Interprofessional community-based stroke rehabilitation superior to usual care in acute stroke

In the February edition of The Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences http://bit.ly/hPd1fE Dr. Markle-Reid and her team from Master University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada compared an interprofessional stroke rehabilitation approach to usual care in 82 acute post 18 months community-based stroke rehabilitation patients. The primary outcome was change in health-related quality of life and functioning. The group found that stroke survivors in the intervention group showed clinically important improvements in physical and social functioning scores. Although there was a higher total per-person costs of use of health services in the intervention group compared to usual home care the difference was not statistically significant. The Canadian group concluded that a specialized, interprofessional team is a feasible and acceptable approach to community-based stroke rehabilitation that produced greater improvements in quality of life compared to usual home care.
The HandTutor and ArmTutor for upper extremity arm and hand rehabilitation and the LegTutor and 3DTutor systems for hip and knee lower extremity rehabilitation incorporate the concept of virtual functional tasks which are used to motivate the patient to do intensive active exercise practice are used by the patient in clinic and at home with home care patients being supported by tele-rehabilitation.

FDA's "Innovation Pathway". How the HandTutor system can teach patients to use a bionic hand

The Food & Drug Administration FDA launches Medical Device "Innovation Pathway". This initiative aims to speed the introduction of breakthrough medical devices. The first project is the brain-controlled, upper-extremity prosthetic. This project follows on from the DARPA-funded prosthetic bionic arm and hand project. The initiative aims to speed the introduction of a military project to create a prosthetic arm http://bit.ly/gv2bmp.
The HandTutor system measures isolated and coordinated finger and wrist movement. The dedicated rehabilitation software allows for movement guidance to show the patient how to move their hand or prosthetic and augmented feedback to show that the prosthetic is moving. A combination of guidance and visual augmented feedback allows for learning motor movement.

Effects of Exercise on Quality of Life in Stroke Survivors (HRQoL)

In the February edition of stroke http://bit.ly/i3MCI2 Dr. Ming-De Chen of Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Northwestern University, Chicago USA detail clinical trials that support the use of exercise to improve health related quality of life in stroke survivors. They conclude that the challenge for researchers is identifying effective strategies for sustaining these effects post intervention.
The HandTutor, ArmTutor and LegTutor are upper arm, hand - finger/s wrist and lower extremity rehabilitation systems indicated for patients in rehabilitation centers, private clinics and the home care environment. The home care patient can benefit from tele-rehabilitation. The HandTutor and other Tutor systems use dedicated rehabilitation software that employs motivating games that can be customized to the stage of rehabilitation and the patient’s movement dysfunction. The virtual functional tasks employed ensure that the patient undertakes intensive repetitive active exercise practice with the games being motivating and well tolerated. The HandTutor, ArmTutor and LegTutor systems have been shown to sustain patient functional improvement post intervention.

Isolated, combined and co-ordinated exercise practice improves functional movement ability in spinal cord injury patients

In the February edition of the Journal of Neuro Engineering and Rehabilitation 2011 http://bit.ly/ggKWEw Dr. Angel Gil-Agudo and his group from the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, National Hospital for Spinal Cord Injury Toledo Spain report on Gait kinematic analysis in patients with a mild form of central cord syndrome
Central cord syndrome (CCS) is considered the most common incomplete spinal cord injury (SCI). CCS accounts for approximately 9% of traumatic SCIs. It is characterized by disproportionately greater motor impairment in upper compared to lower extremities.
The gait characteristics of subjects with CCS compared with healthy subjects. The gait pattern of CCS patients showed a decrease of knee and ankle sagittal ROM during level walking and an increase in hip abduction to increase base of support.
The HandTutor, ArmTutor and LegTutor systems incorporate the concept of virtual functional tasks. These tasks allow the patient to be given intensive active exercise practice and targeted movement feedback on the position of one, two or more joints. The HandTutor, LegTutor and 3DT Tutor provide both feedback on the patients movement ability and instructions on how to move the joint in association with another joint. This allows the patient to practice isolated and combined movements of the hip and knee and ankle when they work with the LegTutor and 3DTTutor. When the patient works with the HandTutor and ArmTutor system they practice isolated and combined movements of the shoulder, elbow, wrist and fingers. This allows the patient to do intensive task practice that will teach them how to do coordinated movements of two or more joints. Motor learning that teaches the patient how to move more than two joints in a coordinated pattern will improve functional movement ability and the performance of the everyday tasks e.g. walking and reaching.

health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of people with Parkinson’s disease (PD)

In the January edition Parkinsonism and related disorders http://bit.ly/dMq5LB Dr. Soh and her team at The University of Melbourne Australiaand Orthopaedics and Gait Analysis Research, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Royal Children’s Hospital, Australia look at demographic and clinical factors that predict the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of people with Parkinson’s disease (PD). The motor symptoms that contributed most often to overall life quality were gait impairments.
The LegTutor system has been developed to intensively practice gait virtual functional tasks. The LegTutor can work on both isolated and coordinated exercise practice of the knee and hip. Intensive practice will improve the patients physiological movement ability that will allow them to practice functional walking and decrease the rate of functional movement decline.