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 440 OF 704 · NEWEST FIRST

• SLPOther2022The effect of gap duration on the perception of fluent versus disfluent speech.Journal of fluency disordersListeners judged speech disfluent when gaps between words reached 126.46 ms. Speech-language pathologists required longer gaps to label speech disfluent than people who stutter did. This suggests clinical training may make SLPs less sensitive to subtle pauses than patients themselves.
• PTOTSLPSystematic Review2022ICF Core Sets for the assessment of functioning of adults with cerebral palsy.Developmental medicine and child neurologyExperts created a checklist of 33 essential categories to assess functioning in adults with cerebral palsy. This brief set highlights mobility, self-care, pain, and environmental factors like support services, aiming to standardise care for this growing population.
• PTOTRCT2022Comparison of the effects of external focus of attention with metaphor and internal focus of attention on temporal changes in seating pressure during sitting motion in community-dwelling elderly people.Journal of physical therapy scienceTelling healthy older adults to imagine sitting in a bathtub without making waves led to smoother, safer sit-downs than telling them to lean forward slowly. This external focus reduced the speed of pressure increase on the spine, potentially lowering fracture risk.
• Survey2022A blind spot in mental healthcare? Psychotherapists lack education and expertise for the support of adults on the autism spectrum.Autism : the international journal of research and practicePsychotherapists reported low education and knowledge about autism, with many holding misconceptions. While most were open to treating autistic adults if trained, higher knowledge predicted greater willingness. Social concerns predicted less openness in experienced therapists, but not in those without prior autism treatment experience.
• SLPOther2022Adherence to Remote Microphone System use at school in children and adolescents with hearing loss.CoDASOf 120 students with hearing loss using a hearing aid or cochlear implant plus a remote microphone system, 54% used the system at school. Twenty-two percent did not use it because of problems beyond their control, and elementary students showed the highest use.
• PTOTOther2022Effects of cognitive tasks on center-of-foot pressure displacements and brain activity during single leg stance: comparison in community-dwelling healthy older and young people.Journal of physical therapy scienceAdding a recall task to single-leg stance increased foot pressure sway in healthy older adults, but not in young adults. Brain activity did not change with any task. The recall task was not superior to single-leg stance alone for fall risk screening.
• PTPilot2022Effective physical therapy activities to improve the supine-to-seated transfer time in stroke patients: an observational pilot study.Journal of physical therapy scienceIn stroke patients who could already sit up independently, time spent on transitional movements and special equipment therapy was associated with faster sitting transfers. This pilot suggests these specific activities may help, but confounding factors and small sample size limit conclusions.
• SLPSystematic Review2022Short report: A quantitative methodological review of participant characteristics in the literature testing mental health interventions for youth with autism spectrum disorder.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceTrials of mental health treatments for autistic youth rarely include transition-age individuals, females, or those with lower cognitive abilities. This means evidence is thin for the patients most likely to need help in community settings.
• SLPPilot2022Picture Description in the Assessment of Connected Speech Intelligibility in Parkinson's Disease: A Pilot Study.Folia phoniatrica et logopaedica : official organ of the International Association of Logopedics and Phoniatrics (IALP)Picture description is feasible for assessing speech intelligibility in Parkinson's disease. Listeners understood speakers better when shown the picture. However, scores varied widely between individuals, suggesting this method complements rather than replaces standard reading tests.
• PTOTCohort2022Recovery and prediction of physical function 1 year following hip fracture.Physiotherapy research international : the journal for researchers and clinicians in physical therapyPhysical function improves most in the first 3 months after hip fracture. Pre-fracture walking aid use and discharge SPPB scores predict recovery. Asking about walking aids is a simple way to identify patients at risk of poor long-term outcomes.
• OTPilot2021Teachers' Perceptions of Handwriting Legibility Versus the German Systematic Screening for Motoric-Handwriting Difficulties (SEMS).OTJR : occupation, participation and healthThe SEMS screening test matched teacher opinions for Grade 2 students but missed problems in Grade 4s. It works for young children copying short texts but fails to catch older students whose handwriting breaks down during complex class tasks.
• PTOTQualitative2021The Experience of Locomotor Training From the Perspectives of Therapists and Parents of Children With Cerebral Palsy.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciencesParents and therapists described 6 weeks of intensive locomotor training as manageable and meaningful. Families valued the short duration and peer support. Reported improvements extended beyond walking to include better sleep, mood, and respiratory function, which were key motivators for participation.
• Pilot2021Reducing the Soleus Stretch Reflex With Conditioning: Exploring Game- and Impedance-Based Biofeedback.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciencesGamified biofeedback helped healthy adults reduce their stretch reflex within sessions, matching standard methods. Impedance-based biofeedback failed to reduce the reflex. Neither method was tested in patients with spasticity, so clinical effects are unknown.
• PTOTSLPNarrative Review2021ICF Linking and Cognitive Interviewing Are Complementary Methods for Optimizing Content Validity of Outcome Measures: An Integrated Methods Review.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciencesOutcome questionnaires may miss what matters to patients unless developers link items to ICF codes and test how patients interpret them. Use both methods when choosing or adapting measures for functioning and disability.
• PTOther2021Using a Co-design Approach to Create Tools to Facilitate Physical Activity in Children With Physical Disabilities.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciencesStakeholders shaped themes for supporting physical activity in children with disabilities: self-efficacy, autonomy, possibilities, individual needs, collaboration, environment and meaningful goals. Eleven prototypes were created, but their effect was not tested.
• PTOTSLPRCT2021Early visual training and environmental adaptation for infants with visual impairment.Developmental medicine and child neurologyInfants with visual impairment who received intensive visual training improved in eye control and hand-eye coordination compared to those who received only routine care. Both groups improved in visual acuity. The training required at least three sessions per week for six months.
• PTOTSLPOther2021An Inclusive Early Childhood Intervention Program for Children With Disabilities: Possible Effects on Children and Nursery Teachers.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciencesChildren with disabilities in inclusive nursery schools showed improved development and fewer emotional and peer problems after teachers used a structured behavioral support program for six months. Teachers reported higher confidence and lower state anxiety. No control group was used, so natural maturation cannot be ruled out.
• Protocol2021The GoodHope Exercise and Rehabilitation (GEAR) Program for People With Ehlers-Danlos Syndromes and Generalized Hypermobility Spectrum Disorders.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciencesThis paper describes the structure and components of a new exercise and rehabilitation program for people with Ehlers-Danlos Syndromes. It does not report any patient outcomes or results, so there is no evidence here that the program works.
• PTOTSLPOther2021Proposing a Core Outcome Set for Physical Activity and Exercise Interventions in People With Rare Neurological Conditions.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciencesResearchers and patients agreed that trials of exercise for rare neurological conditions should measure participation and self-efficacy, not just physical function. They selected two questionnaires that capture daily life and confidence, which previous studies largely missed.
• PTOTSLPOther2021Out-of-Home Activities and Health in Older Adults: A Scoping Review.OTJR : occupation, participation and healthResearch on older adults leaving home focuses heavily on social and leisure activities. It rarely measures the quality of the experience, such as autonomy or meaning. Clinicians should not assume simply going out improves health; what people do and how they feel matters.
• OTQualitative2021Occupational Therapists as Social Change Agents: Exploring Factors that Influence Their Actions.Canadian journal of occupational therapy. Revue canadienne d'ergotherapieSuccessful occupational therapists acting as change agents rely on nine personal factors, including adaptability and directed collaboration. They also depend on environmental supports like accessible expertise and collaborative teams, while facing barriers such as resistance to change and lack of resources.
• OTCase Series2022Using Subthreshold Vibratory Stimulation During Poststroke Rehabilitation Therapy: A Case Series.OTJR : occupation, participation and healthFour stroke survivors used a wearable wristband delivering imperceptible vibration during six weeks of therapy. They showed continuous improvement in arm function and daily use without safety issues. This small series cannot prove the device works, but suggests it is feasible for longer trials.
• PTOTRCT2022Embodiment, tailoring, and trust are important for co-construction of meaning in physiotherapy after stroke: A qualitative study.Physiotherapy research international : the journal for researchers and clinicians in physical therapyStroke survivors valued trust and engagement over specific exercises. They wanted to be pushed and corrected, interpreting exertion as progress. Assessment and goal-setting were often tacit, with patients trusting therapists to decide what mattered, rather than seeking explicit explanations.
• OTPilot2022Gut mobilization improves behavioral symptoms and modulates urinary p-cresol in chronically constipated autistic children: A prospective study.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism ResearchTreating chronic constipation with daily PEG lowered hyperactivity, anxiety, and social deficits in autistic children. Gut mobilization improved behavior across all participants, though the study lacked a control group and blinding.
• SLPOther2022Segmental acquisition of Brazilian Portuguese: onset simple, complex and coda.CoDASBrazilian Portuguese children typically produce simple consonants well by age 3, liquids and the tap by 4.6, and complex onsets by 6.0 to 6.6. Use these ages and expected correct speech production to spot possible delays.
• PTOTSLPSystematic Review2022Can Transcranial Electrical Stimulation Facilitate Post-stroke Cognitive Rehabilitation? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciencestDCS may briefly improve attention and language recovery in stroke survivors, but does not help global thinking, memory, or visual neglect. The evidence is weak, based on small studies with no long-term follow-up, so it should not replace standard therapy.
• PTQualitative2022Primary Care Physical Therapists' Experiences When Screening for Serious Pathologies Among Their Patients: A Qualitative Study.Physical therapyDanish primary care physical therapists said they often suspect serious pathology when patients fail to improve, not only from initial red flag questions. They felt uncertain about red flags and valued colleague reflection plus general practitioner feedback.
• SLPSystematic Review2022The use of the Washington Group on Disability Statistics questionnaires to identify hearing disability: a systematic review.CoDASThe Washington Group hearing question works for large-scale screening but yields wildly different prevalence rates depending on the cut-off used. Use the 'a lot of difficulty' threshold for consistent global comparisons, and the 'some difficulty' threshold to catch milder impairments.
• OTQualitative2022Occupational Lives in Sustained Recovery From Alcohol Dependency: An Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis.OTJR : occupation, participation and healthThree people in sustained recovery from alcohol dependency described replacing drinking with specific leisure activities like songwriting or rugby. These activities served the same emotional purpose as alcohol had, helping them manage distress and build new social connections.
• OTSLPOther2022Toward better characterization of restricted and unusual interests in youth with autism.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceParents of autistic youth described restricted interests most often as sensory, vehicle, character, or media-related. Male sex, intellectual disability, and more severe social-communication difficulties were linked to having at least one such interest.
• OTPilot2022Promoting Routines of Exploration and Play during Mealtime: Estimated Effects and Identified Barriers.Occupational therapy in health careChildren with sensory food aversion accepted more bites of targeted foods after Mealtime PREP, a bundled parent-coaching mealtime programme, and risk of nutritional problems fell.
• PTOTSystematic Review2022Sensory-Based Priming for Upper Extremity Hemiparesis After Stroke: A Scoping Review.OTJR : occupation, participation and healthMost studies found that adding sensory priming to motor training improved arm function in stroke patients. However, protocols varied wildly in dose and method, and many were small pilots, so there is no single proven recipe to copy yet.
• SLPCohort2022Audiological profile and cochlear functionality in Williams syndrome.CoDASHalf of children with Williams syndrome had hearing loss, mostly mild and high-frequency. Even those with normal standard tests showed reduced cochlear responses on otoacoustic emissions. Standard screening misses this damage; specific cochlear testing is needed to catch it early.
• SLPOther2022Remote Microphone Systems Can Improve Listening-in-Noise Accuracy and Listening Effort for Youth With Autism.Ear and hearingYouth with autism listened more accurately to words, sentences and stories when using a remote microphone. Average listening effort did not change, but effort decreased for those with higher nonverbal IQ and language scores.
• Other2022A comparison of accelerometer cut-points for measuring physical activity and sedentary time in adolescents with Down syndrome.Research in developmental disabilitiesDifferent accelerometer cut-points give wildly different activity times for adolescents with Down syndrome, yet rank them similarly. Do not compare absolute minutes between cut-point methods, but use them for relative comparisons.
• SLPOther2022Deceptive behaviour in autism: A scoping review.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceAcross 28 studies, many autistic children were less successful at deception games and everyday deception, and often could not maintain deception. Some autistic adults deceived as well as or better than comparison groups, especially with higher verbal ability.
• PTOTSLPOther2022Reliability of the PEDro scale: comparison between trials published in predatory and non-predatory journals.Archives of physiotherapyRaters agreed less on the PEDro quality score for trials in predatory journals than in reputable ones. For predatory trials, the agreement was too weak to trust a single score. This makes judging bias risk harder when relying on those publications.
• PTOTSLPCohort2022Comparison of respiratory function, physical function, and activities of daily living among community-dwelling patients with respiratory and non-respiratory disease.Journal of physical therapy sciencePatients with respiratory disease had significantly shorter maximum phonation times than those without, averaging 8.9 seconds versus 13.5 seconds. However, there were no differences in grip strength, chair stand performance, or daily living independence between the groups.
• SLPRCT2022Influence of taste stimulation on sucking pressure in newborn infants at term.CoDASAdding a single drop of colostrum to the pacifier during non-nutritive sucking assessment increased sucking pressure in healthy term newborns. The experimental group showed a mean pressure of 3.6 mmHg compared to 3.1 mmHg in the control group. This suggests taste stimulation may enhance measurement sensitivity.
• PTNarrative Review2022Frankly, we do give a damn: improving patient outcomes with swearing.Archives of physiotherapyNo original patient outcomes are reported. This is a narrative review about swearing in physical therapy, so there is no finding here to act on.
• PTOTCase Report2021Case Report: Perspective of a Caregiver on Functional Outcomes Following Bilateral Lateral Pectoral Nerve Cryoneurotomy to Treat Spasticity in a Pediatric Patient With Cerebral Palsy.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciencesIn one non-verbal teenager with severe cerebral palsy, freezing the nerves to the chest muscles improved shoulder movement and made dressing, bathing, and wheelchair transfers easier for his caregiver.
• SLPCase-Control2021Health Service Utilization Among Children and Adolescents with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Case-Control Study.Journal of developmental and behavioral pediatrics : JDBPYouth with PTSD used more health services than peers, including five times more psychotherapy. Yet nearly one-third received no mental health care at all, and many relied on emergency visits instead of consistent outpatient support.
• PTSystematic Review2021Objective Measurement of Ball-Handling Proficiency in Wheelchair Sports: A Systematic Review.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciencesMaximal throwing distance tests were reliable and differed between groups in almost all studies, but accuracy and dribbling tests were less consistent. Catching was tested in only one study, so ball-handling measures for wheelchair sport classification are incomplete.
• PTOTSLPOther2021A Scoping Review of Barriers and Facilitators Affecting the Lives of People With Disabilities During COVID-19.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciencesPeople with disabilities faced worsened access to care and information, but telehealth and clear masks helped some. Therapists must ask about home internet, family support and safety before virtual care, and provide accessible communication.
• PTOther2021Can COPD Exacerbations Be Picked Up Early via a Weekly Medication Question Through a Smartphone Application?Frontiers in rehabilitation sciencesA weekly medication question in a COPD smartphone app was answered 72% of the time and picked up 10 of 18 exacerbations among 27 patients who completed follow-up, but response was lower at 6 months.
• OTOther2021Collaborative Relationship-Focused Occupational Therapy: Evolving Lexicon and Practice.Canadian journal of occupational therapy. Revue canadienne d'ergotherapieNo clinical finding is available. This article argues client-centred language is inadequate and proposes collaborative relationship-focused practice, but reports no patients, outcomes, or tested interventions.
• PTOTSLPCohort2022Sex differences in age of diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder: Preliminary evidence from Uganda.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism ResearchIn Ugandan clinics, girls were diagnosed with autism at an average of 7.75 years, compared to 6.60 years for boys. This delay suggests clinicians should screen girls more aggressively for social communication differences, as cultural expectations may mask their symptoms.
• SLPOther2022Chaos Behavior Analysis of Alaryngeal Voices Including Esophageal and Tracheoesophageal Voices.Folia phoniatrica et logopaedica : official organ of the International Association of Logopedics and Phoniatrics (IALP)A new acoustic method reliably distinguishes esophageal and tracheoesophageal speech from normal voice and from each other. Esophageal voices showed higher chaos scores than tracheoesophageal voices. This offers a potential objective measure for voice quality where traditional tests fail.
• PTQualitative2022Women's experiences of obstetric anal sphincter injury and physical therapy interventions - A qualitative study.Brazilian journal of physical therapyWomen recovering from severe childbirth tears felt vulnerable and lost when hospital information was contradictory. They found safety and empowerment only when a specialist physical therapist used visual models to explain the injury and guided them through pelvic floor exercises.
• PTCohort2022Balance performance analysis after the COVID-19 quarantine in children aged between 8 and 12 years old: Longitudinal study.Gait & postureBalance worsened in 150 children after COVID-19 quarantine, measured as larger sway area. Sport type and foot type did not explain the change. Children with intensive or moderate activity before quarantine showed worse balance afterwards.