Facilitators of Exercise Testing and Training by Physiotherapists in Cystic Fibrosis Specialized Centres in Canada.

This study surveyed physiotherapists working at Canadian cystic fibrosis (CF) specialized centres to investigate the current practice, barriers to, and facilitators of exercise testing and training. Physiotherapists were recruited from 42 Canadian CF centres. They responded to an e-questionnaire regarding their practice.

Applying the ICF model in adult spinal deformity: disability in terms of participation should be incorporated in the care pathway.

Purpose: To investigate the participation restriction of adult spinal deformity (ASD) patients, and its relation with the impairments in body structure and function, and activity limitation, as this important information regarding the individual's perspective on the social impact of the disease on their life is presently not captured.

Methods: Forty-three ASD patients participated in the study and completed the impact on participation and autonomy (IPA) questionnaire to assess the level of participation. Activity limitations and impairments were measured with the Balance Evaluation Systems Test (BESTest) and Scoliosis Research Society-22r (SRS-22).

Potential advantages, barriers, and facilitators of implementing a cognitive orthosis for cooking for individuals with traumatic brain injury: the healthcare providers' perspective.

Purpose: Considering the key role of health care providers in integrating assistive technologies into clinical settings (e.g., in/outpatient rehabilitation) and home, this study explored the care providers' perspectives on to the implementation of the Cognitive Orthosis for coOking (COOK) for adults with traumatic brain injury (TBI) within clinical contexts and homes.

Impacts of Motion-Based Technology on Balance, Movement Confidence, and Cognitive Function Among People With Dementia or Mild Cognitive Impairment: Protocol for a Quasi-Experimental Pre- and Posttest Study.

Background: While exercise can benefit the health and well-being of people with dementia or mild cognitive impairment, many exercise programs offered to this population are passive, unengaging, and inaccessible, resulting in poor adherence. Motion-based technologies are increasingly being explored to encourage exercise participation among people with dementia or mild cognitive impairment. However, the impacts of using motion-based technologies with people with dementia or mild cognitive impairment on variables including balance, movement confidence, and cognitive function have yet to be determined.

Defective corticomuscular connectivity during walking in patients with Parkinson's disease.

Gait disturbances are common in individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD). Although the basic patterns of walking are thought to be controlled by the brainstem and spinal networks, recent studies have found significant corticomuscular coherence in healthy individuals during walking. However, it still remains unknown how PD affects the cortical control of muscles during walking.

The effects of hypoxia on muscle deoxygenation and recruitment in the flexor digitorum superficialis during submaximal intermittent handgrip exercise.

Background: Decreased oxygenation of muscle may be accentuated during exercise at high altitude. Monitoring the oxygen saturation of muscle (SmO) during hand grip exercise using near infrared spectroscopy during acute exposure to hypoxia could provide a model for a test of muscle performance without the competing cardiovascular stresses that occur during a cycle ergometer or treadmill test. The purpose of this study was to examine and compare acute exposure to normobaric hypoxia versus normoxia on deoxygenation and recruitment of the flexor digitorum superficialis (FDS) during submaximal intermittent handgrip exercise (HGE) in healthy adults.

Neck and Inspiratory Muscle Recruitment during Inspiratory Loading and Neck Flexion.

Purpose: This study aimed to compare muscle activation of the diaphragm (DIA), scalenes (SA), parasternal intercostals (PS), and sternomastoid (SM) during submaximal intermittent neck flexion (INF) versus submaximal inspiratory threshold loading (ITL) until task failure in healthy adults.

Methods: Twelve healthy adults performed submaximal ITL or INF tests in random order for 2 d. Surface electromyography was monitored to acquire root mean square (RMS) and median power frequency (MPF) from the SA, PS, SM, and DIA.

The three-dimensional shoulder pain alignment (3D-SPA) mobilization improves pain-free shoulder range, functional reach and sleep following stroke: a pilot randomized control trial.

Following a stroke, three-dimensional clavicular/scapular/humeral joint rotations may become restricted and contribute to post-stroke shoulder pain. This study examined whether a treatment group provided with current standard treatment plus the proposed "Three-dimensional Shoulder Pain Alignment" mobilization protocol demonstrated improved pain-free shoulder range, functional reach and sleep compared to a control group provided with standard treatment alone. In this double-blinded parallel-group randomized control trial, treatment and control subjects with moderate/severe post-stroke upper extremity impairment and shoulder pain were treated 3x/week for 4 weeks.

Muscle architecture of vastus medialis obliquus and longus and its functional implications: A three-dimensional investigation.

Vastus medialis (VM) has two partitions, longus (VML), and obliquus (VMO), which have been implicated in knee pathologies. However, muscle architecture of VMO and VML has not been documented volumetrically. The aims of this study were to determine and compare the muscle architecture of VMO and VML in three-dimensional (3D) space, and to elucidate their relative functional capabilities.

Important Movement Concepts: Clinical Versus Neuroscience Perspectives.

Human movement is complex, presenting clinical and research challenges regarding how it is described and investigated. This paper discusses the commonalities and differences on how human movement is conceptualized from neuroscientific and clinical perspectives with respect to postural control; the limitations of linear measures; movement efficiency with respect to metabolic energy cost and selectivity; and, how muscle synergy analysis may contribute to our understanding of movement variability. We highlight the role of sensory information on motor performance with respect to the base of support and alignment, illustrating a potential disconnect between the clinical and neuroscientific perspectives.

Interventions to address burden among family caregivers of persons aging with TBI: A scoping review.

Purpose: To capture the scope of literature exploring interventions for caregivers of aging persons with TBI.

Methods: A scoping review of peer reviewed literature was conducted in two phases. Phase I: Searching seven databases, two independent raters screened articles using a set of predetermined criteria.

Transitions sit to stand and stand to sit in persons post-stroke: Path of centre of mass, pelvic and limb loading - A pilot study.

Background: To explore the movement patterns utilized by persons post stroke from the simultaneous perspective of pelvic and limb loading with the path of centre of mass during the movement transitions sit to stand and stand to sit.

Methods: A descriptive pilot study where kinetic and kinematic data were collected and compared between the contribution made by the less affected versus more affected lower limb and trunk during sit to stand and stand to sit following stroke. Movement analysis was undertaken using force-plates and a 3D VICON motion capture system.

Research Priorities for Optimizing Long-term Community Integration after Brain Injury.

Objective: This paper reports on a funded summit, which convened a multidisciplinary group of experts to provide consensus on the research priorities necessary for improving long-term community integration of individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and their caregivers.

Methods: The 2-day summit was directed using the World Café Methodology, to engage stakeholders and collaboratively arrive at a consensus on the problems to be targeted in research. Participants (n=54), drawn from two Canadian provinces, included an interdisciplinary group of researchers, clinicians, representatives from brain injury associations, individuals with TBI, and caregivers.

The Canadian Pediatric Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Common Data Elements Project: Harmonizing Outcomes to Increase Understanding of Pediatric Concussion.

A critical component for accelerating the clinical uptake of research data in the area of pediatric concussion or mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) pertains to the establishment and utilization of common databases. The objective of the first phase of our CanPedCDE initiative was to agree upon pediatric common data elements (CDEs) that could best characterize children with MTBI over their recovery period. The selection of CDEs for our framework aimed to balance factors such as the comprehensiveness of outcomes collected, their applicability to diverse settings, as well as the costs associated with their use.

Dynamic cortical participation during bilateral, cyclical ankle movements: Effects of Parkinson's disease.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is known to increase asymmetry and variability of bilateral movements. However, the mechanisms of such abnormalities are not fully understood. Here, we aimed to investigate whether kinematic abnormalities are related to cortical participation during bilateral, cyclical ankle movements, which required i) maintenance of a specific frequency and ii) bilateral coordination of the lower limbs in an anti-phasic manner.

Three-dimensional assessment of the asymptomatic and post-stroke shoulder: intra-rater test-retest reliability and within-subject repeatability of the palpation and digitization approach.

Altered three-dimensional (3D) joint kinematics can contribute to shoulder pathology, including post-stroke shoulder pain. Reliable assessment methods enable comparative studies between asymptomatic shoulders of healthy subjects and painful shoulders of post-stroke subjects, and could inform treatment planning for post-stroke shoulder pain. The study purpose was to establish intra-rater test-retest reliability and within-subject repeatability of a palpation/digitization protocol, which assesses 3D clavicular/scapular/humeral rotations, in asymptomatic and painful post-stroke shoulders.

Postural Stability in Healthy Child and Youth Athletes: The Effect of Age, Sex, and Concussion-Related Factors on Performance.

Background: Postural stability plays a key role in sport performance, especially after concussion. Specific to healthy child and youth athletes, little is known about the influence development and sex may have on postural stability while considering other subjective clinical measures used in baseline/preinjury concussion assessment. This study aims to describe age- and sex-based trends in postural stability in uninjured child and youth athletes at baseline while accounting for concussion-related factors.

Cardiorespiratory Responses to Short Bouts of Resistance Training Exercises in Individuals With Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: A COMPARISON OF EXERCISE INTENSITIES.

Purpose: Resistance training is recommended in pulmonary rehabilitation for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD); however, the acute cardiorespiratory responses to different intensities of resistance training are not known. We compared acute cardiorespiratory responses with high-intensity versus low-intensity resistance exercises in persons with COPD and healthy, matched controls. This research may assist in developing training parameters in COPD.

Postural disorders in mouth breathing children: a systematic review.

Background: Mouth breathing syndrome can cause sleep disturbances that compromise the performance of children in school. It might also cause postural abnormalities involving the head and cervical spine; however, the association between postural abnormalities and mouth breathing in children is unclear.

Objective: To assess the methodological quality of studies and determine if there is an association between mouth breathing and postural disorders in children.

Conceptualizing movement by expert Bobath instructors in neurological rehabilitation.

Rationale, Aims, And Objectives: Movement, a core aspect of physiotherapy practice, and integral to the clinical reasoning process has undergone limited theoretical development. Instead, research has focused on intervention effectiveness embedded within the positivist paradigm. The purpose of this study was to explore how expert neurorehabilitation therapists conceptualize movement as part of their clinical reasoning.