THE INDEX

Every paper we have read

Each one summarised from the full article, not its abstract, and kept only if it speaks to physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech-language pathology or nursing. Newest first.

35,183 PAPERS · PAGE 368 OF 704 · NEWEST FIRST

• OTCohort2021Predicting and Assessing Work Performance of People with Limited Work Capacity (LWC): A Multi-Wave, Multi-Source Study.Journal of occupational rehabilitationSelf-reported avoidance coping consistently predicted lower work accuracy, pace, social behaviour and task performance. Other-rated concentration and conscientiousness predicted work accuracy, but other-rated self-confidence predicted lower accuracy. Self- and other-ratings captured complementary, not identical, predictors of work behaviour.
• OTCase Report2021Postoperative Treatment of Intracranial Hypotension Venous Congestion-Associated Brain Injury With Zolpidem.American journal of physical medicine & rehabilitationOne patient with a postoperative brain injury from low spinal fluid pressure was more alert and oriented after zolpidem doses and later inpatient rehabilitation. This describes one person, not proof zolpidem caused recovery.
• PTOTOther2021Cognitive-Motor Interference Heightens the Prefrontal Cortical Activation and Deteriorates the Task Performance in Children With Hemiplegic Cerebral Palsy.Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitationChildren with hemiplegic cerebral palsy showed more prefrontal activation and poorer shape matching when doing the task on a therapy ball than while sitting. The dual task also slowed their reaction time.
• PTOTCohort2021Accelerometer Measured Sedentary and Physical Activity Behaviors of Working Patients after Total Knee Arthroplasty, and their Compensation Between Occupational and Leisure Time.Journal of occupational rehabilitationWorking knee replacement patients spent 60% of their time sedentary. Those with physical jobs moved less during leisure time to compensate for work activity. Those with desk jobs continued prolonged sitting at home. Encourage active breaks for desk workers.
• PTOTOther2021Self-Efficacy and Social Support are Associated with Disability for Ambulatory Prosthesis Users After Lower-Limb Amputation.PM & R : the journal of injury, function, and rehabilitationHigher self-efficacy and social support were linked to less disability in 122 ambulatory lower-limb prosthesis users at least 1 year after amputation. Motivation was not linked. This shows an association, not proof that changing these factors reduces disability.
• OTCohort2021Using Administrative Data to Assess the Risk of Permanent Work Disability: A Cohort Study.Journal of occupational rehabilitationA score from pension, income and benefit records separated future disability-pension cases well. At a score of 50 points, it flagged 71.5% of cases and correctly classified 80.6% of people. Most people with high scores stayed employed, so it cannot assign rehabilitation.
• PTOTRCT2021Evaluation of the enhanced upper limb therapy programme within the Robot-Assisted Training for the Upper Limb after Stroke trial: descriptive analysis of intervention fidelity, goal selection and goal achievement.Clinical rehabilitationStroke survivors chose eating, dressing and range-of-motion goals most often. Overall, only 51% of goals were achieved. Those under three months post-stroke achieved 73-88%, but those with severe arm limitation over a year post-stroke achieved just 27%, especially for self-care tasks.
• PTOTSLPCohort2021Ecological Momentary Assessment of Social Interactions: Associations With Depression, Anxiety, Pain, and Fatigue in Individuals With Mild Stroke.Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitationIn 48 people with mild stroke, higher momentary fatigue and depressed mood were linked to lower social confidence and satisfaction. Better social interactions predicted lower fatigue and mood symptoms hours later, while social success unexpectedly predicted increased pain at the next check-in.
• PTQualitative2020Data-Driven Personalization of a Physiotherapy Care Pathway: Case Study of Posture Scanning.JMIR rehabilitation and assistive technologiesStakeholders described posture scanning data as a possible way to support physiotherapy by making movement visible, informing shared decisions, and tracking change. The paper reports interview themes, not measured patient outcomes.
• OTOther2020Sensing form - finger gaiting as key to tactile object exploration - a data glove analysis of a prototypical daily task.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationHealthy adults rotating a small cuboid at 1 Hz moved thumb and fingers through three coordinated joint groups within each 1-second act. The pattern is a normal reference for hand tactile exploration, not tested stroke treatment.
• PTOTCase Series2020Acceptability of a Mobile Phone-Based Augmented Reality Game for Rehabilitation of Patients With Upper Limb Deficits from Stroke: Case Study.JMIR rehabilitation and assistive technologiesFive stroke patients rated a smartphone augmented reality game as acceptable, finding it comfortable and motivating despite difficulty with the hand controllers. This small study confirms users would try it again but does not prove it improves physical recovery.
• PTOTCohort2020Conditioned Pain Modulation Decreases Over Time in Patients With Neuropathic Pain Following a Spinal Cord Injury.Neurorehabilitation and neural repairDescending pain inhibition decreased over rehabilitation in patients with neuropathic pain after spinal cord injury, but remained stable in those with only musculoskeletal pain. Early pain levels did not predict later pain, suggesting impaired inhibition is a consequence of neuropathic pain rather than its cause.
• SLPCohort2020White Matter Hyperintensities Predict Response to Language Treatment in Poststroke Aphasia.Neurorehabilitation and neural repairIn 30 people with post-stroke aphasia, more right hemisphere white matter changes on MRI, especially deep white matter lesions, predicted poorer response to language treatment even after accounting for age, education, lesion volume, and aphasia severity.
• PTOTSLPCohort2020The relative influence of intellectual disabilities and autism on sensory impairments and physical disability: A whole-country cohort of 5.3 million children and adults.Journal of applied research in intellectual disabilities : JARIDIntellectual disabilities were associated with much higher odds of sight loss, hearing loss and physical disability than autism alone. Autism was also independently linked to these impairments, but to a lesser extent. Both conditions require heightened vigilance for sensory and physical health issues.
• PTCase Report2020Rhythmic Haptic Cueing Using Wearable Devices as Physiotherapy for Huntington Disease: Case Study.JMIR rehabilitation and assistive technologiesA woman with juvenile Huntington disease wore vibrating bracelets that pulsed to her walking rhythm. Physiotherapists observed increased hip and knee flexion, allowing better ground clearance. She retained this improved gait pattern briefly after the cues stopped.
• PTOTRCT2020Virtual reality-based treatment for regaining upper extremity function induces cortex grey matter changes in persons with acquired brain injury.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationVirtual reality arm exercises showed promise for improving strength and movement in chronic brain injury patients, with associated brain volume changes. However, the study was small and non-randomized, so these benefits are not yet proven compared to standard therapy.
• OTCohort2020Sleep Problems and Trajectories of Restricted and Repetitive Behaviors in Children with Neurodevelopmental Disabilities.Journal of autism and developmental disordersChildren with autism or developmental delay who had more parent-reported sleep problems at age 4 showed higher sameness, ritual, and compulsive behavior trajectories through early childhood. This was a link, not proof that poor sleep caused the behaviors.
• Other2020Sex and Gender Issues for Individuals With Acquired Brain Injury During COVID-19: A Commentary.Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitationNo patients or outcomes are reported in this commentary about sex and gender issues for people with acquired brain injury during COVID-19. It gives no finding to change practice.
• PTCohort2020Associations Between Neurochemistry and Gait Performance Following Concussion in Collegiate Athletes.The Journal of head trauma rehabilitationIn 16 athletes tested within four days of concussion, slower single-task walking speed and cadence were associated with higher levels of two brain chemicals linked to inflammation. No such associations were found during dual-task walking.
• PTOTQualitative2020Users with spinal cord injury experience of robotic Locomotor exoskeletons: a qualitative study of the benefits, limitations, and recommendations.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationPeople with spinal cord injury valued exoskeletons for therapy and the psychological boost of standing at eye level. However, they found the devices too costly, bulky, and dependent on a companion for independent home or community use. They prioritized lighter, faster designs with fall protection.
• PTQualitative2020Exoskeleton use in post-stroke gait rehabilitation: a qualitative study of the perspectives of persons post-stroke and physiotherapists.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationBoth stroke survivors and physiotherapists rejected the exoskeleton's pre-programmed gait, wanting a device that assists their own movement rather than walking for them. Fitting took 30-40 minutes and required two people to support each patient, raising concerns about therapy time and safety.
• Protocol2020People with Disabilities and Other Forms of Vulnerability to the COVID-19 Pandemic: Study Protocol for a Scoping Review and Thematic Analysis.Archives of rehabilitation research and clinical translationNo findings are reported. This paper only describes how a planned scoping review will search and map literature on people with disabilities and other vulnerabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• PTOther2020Usability and Acceptability of an App (SELFBACK) to Support Self-Management of Low Back Pain: Mixed Methods Study.JMIR rehabilitation and assistive technologiesPeople with low back pain found the app's exercise and activity plans useful, but technical glitches, mixed views on notifications, and limited tailoring meant it needed refinement. This was a usability study, not proof it reduces pain.
• PTOTSLPCohort2021Tolerability and psychological effects of a multimodal day-care rehabilitation program for persons with Huntington's disease.Journal of rehabilitation medicinePeople with Huntington's disease who completed an 8-week multimodal day-care rehabilitation programme reported less anxiety and depression and better self-rated health. The study was small and uncontrolled, so it cannot show the programme caused these changes.
• PTOTSLPCohort2021Positive Beliefs and the Likelihood of Successful Community Discharge From Skilled Nursing Facilities.Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitationPatients who believed they could become more independent were 6.0% more likely to return home successfully than those who did not. Staff optimism only helped if the patient also believed. If patients were pessimistic, staff optimism was linked to lower discharge success.
• PTPilot2021Verbal feedback enhances motor learning during post-stroke gait retraining.Topics in stroke rehabilitationAdding a therapist's tailored verbal feedback to fast treadmill walking with electrical stimulation improved the affected leg's angle at toe-off 24 hours later in 9 stroke survivors. Variable practice did not show clear learning gains.
• PTOTSLPCohort2021Association Between 2010 Medicare Reforms and Utilization of Postacute Inpatient Rehabilitation in Ischemic Stroke.American journal of physical medicine & rehabilitationDischarges to inpatient rehabilitation facilities dropped 1.1% after 2010 Medicare reforms, while skilled nursing facility discharges remained unchanged. The adjusted odds of IRF admission fell 12% compared to home discharge. This suggests fewer stroke patients received intensive therapy despite the policy aiming to target complex needs.
• PTOTSLPSystematic Review2021Systems Approach Is Needed for In-Hospital Mobility: A Qualitative Metasynthesis of Patient and Clinician Perspectives.Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitationHospitalized older adults stay inactive because staff expect them to be passive, fear falls, and lack time. Mobility fails when teams wait for physical therapy clearance instead of acting. Success requires clarifying roles and challenging ageist assumptions about patient capability.
• PTOTRCT2021The effect of an integrated multidisciplinary rehabilitation programme for patients with chronic low back pain: Long-term follow up of a randomised controlled trial.Clinical rehabilitationAt one year, an integrated multidisciplinary rehabilitation programme did not reduce back-specific disability more than a four-week inpatient programme for chronic low back pain. Both groups improved, but the integrated programme was not shown to be superior.
• Other2021Inaccurate Use of the Upper Extremity Fugl-Meyer Negatively Affects Upper Extremity Rehabilitation Trial Design: Findings From the ICARE Randomized Controlled Trial.Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitationRescaling the Fugl-Meyer score with a statistical model cut the sample size needed for a stroke trial by 32 percent. Raw scores overstated recovery in mildly impaired patients and understated it in severely impaired ones, with errors exceeding the clinically meaningful threshold in half the observations.
• PTOTCohort2021The Role of Earlier Receipt of a Lower Limb Prosthesis on Emergency Department Utilization.PM & R : the journal of injury, function, and rehabilitationAmong commercially insured adults after lower limb amputation, receiving a prosthesis 0 to 3 months after surgery was associated with less emergency department use within 12 months than not receiving one within 12 months. Falls were also linked to higher emergency department use.
• PTOTRCT2021Can the early use of botulinum toxin in post stroke spasticity reduce contracture development? A randomised controlled trial.Clinical rehabilitationEarly botulinum toxin injections reduced spasticity and slowed elbow contracture formation in stroke patients. All participants also received electrical stimulation. While the treatment did not improve arm function scores, it significantly reduced the need for splints at three and six months post-stroke.
• PTOTOther2021Subgroups of Long-Term Sick-Listed Based on Prognostic Return to Work Factors Across Diagnoses: A Cross-Sectional Latent Class Analysis.Journal of occupational rehabilitationLong-term sick-listed workers fell into four distinct groups based on return-to-work factors, not their medical diagnosis. One group had low symptoms and high work ability. Another had high anxiety and low self-efficacy. A third had poor scores across all areas. The fourth had pain and poor workplace adjustments.
• PTOther2021Reliability and Validity of Pupillary Response During Dual-Task Balance in Parkinson Disease.Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitationPupil-based cognitive workload scores did not match total self-reported workload, even though they stayed consistent when repeated within two hours in Parkinson disease and healthy adults. Only mental demand tracked during eyes-closed dual-task balance.
• Other2021Social inequities in the distribution of COVID-19: An intra-categorical analysis of people with disabilities in the U.S.Disability and health journalCounties with higher percentages of people with disabilities who were Black, Asian, Hispanic, non-Hispanic non-White, below poverty, aged 5-17, or female had higher confirmed cases per 100,000 people, while overall disability percentage was lower.
• PTOTRCT2021Resistance band training after triamcinolone acetonide injection for subacromial bursitis: A randomized clinical trial.Journal of rehabilitation medicineAdding 9 weeks of resistance band training to a steroid injection kept shoulder pain and function improved for six months. Injection alone worked for three weeks, then pain returned. The band training group also needed far fewer repeat treatments.
• PTOTOther2021Psychosocial Factors Influence Physical Activity after Dysvascular Amputation: A Convergent Mixed-Methods Study.PM & R : the journal of injury, function, and rehabilitationPeople after dysvascular lower-limb amputation described activity as shaped by prosthesis trust, fear of falling, effort and time, and social outlook. Step count related to Timed Up-and-Go, not disability scores.
• PTOTQualitative2020Virtual reality in pain therapy: a requirements analysis for older adults with chronic back pain.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationOlder adults with chronic back pain prioritized safety, simple controls, and positive reinforcement over complex game stories when designing VR exercises. They feared falling and found the demo too difficult, demanding a seated option, help button, and therapist supervision.
• OTCohort2020Predicting clinically significant motor function improvement after contemporary task-oriented interventions using machine learning approaches.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationFor chronic stroke patients, a machine-learning model using time since stroke and baseline arm movement and daily independence scores could identify who was likely to improve after task-oriented upper-limb therapy. It was tested only on a small sample.
• SLPPilot2020Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers Revised (MCHAT-R/F) in an Urban Metropolitan Sample of Young Children in Turkey.Journal of autism and developmental disordersThe Turkish M-CHAT-R/F identified 9.8% of toddlers as screen-positive, but only 3.3% remained positive after follow-up interviews. High-risk children (score 8-20) rarely needed follow-up, suggesting they could be referred directly for evaluation to save resources.
• PTOTPilot2020Rhythmic neural activity is comodulated with short-term gait modifications during first-time use of a dummy prosthesis: a pilot study.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationAble-bodied men using a dummy leg prosthesis showed immediate brain rhythm changes in frontal and parietal areas. These neural shifts tracked specific gait adjustments like foot placement and weight support, suggesting the brain actively manages the new mechanical demands from the very first step.
• PTOTSLPOther2020Managing the Rehabilitation Wave: Rehabilitation Services for COVID-19 Survivors.Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitationThis paper describes a hospital's operational response to a surge in COVID-19 patients, detailing how they triaged rehabilitation needs using functional scores and modified care models. It offers a template for organizing services but reports no patient outcomes, so it does not show that these methods improved recovery.
• PTRCT2020A comparison of the effects and usability of two exoskeletal robots with and without robotic actuation for upper extremity rehabilitation among patients with stroke: a single-blinded randomised controlled pilot study.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationActive robot assistance added to conventional therapy did not improve upper limb task performance more than a passive robot added to conventional therapy over four weeks in a small pilot. Both groups improved, and the passive group reported better participation.
• PTOTRCT2020Gains Across WHO Dimensions of Function After Robot-Based Therapy in Stroke Subjects.Neurorehabilitation and neural repairRobot-assisted therapy improved arm movement and daily task performance in 40 stroke survivors, but did not change their perceived quality of life or participation. Gains in physical function correlated with activity scores, but neither predicted improvements in participation.
• Survey2020Leveraging Digital Technology to Overcome Barriers in the Prosthetic and Orthotic Industry: Evaluation of its Applicability and Use During the COVID-19 Pandemic.JMIR rehabilitation and assistive technologiesMost prosthetists and orthotists surveyed still use plaster casting, not digital scanning. While clinicians see virtual care as useful for remote patients, they lack the skills and equipment, and patients often prefer face-to-face visits to maintain trust and physical contact.
• SLPCohort2020A Comparative Study of Suicidality and Its Association with Emotion Regulation Impairment in Large ASD and US Census-Matched Samples.Journal of autism and developmental disordersYouth with autism were three times more likely than general US youth to have parent-reported suicidal ideation. Impaired emotion regulation, especially low positive affect, was linked to suicidality in autism samples but not the general population.
• PTOTRCT2020Kinematic parameters obtained with the ArmeoSpring for upper-limb assessment after stroke: a reliability and learning effect study for guiding parameter use.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationPeak velocity and game score are reliable and stable for assessing upper-limb impairment. Time-based measures improve with practice, so the first session and early trials must be excluded to avoid mistaking learning for recovery.
• PTOTCohort2020Technology-aided assessment of functionally relevant sensorimotor impairments in arm and hand of post-stroke individuals.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationIn chronic stroke survivors with mild to moderate deficits, a virtual peg task captured grip force and movement patterns. Three metrics were reliable enough for tracking recovery over time, and performance correlated with standard hand dexterity tests.
• PTOTQualitative2021Exploring Cancer Treatment Experiences for Patients With Preexisting Mobility Disability.American journal of physical medicine & rehabilitationPatients with pre-existing mobility disability reported that prior negative healthcare experiences and fears of losing function drove them to refuse or alter cancer treatments. They also faced inaccessible equipment and staff who lacked disability-specific knowledge, leading to unmet basic needs.
• PTCase Series2021Evaluation of a passive pediatric leg exoskeleton during gait.Prosthetics and orthotics internationalFour children walked in a passive leg exoskeleton. Two with hemiparesis showed improved joint symmetry and variable speed changes, while two typically developing children were largely unaffected. The small sample size means this device is not yet proven to help.