BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Transcranial direct current stimulation may enhance effect of rehabilitation in patients with chronic stroke. The objective was to evaluate the efficacy of anodal transcranial direct current stimulation combined with constraint-induced movement therapy of the paretic upper limb. METHODS A total of 44 patients with stroke were randomly allocated to receive 2 weeks of con...

UNLABELLED The Motor Activity Log (MAL) assesses the spontaneous use of the most affected upper limb with the amount of use (AOU) and quality of movement (QOM) scales during daily activities in real environments in individuals with chronic stroke. OBJECTIVES This study translated the testing manual into Portuguese and assessed the inter-rater and test-retest reliabilities of the MAL, based up...

OBJECTIVE To define the relations between age, sex, lower limb symptoms, and the presence of trunk varicose veins on clinical examination. DESIGN Cross sectional population study. SETTING 12 general practices with catchment areas geographically and socioeconomically distributed throughout Edinburgh. PARTICIPANTS An age stratified random sample of 1566 people (699 men and 867 women) aged 1...

The upper limb is represented by a simplified link-segment model composed of three rigid segments with ten degrees of freedom. To define appropriate coordinate systems, the upper limb is instrumented by six markers. Using the motion data, the inverse dynamic problem is solved and force and moments generated in joints are found. Then using a new approach in this area, fuzzy logic, total force is...

Repetitive tasks can undoubtedly cause discomfort and pain, but whether they cause or worsen the pathology causing the pain is most uncertain. Research in this area is difficult as the 'work-related upper limb disorders' do not occur exclusively in workers and because there is no simple, reliable and reproducible test for most 'work-related upper limb disorders'. Furthermore many studies are di...

PURPOSE To identify stroke patients showing a match between an objectively meaningful improvement in upper-limb motor capacity and subjectively meaningful improvement in upper-limb performance after stroke, as well as determinants of matching and non-matching. METHODS Changes in upper-limb capacity in 39 stroke patients were measured over 17 weeks using the Action Research Arm Test (ARAT). Su...

Psychophysiological assessments and biofeedback based interventions for disorders whose main symptom of interest is chronic pain can be highly effective and useful in the clinical environment. The evidence supporting the effectiveness of psychophysiological assessments and interventions for phantom limb pain, upper and lower back pain, non-cardiac chest pain, and pelvic floor pain disorders is ...

BACKGROUND Despite the proliferation of laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (LRYGBP), postoperative bowel obstructions still occur from mesocolonic constrictions, internal hernias, and anastomotic strictures. Obstructed patients do not present with a characteristic history and physical. Therefore, radiographic studies including upper gastrointestinal films and computed tomography are essentia...