OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY

Research for occupational therapy

Papers an occupational therapist can act on, across daily living, mental health, hand therapy, paediatrics and rehabilitation, each read in full rather than from its abstract.

10,853 PAPERS · PAGE 22 OF 218 · NEWEST FIRST

• PTOTSystematic Review2016Incidence, Time Course and Predictors of Impairments Relating to Caring for the Profoundly Affected arm After Stroke: A Systematic Review.Physiotherapy research international : the journal for researchers and clinicians in physical therapyNo included study predicted difficulty caring for the arm after stroke. Spasticity and pain appeared as early as 1 week, and contracture by 2 weeks. Weakness and reduced motor control predicted spasticity and contracture; reduced sensation, shoulder subluxation, weakness, and stroke severity predicted pain.
• PTOTSLPOther2016New version of the Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory (PEDI-CAT): translation, cultural adaptation to Brazil and analyses of psychometric properties.Brazilian journal of physical therapyBrazilian parents understood the translated PEDI-CAT and rated it as describing daily function. Scores were stable after 7 to 15 days, but the children and youth had normal development.
• PTOTPilot2016Supported Standing in Boys With Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.Pediatric physical therapy : the official publication of the Section on Pediatrics of the American Physical Therapy AssociationSupported standing was safe for four boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. It improved hip and knee flexibility in some, but did not increase bone density. Adherence was difficult, and boys with severe ankle contractures could not tolerate upright standing.
• PTOTMeta-Analysis2017Determining Risk of Falls in Community Dwelling Older Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis Using Posttest Probability.Journal of geriatric physical therapy (2001)No single test identified fallers reliably. Combining Berg Balance ≤50, Timed Up and Go ≥12 s, single-limb stance <6.5 s, walking speed <1.0 m/s, and five times sit-to-stand ≥12 s raised estimated fall chance above 30% baseline.
• PTOTOther2016Effect of Segmental Trunk Support on Posture and Reaching in Children With Cerebral Palsy.Pediatric physical therapy : the official publication of the Section on Pediatrics of the American Physical Therapy AssociationSupporting the trunk at the ribs, not the pelvis, improved reaching for children with moderate CP. Severe CP required high axillary support for posture. Mild CP showed no benefit from any trunk support. Match the support height to the child's specific trunk control deficit.
• PTOTCase Report2016Feasibility and Effectiveness of a Novel Exoskeleton for an Infant With Arm Movement Impairments.Pediatric physical therapy : the official publication of the Section on Pediatrics of the American Physical Therapy AssociationA single infant with arthrogryposis contacted objects more at hip and chest while wearing a passive arm exoskeleton than without it, and some reaching improved without the device over time. This cannot prove the device caused the gains.
• PTOTOther2016Relationship between trunk and foot accelerations during walking in healthy adults.Gait & postureHealthy adults show larger acceleration magnitude at the foot than the trunk, but more irregular (less periodic) trunk motion. Foot and trunk movements correlate strongly in the forward plane, suggesting the body prioritizes a predictable foot placement while allowing the trunk to adapt.
• PTOTOther2016The effects of shoe heel height and gait velocity on position sense of the knee joint and balance.Journal of physical therapy scienceTwenty minutes of treadmill walking in 9-cm heels at 4 km/h significantly worsened knee position sense and balance compared to 3-cm heels at 2 km/h. This suggests high heels combined with faster walking impair proprioceptive control in healthy young adults.
• PTOTOther2016Quantifying six-minute walk induced gait deterioration with inertial sensors in multiple sclerosis subjects.Gait & postureA hip-worn sensor detected gait deterioration in people with multiple sclerosis that walking speed missed, particularly in later minutes of the six-minute walk. This suggests two-minute tests may be too short to capture fatigue-related changes in mild cases.
• PTOTOther2016Kinesio Taping® of the metacarpophalangeal joints and its effect on pain and hand function in individuals with rheumatoid arthritis.The South African journal of physiotherapyIn older adults with rheumatoid arthritis, Kinesio Taping of the MCP joints reduced hand pain and increased MCP ulnar deviation, but did not improve grip strength or overall hand function. Joint protection workshops improved grip strength and some daily activities.
• PTOTSLPQualitative2016Rural South Africans' rehabilitation experiences: Case studies from the Northern Cape Province.The South African journal of physiotherapyTwo rural people with physical disabilities received very little rehabilitation. A child had no stimulation, wheelchair, incontinence supplies, or caregiver training. An adult lost wheelchair use after a broken chair was not replaced for more than a year.
• PTOTCase-Control2016Study of acceleration of center of mass during sit-to-stand and stand-to-sit in patients with stroke.Journal of physical therapy sciencePatients with stroke took longer and showed reduced center of mass acceleration during sit-to-stand compared to healthy controls. During stand-to-sit, only side-to-side acceleration and time differed. This suggests training should address all balance directions for standing up, but focus on side-to-side stability for sitting down.
• PTOTOther2016Factors associated with attitudes and beliefs of elders with acute low back pain: data from the study Back Complaints in the Elders (BACE).Brazilian journal of physical therapyIn elders with acute low back pain, higher disability, more depressive symptoms, and lower expectation of returning to activities were associated with more negative back-pain beliefs. The study cannot show these factors caused the beliefs.
• PTOTOther2016Effects of trunk stability on isometric knee extension muscle strength measurement while sitting.Journal of physical therapy scienceWhen sitting is fully stabilized with straps, handheld dynamometer readings for knee extension strength match those from a gold-standard machine. Without this stability, handheld readings are likely underestimated due to body compensation. Ensure patients are strapped in securely to get accurate strength measures.
• PTOTSLPRCT2016Effect of extracorporeal shock wave therapy on the shoulder joint functional status of patients with calcific tendinitis.Journal of physical therapy scienceAdding shock wave therapy to standard physical therapy improved shoulder function more than physical therapy alone in patients with calcific tendinitis. Scores rose steadily over 12 weeks, with no reported side effects, though the study design limits certainty.
• PTOTSystematic Review2016Effect of corticosteroid injections versus physiotherapy on pain, shoulder range of motion and shoulder function in patients with subacromial impingement syndrome: A systematic review and meta-analysis.The South African journal of physiotherapyPhysiotherapy and steroid injections both improve pain, motion and function in subacromial impingement syndrome. Steroid injections showed a small short-term advantage in function at 6-7 weeks, but this difference disappeared by 6 months. There is no evidence that injections are superior to physiotherapy in the medium or long term.
• PTOTOther2016Profile of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease classified as physically active and inactive according to different thresholds of physical activity in daily life.Brazilian journal of physical therapyAcross three daily-activity thresholds, COPD patients called active walked farther, had better body composition and lung function, and reported less daily-life limitation. The number called active changed with threshold, so the label depends on the cut-off.
• PTOTSLPCohort2016Prediction of destination at discharge from a comprehensive rehabilitation hospital using the home care score.Journal of physical therapy scienceA home care score of 11 or more predicted returning home in Japanese rehabilitation patients. For patients with a FIM score of 54 or less, the home care score was still useful. Both scores were higher at discharge than at admission.
• PTOTCohort2016Effectiveness of the back school program for the performance of activities of daily living in users of a basic health unit in Porto Alegre, Brazil.Journal of physical therapy scienceA Back School program improved how people with chronic pain performed daily tasks like lifting and writing, and reduced pain and disability scores. Sitting posture did not improve. Without a control group, natural recovery cannot be ruled out.
• OTRCT2016Effect of transcranial direct current stimulation on visual perception function and performance capability of activities of daily living in stroke patients.Journal of physical therapy scienceAdding tDCS to occupational therapy did not show a significant difference between the tDCS and sham groups in stroke patients, though both groups improved on visual perception and ADL scores. The tDCS group had larger reported mean gains.
• PTOTOther2016Reliability and validity of the Korean version of the Short Musculoskeletal Function Assessment questionnaire for patients with musculoskeletal disorder.Journal of physical therapy scienceThe Korean Short Musculoskeletal Function Assessment gives consistent scores when patients repeat it after one week and aligns with the SF-36. It is a reliable self-report tool for tracking disability in Korean patients with limb musculoskeletal disorders.
• PTOTCase Series2016Deviation in the recovery of the lower limb and respiratory muscles of patients with polymyositis: a preliminary clinical study.Journal of physical therapy scienceFive people with polymyositis who received physiotherapy and prednisolone for four weeks showed improved leg strength, breathing muscle pressures, and daily function. Inspiratory muscle pressure improved less than expiratory muscle pressure. Because both treatments were given together, their separate effects cannot be identified.
• PTOTCohort2016The effects of hand strength on upper extremity function and activities of daily living in stroke patients, with a focus on right hemiplegia.Journal of physical therapy scienceIn stroke patients with right hemiplegia, grip strength correlated with both upper extremity function and daily living independence. Pinch strength correlated with function but not with daily living tasks. Grip appears more critical for basic independence than finger pinch.
• OTCase Series2016Bioelectrical impedance analysis for severe stroke patients with upper extremity hemiplegia.Journal of physical therapy scienceIn severe stroke patients with arm paralysis, the paralyzed side had lower lean mass, body water, body cell mass, and hand strength than the other side. Bioimpedance values differed in the same direction as occupational assessments. Small case series cannot prove a test works.
• PTOTCohort2016Factors associated with the recovery of activities of daily living after hospitalization for acute medical illness: a prospective cohort study.Journal of physical therapy scienceLonger time from illness onset to starting rehabilitation was associated with poorer recovery of daily activities. Among patients who had been independent before illness, better cognition was associated with better recovery; among those partially dependent, better nutrition was associated with better recovery.
• PTOTOther2016Information on functioning found in the medical records of patients with stroke.Journal of physical therapy scienceStroke admission and discharge summaries mostly captured body function information, including muscle power and pain, and also walking, medication and imaging, while social participation and hobbies were absent.
• OTSystematic Review2016Analysis approaches and interventions with occupational performance.Journal of physical therapy scienceMost research on stroke interventions targets physical recovery using the biomechanical approach, especially constraint-induced therapy. Few studies evaluate client-centered or top-down methods like CO-OP, which are harder to test in large randomized trials.
• PTOTSLPNarrative Review2016Measurement of physical activity in obese persons: how and why? A review.Journal of physical therapy scienceNo single method perfectly measures physical activity in obesity. Self-reports are cheap but often overestimated. Pedometers miss non-walking exercises. Accelerometers and heart rate monitors have specific blind spots. Combining sensors improves accuracy but adds cost and complexity.
• PTOTSLPCohort2016Quality of life of critically ill patients in a developing country: a prospective longitudinal study.Journal of physical therapy scienceQuality of life improved significantly over six months for ICU survivors in Brazil. Physical scores started lower than mental scores but both rose steadily. Older age was linked to worse physical recovery, while time spent on ventilators or in the ICU did not predict final quality of life.
• PTOTSurvey2016Analysis of stress, musculoskeletal disorders, and fatigue among broadcasting actors.Journal of physical therapy scienceMost broadcasting actors reported high psychosocial stress and fatigue. Regular exercise was linked to lower stress and fatigue. Smoking correlated with higher psychosocial stress and fatigue but not occupational stress. Job demands and insecurity were the primary occupational stressors.
• OTOther2016Sensitivity and specificity of the safe driving behavior measure and the driving habits questionnaire for older self-drivers.Journal of physical therapy scienceDriving questionnaires did not accurately identify collision history in 45 community-dwelling adults aged 65 to 74. Neither the Safe Driving Behavior Measure nor the Driving Habits Questionnaire predicted reported collision history.
• PTOTSurvey2016Evaluation of sensory processing abilities following stroke using the adolescent/adult sensory profile: implications for individualized intervention.Journal of physical therapy scienceStroke survivors mostly resembled healthy adults on sensory processing. They differed in low registration, sensation seeking, and sensation avoiding, not in sensory sensitivity. The profile describes patterns, not treatment effects.
• PTOTOther2016The effect of performing a dual-task on postural control and selective attention of older adults when stepping backward.Journal of physical therapy scienceOlder adults had slower reactions, more errors, and greater sway when stepping backward. Adding a tone task made reaction times slower in both groups, but sway did not differ between single and dual task.
• PTOTSLPRCT2016Effect of task-oriented training and high-variability practice on gross motor performance and activities of daily living in children with spastic diplegia.Journal of physical therapy scienceAdding task-oriented or high-variability practice to standard treatment improved gross motor skills and daily living independence in children with spastic diplegia. High-variability practice also improved cognition, while task-oriented training did not.
• OTOther2016The correlation between proprioception and handwriting legibility in children.Journal of physical therapy scienceBetter kinesthetic sense correlated with more legible handwriting, but elbow joint position sense did not. The study included only 19 right-handed children aged 9 to 10, so it cannot guide treatment decisions.
• PTOTOther2016Influence of sacral sitting in a wheelchair on the distribution of contact pressure on the buttocks and back and shear force on the ischial region.Journal of physical therapy scienceIn healthy young adults, slumping into sacral sitting lowered peak pressure on the buttocks but raised shear force on the ischial region. This shift moves risk from direct pressure to friction, a factor that contributes to pressure ulcers in frail wheelchair users.
• PTOTCase-Control2017Effectiveness of robotic-assisted gait training in stroke rehabilitation: A retrospective matched control study.Hong Kong physiotherapy journal : official publication of the Hong Kong Physiotherapy Association Limited = Wu li chih liaoAdding RAGT to traditional physiotherapy did not produce a larger gain in daily living independence than traditional physiotherapy alone. It was associated with larger gains in walking, mobility, and balance.
• OTCase Report2016Effect of mental practice using inverse video of the unaffected upper limb in a subject with chronic hemiparesis after stroke.Journal of physical therapy scienceIn one man with chronic left hemiparesis, mental practice using an inverse video of his unaffected arm was paired with weekly outpatient OT. His upper limb movement scores and reported hand use improved, but this is one case, not proof.
• PTOTOther2016Effects of orthotic insoles on adults with flexible flatfoot under different walking conditions.Journal of physical therapy scienceWearing orthotic insoles for 3 months reduced pressure on the middle of the foot in adults with flexible flatfoot. While their walking pattern did not fully match that of people with normal feet, the insoles improved how the foot handled load, especially when walking down stairs.
• PTOTCohort2016The relationship between physical activity levels and metabolic syndrome in male white-collar workers.Journal of physical therapy scienceMale white-collar workers with low physical activity had a higher prevalence of metabolic syndrome (25.2%) than those with moderate (13%) or high (14.3%) activity. Low activity was linked to a 2.03-fold greater risk of metabolic syndrome compared to high activity.
• PTOTPilot2016An experiment to classify the clinical fear seen during aerobic movement acquisition in adults with visual impairment.Journal of physical therapy scienceIn 15 adults with visual impairment, autonomic measures identified fear during squat training, but subjective reports did not correlate with perceived danger. This suggests physiological monitoring may detect anxiety that patients do not verbally report, though the study was too small to confirm clinical utility.
• OTOther2016Mahjong playing and eye-hand coordination in older adults-a cross-sectional study.Journal of physical therapy scienceOlder mahjong players mostly matched non-players on stationary pointing with the dominant hand. They had better non-dominant accuracy and faster, more accurate pointing to moving targets. This cross-sectional study cannot show mahjong caused the differences.
• PTOTOther2016Correlation between rounded shoulder posture, neck disability indices, and degree of forward head posture.Journal of physical therapy scienceIn healthy college students, a more forward head posture was significantly linked to greater neck disability, but not to rounded shoulder posture. This suggests neck pain may stem from head position itself rather than accompanying shoulder rounding in this group.
• PTOTCase Report2016Application of a tri-axial accelerometry-based portable motion recorder for the quantitative assessment of hippotherapy in children and adolescents with cerebral palsy.Journal of physical therapy scienceThree children and adolescents with cerebral palsy showed improved walking speed, step length, and balance control after two years of weekly hippotherapy. A portable motion recorder detected these gains immediately after sessions and over time. This small case series supports hippotherapy's potential benefits but cannot prove efficacy for the broader CP population.
• PTOTOther2017Stride variability measures derived from wrist- and hip-worn accelerometers.Gait & postureWrist-worn accelerometers can track walking rhythm and activity levels as well as hip-worn devices in healthy older adults. However, they cannot reliably measure stride-to-stride variability. Use wrist data for general activity counts, but do not expect it to detect subtle inconsistencies in walking.
• PTOTCase Report2016Combined treatment with paraffin, manual therapy, pegboard and splinting in a patient with post-traumatic stiff hand.Archives of physiotherapyA woman with a stiff post-traumatic hand showed improved motion, pain and function after 9 weeks of daily paraffin, manual therapy, pegboard and splinting, then outpatient therapy. No conclusion can be drawn about which component caused change.
• PTOTOther2016Comparison of older adults' visual perceptual skills, cognitive function, and fall efficacy according to fall risk in the elderly.Journal of physical therapy scienceOlder adults classified as at risk for falls had lower visual perception, cognition, and fall efficacy scores than those not at risk. Scores were correlated, but this cannot show that training these skills prevents falls.
• PTOTRCT2017Effects of 2 Years of Exercise on Gait Impairment in People With Parkinson Disease: The PRET-PD Randomized Trial.Journal of neurologic physical therapy : JNPTTwo years of either progressive resistance or multimodal balance exercise improved fast walking speed and step frequency in Parkinson's. Neither type was superior, but stride length and stability measures did not improve, and gait remained impaired relative to healthy controls.
• PTOTPilot2017Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy for Children With Brain Tumors.Pediatric physical therapy : the official publication of the Section on Pediatrics of the American Physical Therapy AssociationNine children with brain tumor hemiplegia completed all 15 constraint-induced movement therapy sessions. Quality of life scores did not show a clear change, but arm use improved and was mostly maintained at 3 months.
• PTOTSurvey2016Study on the quality of life of children with cerebral palsy.Journal of physical therapy scienceQuality of life in children with cerebral palsy was linked to mental function, pain, movement, self-care, school and social participation, and environmental barriers. These are daily-life and environment factors, not only movement.