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Background and aim: The most prominent problems that is produced after stroke are spasticity or increase in muscle tone, decrease in range of motion and function of upper extremity. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of Volar-Dorsal Wrist/Hand Immobilization Splint on function of upper extremity, range of motion of  the elbow, wrist and metacarpophalengeal joints and spasticity of the elbow and wrist joints.

Material and methods: Fourteen patients were participated in these experiments. The patients were selected according to inclusion and exclusion criteria and they had been given the splint after primary evaluation and were reevaluated after one month. Spasticity were evaluated with Modified Ashworth Scale.Range of motion were measured by goniometer. Fugl-meyer test were used to assess function of upper extremity. The splints were used 2 hours daily and whole night (6-8 hours) in one month.

Results: Comparison of data before and aft er the experiment showed significant mprovement in upper extremity function (P=0.04). Range of motion and spasticity were not significant (P>0.05).

Conclusion: Volar-Dorsal Wrist/Hand Immobilization Splint can improve the function of upper extremity. Although spasticity and range of motion showed a little changes in short-term use (1month) but the differences were not significant that will need more studies.

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 Background and aims: Low Birth Weight (2499 gr ≥ Birth Weight≥1500gr) is one of the most serious health problems in children of the world today. LBW prevalence in our country has been reported 10%. Many researches show that LBW infants who stay alive, may suffer from long-term and short-term physical, mental and social problems 2 or 3 times more than appropriate birth weight infants. The present study was done to determine effect of tactile-kinesthetic stimulation (TKS) in weight gaining of LBW neonates. 

Materials and Methods: This research was a clinical trial study that 40 LBW neonates were randomly allocated into test (20) and control (20) groups. TKS was provided for three 15 minute periods per day  for10 consecutive days to the test group, with the massages consisting of moderate of pressure strokes in supine and prone positions and kinesthetic exercises consisting of flexion and extension of limbs. All measurements were taken before and after completion of the study with the same equipment and by the same person.

Result: Results indicated that weight gain in the intervention group was not significantly higher than that in the control group after the 10 days TKS.

Conclusion: TKS is not an effective intervention in weight gaining of LBW neonates. Comparing this result with those of other researches, it seems to need more studies in this field. 

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Background and aim: The importance of cognitive resources was shown in dual task studies of postural control. However, there was no definite evidence on how verbal instructions influence the allocation of attention to postural control. Therefore, the objective of this study is to explore the effect of verbal instructions on postural performance.
Materials and Methods: this Cross-sectional study was performed in 20 young adults (23.95 ± 3.31). Parallel standing/ hard surface, parallel standing/ foam surface, tandem standing/ hard surface were used as postural tasks and the choice reaction time task were conducted as cognitive task. Dual- task performance was measured under three different instructions including to pay attention to cognitive task, to postural task, and equal attention to both tasks.
Results: Comparing the performance of postural tasks under three different instructions were conducted by One-way ANOVA and showed in parallel standing on hard surface (p=0.831), parallel standing on foam (p=0.433), tandem standing on hard surface (p=0.912) for path length of COP and instructions in parallel standing on hard surface (p=0.308), parallel standing on foam (p=0.414), tandem standing on hard surface (p=0.867) for mean velocity were not significant. Postural performance in single and dual task conditions was significant only in parallel standing/ foam surface (p=0.046).
Conclusion: various instructions could not influence the amount of attention allocated to automatic postural tasks.

 

 

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Background and aim: Sensory deficits after stroke are common with prevalence rates variously reported to be 11% to 85%. In spite of the fact that Sensory deficits can decrease  the quality of upper limb's movements and result in impairments in fine motor manipulation of objects, grasp and manipulative skills and finally  decrease the patient's quality of life but commonly overlooked in stroke rehabilitation. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of sensory retraining on upper limb recovery. 
Materials and methods: In this study we studied 5 chronic stroke patients were participated using a single-system (A-B) design. During the baseline phase patient's function and motor impairment of upper limb were measured by Fugl-Meyer and Motoricity Index and their hand dexterity were measured by Box and Block test on three days intervals. When Patients reached to a stable pattern of changes, their treatment program began. In this phase they received sensory retraining intervention for 6 weeks. Based on sensory retraining principles and according to each patient's abilities, intervention began with detection and localization of constant and moving touch and followed by higher discriminatory tasks, suchas graphestesia. Then results of evaluations of two phases were analyzed.Results: Four patients showed significant improvements in upper limb function. The data showed significant improvements in motor impairments and hand dexterity in all of them. 
Conclusion: Regarding of significant recovery of upper limb function, motor impairment and hand dexterity of patients, sensory retraining can be considered as a practical method in rehabilitation of stroke patients. However further research with larger sample size is needed.

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 Background and Aim: Cerebral palsy is characterized by non-progressive abnormalities in the developing brain that creates a cascade of motor deficits and finally affects functional activities. Limited hand function is a characteristic of the movement disorders in children with cerebral palsy which leads to disability in performing activities of daily living, work and play. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of wrist Kinesio Taping on hand function of children with spastic diplegic cerebral palsy.

 Materials and Methods : In this randomized clinical trial and single-blind study, 26 children (3-6 years old) with spastic diplegic cerebral palsy were selected by convenient and simple sampling and randomly divided into two intervention and control groups. During the study for 12 days ,control group received only common occupational therapy treatment or Neuro-Developmental Treatment (NDT). Intervention group received both NDT and wrist Kinesio Taping for 24 hours a day on both wrists. Assessment tool was QUEST for evaluating quality of upper extremity skills and Modified Ashworth Scale for assessing spasticity of wrist before and after intervention in both groups. Data were analyzed by independent t-test and Wilcoxon rank sum.

 Results : The results showed significance increase of total QUEST score (P=0.029) and significance difference in domains of dissociated movements (P=0.003) and grasp (P=0.008) in Kinesio Taping group. However, there were no significant differences in weight bearing (P=0.46) and protective extension (P=0.89) domains. The data showed that wrist Kinesio Taping was effective in reducing spasticity of right wrist(P=0.004) but no significant difference for left wrist(P=0.06).

 Conclusion: Wrist Kinesio Taping technique revealed to be effective in increasing quality of upper extremity skills of spastic diplegic cerebral palsy children in domains of dissociated movements and grasp. Moreover, it was concluded that this technique can be effective in reducing spasticity of right hand due to more active use of dominant hand.

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Background and Aim : One of the most common defects observed after stroke is deficit in trunk control and balance which can lead to disability or dependency in many functional activities in life. Many therapeutic approaches are used in the rehabilitation of stroke patients, but there is no any unique accepted approach in this field yet. However there are many evidences that show task-oriented practice for neuro-movement rehabilitation can be efficient. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of intensive task-oriented balance practices on functional balance and mobility in patients with chronic stroke.

  

Materials and Methods: This study was an intervention - quasi-experimental with chronic stroke on 13 patients (study on 4 women, 9 men, mean age 55/07 ± 8/41)which were selected according to inclusion criteria. The intervention included 10 days of intensive practice during 2 weeks , 5 days per week for 3 hours a day. The assessments (Berg Balance Scale, Time Up and Go) were performed before and after the intervention.

  

Results: Intensive task-oriented balance training in patients with chronic stroke significantly increased the functional balance (p=0/005) and reduced the time of functional mobility (p=0/001)

  

Conclusion: The results showed that intensive task-oriented balance training can improve functional balance and functional mobility. Because this study was done only in one group, conducting more studies with appropriate control group is suggested. Follow up were recommended in order to show durability effect for future researches.

  

Key word s: Stroke, Functional balance, Functional mobility, Task- oriented approach, Intensive practice