BACKGROUND Deficiency in upper limb development is a sequel of the perinatal brachial plexus palsy. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of brachial plexus birth lesion on upper limb development. METHODS Forty-four patients with unilateral obstetric brachial plexus palsy underwent measurements of both upper extremities. The average age at the time of evaluation was 6.8 years. ...

This article introduces a new approach of selective neural electrical stimulation of the upper limb nerves. Median and radial nerves of individuals with tetraplegia are stimulated via a multipolar cuff electrode to elicit movements of wrist and hand in acute conditions during a surgical intervention. Various configurations corresponding to various combinations of a 12-poles cuff electrode conta...

This study evaluates stroke patients with upper-limb (UL) motor deficits using measures of impairment and "activity limitation" to quantify recovery of UL function poststroke and to identify predictors of UL function and predictors of UL recovery following stroke. The study also compares the recovery of UL function with that of the lower limb (LL). Measures of impairment and "activity limitatio...

[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of task-oriented bilateral arm training and repetitive bilateral arm training on upper limb function and activities of daily living in stroke patients. [Subjects] Forty patients with hemiplegia resulting from stroke were divided into a task orientied bilateral arm training group (n=20) and a repetitive bilateral arm training gro...

OBJECTIVES To determine the power-duration relationship in upper limb exercises and to investigate the relationships between parameters derived from this function with physiological indicators of aerobic fitness. METHODS Ten healthy men (26.2 ± 2.3 years, 75.0 ± 11.8 kg, 178.2 ± 11.5 cm and 15.0 ± 5.7% body fat) performed a ramped test on an arm cycle ergometer with increments of 20 W/min. Su...

Composite tissue transplantation and new developments in the field of prosthetics have opened new frontiers in the restoration of function among upper limb amputees. It is now possible to restore hand function in affected patients; however, the indications, advantages, and limitations for either hand transplantation or prosthetic fitting must be carefully considered depending on the level and e...

Background and Purpose—Loss of movement coordination is the main postacute symptom after cerebellar infarction. Although the course of motor recovery has been described previously, detailed kinematic descriptions of acute stage ataxia are rare and no attempt has been made to link improvements in motor function to measures of neural recovery and lesion location. This study provides a comprehensi...

Editor—We thank Dr Dolenska for her letter and completely agree that the finding with respect to the predictive value of patient age is highly counterintuitive. Age is generally accepted as a powerful predictor of survival in many contexts. However, our results would suggest that it is the decline in fitness with advancing age which is the real predictor, rather than age per se. We do not belie...

BACKGROUND Improving upper limb function is a core element of stroke rehabilitation needed to maximise patient outcomes and reduce disability. Evidence about effects of individual treatment techniques and modalities is synthesised within many reviews. For selection of effective rehabilitation treatment, the relative effectiveness of interventions must be known. However, a comprehensive overview...