Content of conventional therapy for the severely affected arm during subacute rehabilitation after stroke: An analysis of physiotherapy and occupational therapy practice.

Physiother Res Int

Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, and Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, The Netherlands.

Published: January 2018

AI Article Synopsis

  • Physiotherapy (PT) and occupational therapy (OT) are crucial for stroke survivors with severe arm impairments, but their treatment details are often unclear and need further analysis.
  • A study evaluated the treatment durations and methods used by PTs and OTs, focusing on 46 stroke patients in the Netherlands over eight weeks, revealing that OTs spent more time on arm treatment and daily activities compared to PTs.
  • The findings indicate limited arm-focused interventions for these patients, highlighting a significant overlap in PT and OT practices, but caution that results may not apply universally to all patient populations.

Article Abstract

Background And Purpose: Physiotherapy (PT) and occupational therapy (OT) are key professions providing treatment for the arm after stroke; however, knowledge about the content of these treatments is scant. Detailed data are needed to replicate interventions, evaluate their effective components, and evaluate PT and OT practice. This paper describes PT and OT treatment for the severely affected arm in terms of duration, content according to components and categories of the International Classification of Human Functioning, Disability and Health, and to analyze differences between professions.

Methods: Design: This is a retrospective analysis of randomized trial data.

Participants: 46 patients after stroke with poor arm motor control recruited from inpatient neurological units from three rehabilitation centers in the Netherlands.

Procedure: PTs and OTs recorded duration and content of arm treatment interventions for 8 weeks using a bespoke treatment schedule with 15 International Classification of Human Functioning, Disability and Health categories.

Results: PTs and OTs spent on average 4-7 min per treatment session (30 min) on arm treatment. OTs spent significantly more time providing arm treatment and treatment at the activities level than PTs. PTs spent 79% of their arm treatment time on body functions, OTs 41%. OTs spent significantly more time on "moving around using transportation," "self care," and "household tasks" categories.

Conclusions: Patients after stroke with a severely affected arm and an unfavorable prognosis for arm motor recovery receive little arm-oriented PT and OT. Therapists spent most arm treatment time on body functions. There was a considerable overlap in the content of PT and OT in 12 of the 15 categories. Results can be generalized only to patients with poor arm motor control and may not represent practice in other countries.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/pri.1683DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

arm treatment
20
arm
12
severely arm
12
arm motor
12
ots spent
12
treatment
10
physiotherapy occupational
8
occupational therapy
8
duration content
8
international classification
8

Similar Publications

Background: Transitional-aged youth have a high burden of mental health difficulties in Canada, with Indigenous youth, in particular, experiencing additional circumstances that challenge their well-being. Mobile health (mHealth) approaches hold promise for supporting individuals in areas with less access to services such as Northern Ontario.

Objective: The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the JoyPop app in increasing emotion regulation skills for Indigenous transitional-aged youth (aged 18-25 years) on a waitlist for mental health services when compared with usual practice (UP).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Barriers to mental health assessment and intervention have been well documented within South Africa, in both urban and rural settings. Internationally, evidence has emerged for the effectiveness of technology and, specifically, app-based mental health tools and interventions to help overcome some of these barriers. However, research on digital interventions specific to the South African context and mental health is limited.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Early repair of flexor tendon injuries is ideal, but delays are common. We studied the outcomes of flexor tendon repairs delayed from 5 days to 6 months and carried out under wide-awake local anaesthesia with no tourniquet (WALANT). Twenty-four patients (29 fingers) who underwent primary flexor tendon repair on zone II using a four- to six-strand core suture technique, followed by controlled early active motion therapy.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Surgical clipping and endovascular coiling are both effective in preventing aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage, but the choice between these interventions remains controversial, leading to treatment disparities across medical centers.

Methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted, including relevant two-arm clinical trials up to September 2023, sourced from Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library. Our primary outcomes were complete occlusion rates during mid-term and long-term follow-ups.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

High-velocity traumatic amputations of the proximal upper extremity are devastating to the patient and represent an extreme surgical challenge to the treatment team. The hand surgeon must simultaneously battle devascularization with timely microvascular anastomosis, gross contamination with meticulous debridement, and amputation with stable fixation. In restoring a functional extremity, many of these goals are in contention with each other.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!