A tool for measuring mental workload during prosthesis use: The Prosthesis Task Load Index (PROS-TLX).

When using a upper-limb prosthesis, mental, emotional, and physical effort is often experienced. These have been linked to high rates of device dissatisfaction and rejection. Therefore, understanding and quantifying the complex nature of workload experienced when using, or learning to use, a upper-limb prosthesis has practical and clinical importance for researchers and applied professionals.

Do psychological factors relate to movement-evoked pain in people with musculoskeletal pain? A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: A growing body of evidence has demonstrated the importance of implementing movement-evoked pain in conventional pain assessments, with a significant role for psychological factors being suggested. Whether or not to include these factors in the assessment of movement-evoked pain has not yet been determined.

Objectives: The aim of this systematic review is to explore the association between psychological factors and movement-evoked pain scores in people with musculoskeletal pain.

COVID-19: Assessing the impact of lockdown on recreational athletes.

Background And Aims: The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in associated lockdown restrictions for individuals across England, including the postponement of all recreational sporting provisions. The beneficial effects of regular physical activity are well established yet to the authors' knowledge, no research addresses the cancellation of all recreational provisions. Using quantitative and qualitative methods, this study assessed the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on recreational sports players, what alternative exercise methods have been sought and how players feel about returning to their sport.

Action Imagery and Observation in Neurorehabilitation for Parkinson's Disease (ACTION-PD): Development of a User-Informed Home Training Intervention to Improve Functional Hand Movements.

Background: Parkinson's disease (PD) causes difficulties with hand movements, which few studies have addressed therapeutically. Training with action observation (AO) and motor imagery (MI) improves performance in healthy individuals, particularly when the techniques are applied simultaneously (AO + MI). Both AO and MI have shown promising effects in people with PD, but previous studies have only used these separately.

Neurophysiological markers discriminate different forms of motor imagery during action observation.

The dual-action simulation hypothesis proposes that both an observed and an imagined action can be represented simultaneously in the observer's brain. These two sensorimotor streams would either merge or compete depending on their relative suitability for action planning. To test this hypothesis, three forms of combined action observation and motor imagery (AO + MI) instructions were used in this repeated-measures experiment.

Using Action-congruent Language Facilitates the Motor Response during Action Observation: A Combined Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation and Eye-tracking Study.

There is evidence that action observation (AO) and the processing of action-related words are associated with increased activity in cortical motor regions. Research has examined the effects of AO and action verb processing on activity in the motor system independently. The aim of this experiment was to investigate, for the first time, the modulation of corticospinal excitability and visual attention during the concurrent processing of action verbs and AO stimuli.

Eye Gaze Markers Indicate Visual Attention to Threatening Images in Individuals with Chronic Back Pain.

Research into attentional biases and threatening, pain-related information has primarily been investigated using reaction time as the dependent variable. This study aimed to extend previous research to provide a more in depth investigation of chronic back pain and individuals' attention to emotional stimuli by recording eye movement behavior. Individuals with chronic back pain ( = 18) were recruited from a back rehabilitation program and age and sex matched against 17 non-symptomatic controls.

Observation of an action with a congruent contextual background facilitates corticospinal excitability: A combined TMS and eye-tracking experiment.

Action observation produces activity in similar regions of the brain to those involved in action execution and can offer an effective intervention for motor (re)learning, although optimal viewing conditions for such interventions remain to be established. In this experiment, single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and eye-tracking were used simultaneously to investigate the effect of manipulating background context on both corticospinal excitability and visual attention during action observation. Twenty-four participants observed four different videos: (i) a static hand holding a sponge (control condition); and an index finger-thumb pinch of a sponge against (ii) a plain black background; (iii) a background containing objects that were incongruent with the observed action; and (iv) a background containing objects that were congruent with the observed action.

Screen Position Preference Offers a New Direction for Action Observation Research: Preliminary Findings Using TMS.

Action observation has been suggested to be an effective adjunct to physical practice in motor (re)learning settings. However, optimal viewing conditions for interventions are yet to be established. Single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was used to investigate the effect of two different screen positions and participants' screen position viewing preference on the amplitude of motor evoked potentials (MEPs) during observation of a ball pinch action.

Directing visual attention during action observation modulates corticospinal excitability.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) research has shown that corticospinal excitability is facilitated during the observation of human movement. However, the relationship between corticospinal excitability and participants' visual attention during action observation is rarely considered. Nineteen participants took part in four conditions: (i) a static hand condition, involving observation of a right hand holding a ball between the thumb and index finger; (ii) a free observation condition, involving observation of the ball being pinched between thumb and index finger; and (iii and iv) finger-focused and ball-focused conditions, involving observation of the same ball pinch action with instructions to focus visual attention on either the index finger or the ball.

Defensive High-Anxious Individuals Demonstrate Difference Responses to Pain Management to Those with Lower Levels of Defensiveness and Anxiety.

Objectives: Few studies have considered the effect of Weinberger et al.'s personality types on the management of pain. The aims of this study were to (1) identify whether the relationships between pain intensity, cognitive factors, and disability at 3 and 6 months postbaseline differ as a result of personality type; and (2) identify whether personality type affects the likelihood of achieving a minimal clinically important change in pain intensity or disability at 3 and 6 months.

Personality Type Influences Attentional Bias in Individuals with Chronic Back Pain.

Attentional biases reflect an individual's selective attention to salient stimuli within their environment, for example an experience of back pain. Eysenck suggests that different personality types show different attentional biases to threatening information. This study is the first to test Eysenck's theory within a chronic back pain population by investigating the attentional biases of four different personality types using a back pain specific dot-probe paradigm.

A qualitative investigation of factors that matter to individuals in the pain management process.

Objective: Chronic musculoskeletal pain is a complex condition to manage with widespread consequences including physical disability, psychosocial effects and increased use of healthcare. Previous research has found patients' experiences within health care can be influenced by factors such as expectations, therapist characteristics and treatment process. This study used patient interviews to identify the key factors that influence individuals' experiences in the management of chronic pain.

Influence of Defensiveness on Disability in a Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain Population.

Objective: This study aimed to identify the following: (1) the proportion of the defensive high-anxious personality type in a chronic pain population; (2) whether personality type affects the relationships between cognitive factors and disability.

Method: Sixty patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain, referred to a hospital for treatment, completed questionnaires assessing defensiveness, trait anxiety, pain intensity, disability, depression, catastrophizing, self-efficacy, and kinesiophobia. Personality type was assessed using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale.