The HandTutor assists recovery of upper limb dexterity in stroke patients

In the April edition of NeuroRehabilitation http://bit.ly/jCIipo Dr. Kong and his group from Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore look at the arm and hand functional ability of one hundred and forty patients more than a year after stroke onset. The group found that upper extremity functional deficit was present in almost 70% of patients with chronic stroke. The lack of functional ability correlated to upper limb strength and spasticity. The group concluded that the most significant predictor of dexterity, functional outcome and quality of life was the severity of upper limb paresis on admission to rehabilitation.
The HandTutor is used in both acute and chronic hand and arm rehabilitation by occupational and physical therapists based both in hospital and outpatient clinics.

Reducing spasticity during intensive exercise practice and functional improvement in Cerebral palsy patients

In the February edition of Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology http://bit.ly/fFQuGZ Dr. Ryll from Department of Epidemiology, Maastricht University report on the effects of leg muscle botulinum toxin A injections on walking in children with spasticity-related cerebral palsy: His team reviewed randomized controlled trials assessing functional outcomes on walking of children with CP following botulinum toxin injection. The team conclude that the use of BoNT-A with usual care or physiotherapy seems to improve walking of children with CP.

The HandTutor, ArmTutor are upper extremity arm, hand - finger/s wrist and lower extremity rehabilitation systems that encourage active exercise practice by motivating the patient to perform virtual functional exercise tasks. The virtual functional tasks work on interjoint coordination as well as other movement parameters including range of motion, speed and strength of movement. When combined with task practice the HandTutor and ArmTutor for upper extremity fine motor skill neuro rehabilitation and the LegTutor for lower extremity rehabilitation have been proven to improve functional movement performance in CP patients.

Long-term follow-up of botulinum toxin therapy for focal hand dystonia: Outcome at 10 years or more

In the February edition of Movement disorders http://bit.ly/dFTO4n Dr. Codrin Lungu and his team from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Boston USA report on a retrospective study to assess the efficacy and safety of botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT) treatment for Focal hand dystonia (FHD). The group show that BoNT therapy for FHD remains safe and effective after more than a decade of treatment even though the dose of botulinum toxin needed to be increased.
An experienced occupational and physical therapist can reduce spasticity during patient treatments. When the patient has reduced tone they need to improve their level of sensory motor movement ability through intensive isolated and coordinated task practice. When the tone returns post treatment session the patient can continue doing functional tasks and maintain the improved movement ability. The HandTutor, ArmTutor and LegTutor systems allow the patient to do intensive active exercise practice during treatment sessions and have been shown to sustain patient functional improvement post intervention.