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 490 OF 704 · NEWEST FIRST

• OTCohort2023Reliability and validity of the Spanish adaptation of the Functional Independence Measure + Functional Assessment Measure.European journal of physical and rehabilitation medicineThe Spanish FIM+FAM measured functional independence after stroke consistently. Two raters agreed almost perfectly, and scores tracked other disability and mobility measures. It is best used for overall independence, not as a detailed cognitive or communication test.
• SLPOther2023The Functional External Memory Aid Tool Version 2.0: A How-To Clinical Guide.American journal of speech-language pathologyNo tested outcomes are reported. This is a how-to guide for administering and interpreting a memory aid assessment, with a hypothetical case only.
• OTQualitative2023"Giving the patients less work": A thematic analysis of telehealth use and recommendations to improve usability for autistic adults.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceAutistic adults and families found telehealth scheduling complex and anxiety-inducing. They preferred using patient portals for registration to avoid phone tag, but wanted clear instructions and reminders. Staff time constraints made phone-based check-ins difficult, leading to missed pre-visit troubleshooting.
• PTOTMeta-Analysis2023Exercise dosage to facilitate the recovery of balance, walking, and quality of life after stroke.The South African journal of physiotherapyHigh-dose aerobic exercise in hospital settings significantly improved walking capacity after stroke, but did not improve balance. Combining aerobic and resistance training improved quality of life. Therapists should prescribe at least 120 minutes per week at 60% heart rate reserve for walking recovery.
• PTOTOther2023Novel evaluation of upper-limb motor performance after stroke based on normal reaching movement model.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationA new method estimates a stroke patient's normal reaching ability using their stronger arm, then maps the weaker arm's performance against this personal baseline. It identifies specific directions and distances where movement is most impaired, offering a visual guide for targeted robotic training.
• PTCohort2023The efficacy of injury screening for lower back pain in elite golfers.The South African journal of physiotherapyMovement screening failed to identify young elite male golfers at risk for lower back pain. Only three of thirty tests showed weak associations, and the injured group actually scored better on those tests. Do not use these screens to predict injury.
• PTQualitative2023Physical Therapists Use Different Motivational Strategies for Stroke Rehabilitation Tailored to an Individual's Condition: A Qualitative Study.Physical therapyExpert physical therapists described changing how they motivate stroke rehab based on the person's mood, pain, cognition, confidence, age, family, and care setting. They also described enjoyable conversation and trust as common tools.
• PTOTCohort2023Impairments of the arm and hand are highly correlated during subacute stroke.Journal of rehabilitation medicineArm and hand impairments in subacute stroke are highly correlated, with most patients scoring within one point of each other on clinical scales. Clinicians should not assume the hand is worse than the arm; assessing one segment often provides sufficient information about the other.
• PTOther2023Division of loading time in reloading the disused atrophic soleus muscle induces proximal muscle injury.Journal of physical therapy scienceSplitting daily loading into two shorter bouts helped regrow distal soleus muscle fibers in rats but increased signs of muscle damage near the tendon. Continuous loading appeared safer for the muscle tissue overall, suggesting split sessions may risk injury without proper warm-up.
• PTOTSLPCohort2022The Effects of Tinnitus and Tinnitus Annoyance on Need for Recovery After Work: Results of the Netherlands Longitudinal Study on Hearing.Ear and hearingAfter adjusting for distress, somatization, and hearing disability, having tinnitus or being annoyed by it was not associated with a higher need for recovery after work. The apparent link in unadjusted data disappeared once these psychological and auditory factors were accounted for.
• PTOTSLPOther2022Assessing visuospatial processing in cerebral visual impairment using a novel and naturalistic static visual search task.Research in developmental disabilitiesChildren with cerebral visual impairment took significantly longer and made more errors finding toys in cluttered virtual scenes, even when their eyesight was normal. They struggled most when items were crowded or spread over a wide area. This supports reducing visual clutter and spacing items out.
• SLPPilot2022Contralateral suppression of transient evoked otoacoustic emissions in adults: A normative study.The South African journal of communication disorders = Die Suid-Afrikaanse tydskrif vir KommunikasieafwykingsIn 40 ears from normal-hearing adults, stimulating the opposite ear reduced the ear's sound response by 0.8 dB on average. The test repeated well, but these norms are device-specific and not ready for patient care.
• SLPSurvey2022South African speech-language therapists' practices regarding feeding tube placement in people with advanced dementia.The South African journal of communication disorders = Die Suid-Afrikaanse tydskrif vir KommunikasieafwykingsMost South African speech therapists surveyed would recommend tube feeding to a family member with advanced dementia, despite evidence it does not improve quality of life. They cited family pressure and a lack of local guidelines as the main drivers of this decision.
• SLPCohort2022Audiological and Demographic Factors that Impact the Precision of Speech Categorization in Cochlear Implant Users.Ear and hearingCochlear implant users with some acoustic hearing categorize stop sounds better than electric-only users. However, for fricative sounds, those with hybrid implants and good residual hearing categorize worse than bimodal users, suggesting they may ignore implant cues that actually carry the information.
• SLPOther2022Masking release in cortical auditory evoked potentials with speech stimulus.CoDASIn 12 normal-hearing adults, speech thresholds were 11.7 dB lower with modulated than steady noise, showing a masking release. Cortical responses were stronger and faster with modulated noise. This pilot supports using modulated noise to assess temporal resolution, but normal values are not yet established.
• Protocol2023Feasibility, effectiveness and safety of self-management in pulmonary rehabilitation: a study protocol using a hybrid type 1 effectiveness-implementation design.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciencesNo results are reported. This is a study protocol for a planned Dutch COPD pulmonary rehabilitation self-management evaluation, so there is no finding to act on.
• SLPCohort2023Vietnamese children with and without DLD: Classifier use and grammaticality over time.Journal of communication disordersVietnamese children with DLD used fewer classifiers and simpler structures than peers through second grade. Classifier omission errors were inconsistent and not a reliable marker, but limited classifier variety and lack of complex three-element phrases persisted.
• PTCase Report2023The Development of a Return to Performance Pathway Involving A Professional Soccer Player Returning From A Multi-Structural Knee Injury: A Case Report.International journal of sports physical therapyA criteria-based return-to-performance pathway allowed a professional soccer player to return to full league match play eight weeks after a complex knee surgery and meniscectomy. Progression relied on objective strength, power, and sport-specific metrics rather than time, though this is a single case.
• OTSLPOther2023Maladaptive behaviors in children with autism and parental hopelessness: The moderating role of parental reflective functioning.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism ResearchChildren’s maladaptive behaviors, especially autism-specific symptoms like tics or ignoring others, predicted higher parental hopelessness. This link was strongest in parents with lower reflective functioning, meaning those who struggle to interpret their child’s behavior through mental states were most at risk.
• OTCase-Control2023Mammillary body abnormalities and cognitive outcomes in children cooled for neonatal encephalopathy.Developmental medicine and child neurologyAmong cooled children without cerebral palsy, 11 of 32 had mammillary body abnormalities on MRI, and these children scored lower on all cognitive domains than controls and cooled children without abnormalities.
• SLPCohort2023Adapting to the Sound of Music - Development of Music Discrimination Skills in Recently Implanted CI Users.Trends in hearingNine recently implanted cochlear implant users showed improved brain responses to pitch and timbre after three months, but their ability to consciously identify these changes did not improve. Behavioral discrimination for rhythm and pitch was already strong at six weeks post-activation, leaving little room for early gains.
• PTOTPilot2023Autonomous Control of Music to Retrain Walking After Stroke.Neurorehabilitation and neural repairOne 30-minute session of automated, music-based gait training improved walking symmetry and reduced energy cost in 10 stroke survivors. The system adjusted music tempo and beat salience in real time based on foot sensors, offering a potential way to deliver skilled gait rehab without a therapist present.
• SLPOther2023Measurement invariance of the Autism Impact Measure (AIM) across sex in children with autism spectrum disorder.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism ResearchThe Autism Impact Measure scores core symptoms equivalently in boys and girls with autism. You can compare total domain scores between sexes without worrying that the test is biased toward the male presentation. However, the sample was mostly male and white, so this does not confirm the tool works for atypical or camouflaged presentations.
• PTOTCase Report2023Case report: training neck and head control in children with chronic paralysis due to acute flaccid myelitis.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciencesThree children with chronic paralysis from acute flaccid myelitis gained head control through intensive activity-based therapy. They progressed from needing passive head support to holding their heads upright for one to two minutes. This shows recovery is possible, but does not prove the treatment works for others.
• PTOTSurvey2023Relevance of hazards in exoskeleton applications: a survey-based enquiry.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationExoskeleton misalignments were the most frequent issue, affecting daily use for a quarter of respondents. Unintended motion was rated the most severe risk. Experts blamed poor training and sensor failures. Most hazards were rated rare and minor, likely because devices were tested in controlled clinical settings.
• Other2023Single-trial extraction of event-related potentials (ERPs) and classification of visual stimuli by ensemble use of discrete wavelet transform with Huffman coding and machine learning techniques.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationA new signal processing method accurately distinguished visual brain responses from single EEG trials in healthy adults, achieving 93.60% accuracy. This is a technical advance for research tools, not a clinical intervention or diagnostic test for therapists.
• PTNarrative Review2023Female reproductive health impacts of Long COVID and associated illnesses including ME/CFS, POTS, and connective tissue disorders: a literature review.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciencesPeople with long COVID often report menstrual irregularities and symptom flares before or during periods. Related conditions such as ME/CFS, POTS, and EDS show similar reproductive health problems, but evidence is mostly surveys and case reports.
• SLPOther2023A Probe Study on Vocal Development in Two Infants at Risk for Cerebral Palsy.Developmental neurorehabilitationTwo infants at risk for cerebral palsy showed delayed and variable canonical babbling compared to ten typically developing peers. The standard 0.15 threshold for onset was rarely met by either group in home recordings, suggesting current criteria may not apply to all-day sampling.
• SLPOther2023Hearing Asymmetry Biases Spatial Hearing in Bimodal Cochlear-Implant Users Despite Bilateral Low-Frequency Hearing Preservation.Trends in hearingBimodal cochlear implant users localized sounds poorly, with errors averaging 62 degrees. High-frequency sounds were pulled toward the implanted ear, and low-frequency sounds toward the hearing-aid ear.
• PTOTSLPCohort2023Sleep problems in autism: Sex differences in the school-age population.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism ResearchAutistic girls had the highest rates of sleep problems, affecting 84.4% compared to 65.8% of autistic boys and about 43% of typically developing children. Anxiety predicted poor sleep in boys, but not in girls.
• PTOTCohort2023Natural Walking Intensity in Persons With Parkinson Disease.Journal of neurologic physical therapy : JNPTHigh daily step counts in Parkinson's disease do not guarantee moderate intensity walking. Most participants accumulated minutes at very low intensities, with few reaching the 150-minute weekly target. Clinicians should ask patients directly about brisk walking rather than relying solely on step counts.
• PTOTOther2023System identification: a feasible, reliable and valid way to quantify upper limb motor impairments.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationRobotic elbow perturbations took about 25 min and were tolerable, but stiffness measures were inconsistent and only weakly matched the impairment tests.
• PTCohort2023The effect of trunk and shank position on the hip-to-knee moment ratio in a bilateral squat.Physical therapy in sport : official journal of the Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Sports MedicineIn 100 adults doing body-weight squats, more forward trunk lean was linked to greater hip extensor moment relative to knee extensor moment. More forward shank lean showed the opposite. Trunk lean had the stronger link.
• PTCohort2023Using trunk kinematics to predict kinetic asymmetries during double-leg jump-landings in collegiate athletes following anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction.Gait & postureSide-to-side hip position during jump-landings predicted 27% to 38% of the variance in force and knee moment asymmetries in athletes recovering from ACL reconstruction. Simple video analysis of hip shift may help screen for risky loading patterns, though it does not replace force plates.
• SLPPilot2023Exploring communicative competence in autistic children who are minimally verbal: The Low Verbal Investigatory Survey for Autism (LVIS).Autism : the international journal of research and practiceA 36-question parent survey about autistic children's communication takes about 5 minutes. Its communication score was related to existing language and communication measures, but it is not a replacement for formal testing.
• PTOTSLPSystematic Review2023Technologies in Home-Based Digital Rehabilitation: Scoping Review.JMIR rehabilitation and assistive technologiesMost digital rehab tools are already in use, but many lack proven effectiveness or safety for unsupervised home use. Clinicians must verify that a technology suits the patient's specific physical and cognitive abilities before recommending it.
• SLPPilot2023Feasibility of Remotely Supervised Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (RS-tDCS) for People with Stroke-Induced and Progressive Aphasia.AphasiologyPeople with stroke-induced and progressive aphasia could learn to self-administer remotely supervised brain stimulation at home. They completed all sessions without adverse events, and both patients and clinicians found the setup acceptable and convenient.
• Case Report2023Motor cortical functional connectivity changes due to short-term immobilization of upper limb: an fNIRS case report.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciencesA 12-year-old boy's right arm was immobilized for three weeks due to a fracture. His brain's motor networks changed, with connectivity strength dropping and activity shifting. These changes persisted for a year, showing how quickly the brain rewires when a limb is unused.
• PTOTSLPCohort2023Teacher- and parent-reported trajectories of maladaptive behaviors among individuals with autism and non-spectrum delays.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism ResearchAcross ages 9 to 18, hyperactivity and irritability improved for most participants, but social withdrawal stayed stable. Participants with lower verbal intelligence or more autism features started with higher symptom levels and improved less over time, regardless of teacher or parent report.
• OTSLPCohort2022Facial expression recognition is linked to clinical and neurofunctional differences in autism.Molecular autismFacial expression recognition tests split autistic people into two groups: those with typical recognition and those with significant difficulties. The low-recognition group had more severe social symptoms and distinct brain activity patterns, suggesting these tests could help target interventions to the right patients.
• PTOther2023Muscle synergy patterns as altered coordination strategies in individuals with chronic low back pain: a cross-sectional study.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationAcross 15 people with chronic low back pain and 15 matched controls, trunk muscle synergy patterns were similar; the pain group showed more consistent patterns in some back-muscle synergies and more variable patterns in one trunk-stability synergy.
• SLPSurvey2023Effectiveness of Kurtosis-Adjusted Cumulative Noise Exposure in Assessing Occupational Hearing Loss Associated With Complex Noise.Ear and hearingIn 1404 workers exposed to factory noise, adding impulse characteristics to cumulative exposure better matched hearing-loss risk. Complex-noise workers had deeper hearing-test dips, and the adjusted score reduced the gap with Gaussian-noise workers from 8.1% to 0.4%.
• Other2023Evolution of rehabilitation services in response to a global pandemic: reflection on opportunities and challenges ahead.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciencesThis perspective paper describes how rehabilitation services were disrupted or adapted globally during the pandemic. It does not report new patient outcomes or test interventions, so there are no clinical findings to guide practice.
• PTOther2023Effects of Repetitive Pitching on Trunk Muscle Endurance and Thoracic and Shoulder Kinematics.International journal of sports physical therapyAfter 135 maximum-effort throws, trunk endurance fell in 12 recreational baseball players, and shoulder horizontal adduction at maximum external rotation decreased slightly. The study did not show these changes cause injury.
• SLPCohort2023Evaluation of a Machine Learning-Based Dysphagia Prediction Tool in Clinical Routine: A Prospective Observational Cohort Study.DysphagiaThe dysphagia prediction tool worked better in internal medicine than geriatric wards. It identified 74.2% of internal medicine dysphagia cases and 44.4% of geriatric cases.
• SLPOther2023Singing and Speaking Ability in Parkinson's Disease and Spinocerebellar Ataxia.Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHRFor Parkinson's disease, singing improves speech intelligibility. For cerebellar ataxia, it does not; singing is rated significantly worse in ataxia. Providing a written model to read improves intelligibility in both groups, but singing only helps Parkinson's.
• SLPOther2023Lexical Predictors of Intelligibility in Young Children's Speech.Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHRUnfamiliar listeners understood high-frequency words better than low-frequency words. Words with many frequent similar words tended to be harder. How typical a word sounds did not show a clear effect.
• SLPOther2023Optimization of Sound Coding Strategies to Make Singing Music More Accessible for Cochlear Implant Users.Trends in hearingFor cochlear implant users, switching to a music-specific sound processor program improved how clearly they understood lyrics and how much they enjoyed the music. The new setting widened the range of soft and loud sounds they could hear.
• Other2023Spatiotemporal parameters for energy efficient kilohertz-frequency nerve block with low onset response.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationIn rat nerves, kilohertz block was most efficient at frequencies above the minimum blocking frequency. Waveform shape and cuff geometry changed required current and initial excitation, but this was animal testing, not human therapy.
• PTOther2023Clustering trunk movements of children and adolescents with neurological gait disorders undergoing robot-assisted gait therapy: the functional ability determines if actuated pelvis movements are clinically useful.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationChildren and adolescents with neurological gait disorders showed three trunk movement patterns during Lokomat walking. Some looked closer to typical walking, some looked less typical when actuated pelvis movement and released leg cuffs were enabled, and poorer trunk control tracked with unstable patterns.