Tele-rehabilitation for chronic pain patients

In the March edition of Health Expectations http://bit.ly/fM1ZKW Dr. Cranen from University of Twente in the Netherlands investigated chronic pain patients’ perceptions of home telerehabilitation services. The group found that the effect of telerehabilitation on healthcare strongly depends on patients’ willingness to use.
The HandTutor system has been used successfully to treat patients with hand movement dysfunction caused by chronic pain including Complex regional pain syndrome CRPS. The HandTutor system should be introduced into the treatment schedule as early as possible so as to prevent disuse leading to contractiures and a loss in active movement ability. The virtual functional tasks motivate the patient to continue movement practice.

Preventing contractures at the wrist after stroke improves functional recovery of the upper limb

In the March edition of Clinical Rehabilitation http://bit.ly/eE2Wtj Dr. Malhotra and her team from School of Health and Rehabilitation, Keele University, UK and Department of Emergency Medicine, SUNY Downstate Medical Center and Kings County Hospital, USA investigate the time course of development of spasticity and contractures at the wrist after stroke and explore the association with upper limb functional recovery. The group found that participants who recovered arm function showed signs of spasticity at all assessment points but did not develop contractures. Contractures were more likely to develop in patients who did not recover arm function.
The HandTutor and ArmTutor system encourages active exercise practice with the patietn being motivated early after stroke to stretch actively elbow, wrist and fingures which helps to prevent the onset of contractures.