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 681 OF 704 · NEWEST FIRST

• PTMeta-Analysis2025Exploring Non-invasive Brain Stimulation Effects on Physical Outcomes in People With Parkinson's Disease: An Umbrella Evidence Mapping Review With Meta-analyses.Neurorehabilitation and neural repairNon-invasive brain stimulation probably gives a small improvement in Parkinson's motor scores, walking and freezing of gait, but not in standing balance. The pooled motor effect shrank from moderate to small once studies at high risk of bias were removed.
• PTSLPSystematic Review2025Pain in adults with cerebral palsy: A systematic review.Developmental medicine and child neurologyBetween 24% and 89% of adults with cerebral palsy report pain, more than adults without it. What helps is unclear: botulinum toxin A and pallidal stimulation showed no benefit, and a physical activity programme and somatosensory therapy showed promise in one small study each.
• SLPMeta-Analysis2024The effects of auditory stimulation on heart rate variability in healthy individuals with normal hearing and with hearing loss: a systematic review and meta-analysis.CoDASSix small studies each found nothing on their own; when pooled, they show a small fall in one 'rest and digest' heart measure (RMSSD) during sound, while two other measures of the same system did not change. Nobody with hearing loss was studied.
• OTRCT2024Associations Between Sleep Health and Child Behavior at Age 6 Years in the INSIGHT Study.Journal of developmental and behavioral pediatrics : JDBPDuration and quality of sleep showed no link to behaviour; how regular the timing was did. Children whose sleep onset shifted more night to night were coded as more impulsive, and the link to poorer emotion regulation appeared only in the home safety control group.
• OTMeta-Analysis2024Efficacy and safety of acupuncture therapy for neuropsychiatric symptoms among patients with Parkinson's disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Clinical rehabilitationAcupuncture added to medication or brain stimulation improved depression, anxiety, cognition and quality of life scores in people with Parkinson's disease. Acupuncture on its own worked no better than sham or no treatment, and fatigue did not improve.
• PTOTMeta-Analysis2024Upper extremity function and disability recovery with vibration therapy after stroke: a systematic review and meta-analysis of RCTs.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationAdding vibration to usual stroke rehabilitation improved arm and hand movement and daily independence across 30 trials in 1,621 people. Most participants also received standard therapy, so how much the vibration itself contributed is unclear, and benefits faded beyond three months.
• PTMeta-Analysis2024Effects of exercise on bone density and physical performance in postmenopausal women: A systematic review and meta-analysis.PM & R : the journal of injury, function, and rehabilitationAdding exercise to osteoporosis medication or supplements did not improve bone density at the spine, hip or trochanter, but it did improve balance, walking speed and leg strength. Evidence quality was low to very low.
• SLPMeta-Analysis2023Diagnostic Accuracy of the Eating Assessment Tool-10 (EAT-10) in Screening Dysphagia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.DysphagiaThe EAT-10 screens for dysphagia more accurately at a cutoff of 3 than at 2. Sensitivity was 0.89 at cutoff 2 and 0.85 at cutoff 3, but specificity was only 0.59 at 2 against 0.82 at 3. The authors recommend 3.
• PTSystematic Review2023Systematic Review to Inform a World Health Organization (WHO) Clinical Practice Guideline: Benefits and Harms of Structured and Standardized Education or Advice for Chronic Primary low back pain in Adults.Journal of occupational rehabilitationEducation and advice may slightly ease pain and improve function in adults with chronic low back pain, but all the evidence is very uncertain and could change. One trial found sham taping did better for pain.
• SLPSystematic Review2023Sex and Race Representation in Temporal Bone Histopathology Studies in the United States: A Systematic Review.Ear and hearingMost US temporal bone studies never report the race of the people they examined: 15 of 300 did, and 11 of those 12 had fewer than 34% non-White donors. Sex was reported in 166 of 300 studies.
• PTMeta-Analysis2023Effects of balance training on balance and fall efficacy in patients with Osteoporosis: A systematic review and meta-analysis with trial sequential analysis.Journal of rehabilitation medicineBalance training improved balance and reduced fear of falling in people with osteoporosis, mostly women. On the Timed Up and Go, trained groups were 1.86 seconds quicker; one-leg standing time was 4.10 seconds longer. Trials were small.
• PTMeta-Analysis2023Pulmonary Rehabilitation Using Minimal Equipment for People With Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Physical therapySupervised pulmonary rehabilitation using only elastic bands, walking and body-weight exercises improved walking distance by 85 m more than usual care and improved quality of life in people with COPD. It looked comparable to gym-based programmes.
• PTRCT2023A pilot randomised controlled trial on the effectiveness of infant massage on the acceptance, commitment and awareness of influence in parents of babies with Down syndrome.Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDRParents who took a five-week infant massage course scored higher on an interview about how much they accepted their baby, felt committed, and felt they influenced them, than parents who did not. Both groups improved, and only 32 parents took part.
• PTMeta-Analysis2022Are There Interindividual Differences in Anxiety as a Result of Aerobic Exercise Training in Adults With Fibromyalgia? An Ancillary Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitationAnxiety fell 15.5% from baseline with aerobic exercise in five fibromyalgia trials, more than in control groups. But participants varied no more than chance, so tailoring exercise to the individual for anxiety is not supported.
• PTRCT2022Using Telehealth to Conduct Family-Centered, Movement Intervention Research in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder During the COVID-19 Pandemic.Pediatric physical therapy : the official publication of the Section on Pediatrics of the American Physical Therapy AssociationNo results to act on. This is a description of how one team moved a face-to-face movement study for children with autism online during COVID-19, including the games, the equipment families were sent and the videoconferencing problems they hit.
• SLPRCT2022Teaching Children With Hearing Loss to Recognize Speech: Gains Made With Computer-Based Auditory and/or Speechreading Training.Ear and hearingSixteen hours of computer-based speech perception games improved children's speech recognition: listening scores rose by about 9% words correct and speechreading by about 7%. Gains were largest for the talker a child trained with, but children also improved with unfamiliar talkers.
• Meta-Analysis2022The Effect of Mindfulness-Based and Acceptance Commitment Therapy-Based Interventions to Improve the Mental Well-Being Among Parents of Children with Developmental Disabilities: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of autism and developmental disordersParents of children with developmental disabilities who took part in mindfulness or ACT programmes reported less stress, anxiety and depression straight afterwards, a review of 10 trials found. The authors rate that evidence very low quality, and parents' own mindfulness did not improve.
• Meta-Analysis2021Regulatory T lymphocytes/Th17 lymphocytes imbalance in autism spectrum disorders: evidence from a meta-analysis.Molecular autismIn blood from under-18s with autism, regulatory T cells (which calm inflammation) were lower and Th17 cells (which drive it) were higher, with CD4+ T cells also lower. CD8+, B and natural killer cells did not differ.
• PTOTRCT2021Corticospinal Tract Microstructure Predicts Distal Arm Motor Improvements in Chronic Stroke.Journal of neurologic physical therapy : JNPTIn chronic stroke with mild-to-moderate arm weakness, people whose corticospinal tract looked more damaged at baseline improved more on a timed hand and arm test after four months of practice. That reversed what the authors expected. Do not use imaging to pick who to treat.
• SLPSystematic Review2025Arabic Aphasia Research Through a Clinical and Linguistic Lens: A Systematic Review of Current Limitations and Future Directions.International journal of language & communication disordersThree decades of research on Arabic-speaking people with aphasia amount to 48 studies, only five of them testing a treatment. Most assessment tools are translated English tests that the authors say risk inaccurate diagnosis.
• PTOTSystematic Review2025Digital motor intervention effects on physical activity performance of individuals with developmental disabilities: a systematic review.Disability and rehabilitationDigital exercise games (Wii, virtual reality, Zoom) improved fitness, cardiovascular and motor measures in people with intellectual disability, with strongest support in Down syndrome and autism. Evidence for people without intellectual disability is weak, and most studies were small and poorly controlled.
• SLPSystematic Review2025Therapeutic strategies for tongue musculature: a systematic literature review.CoDASAcross 18 studies of tongue-muscle exercises, the sets, repetitions, hold times and rest periods varied so widely that no standard prescription emerges. The review assessed no treatment effects, only what was prescribed.
• PTSystematic Review2025Risk Factors Associated with New Onset of Shoulder Pain and Injury Among the Athletic Population: A Systematic Review of the Literature.International journal of sports physical therapyThere is no single cause of shoulder pain in overhead athletes: risk sits in sport-specific range of motion, strength, past injury and training-load spikes. Only one included trial tested prevention, and it reduced shoulder injuries in handball players.
• SLPRCT2025In-home Tele-assessment for Autism in Toddlers: Validity, Reliability, and Caregiver Satisfaction with the TELE-ASD-PEDS.Journal of developmental and behavioral pediatrics : JDBPToddlers' autism evaluations done over video from home matched in-person results for 94% of children, and 92% could be given a diagnostic decision from the video visit alone. Caregivers were satisfied and few had technology problems.
• SLPSystematic Review2025Articulatory-kinematic changes in speech following surgical treatment for oral or oropharyngeal cancer: A systematic review.International journal of language & communication disordersAfter surgery for mouth or throat cancer, the tongue stiffens, shapes itself less variably, and moves less symmetrically, and the tip struggles to rise, so sounds like /t/, /d/ and /s/ suffer. Most of the studies were tiny, so treat this as a map of what has been seen, not proof.
• SLPSystematic Review2025Building Capacity: A Systematic Review of Training in the Diagnosis of Autism for Community-Based Clinicians.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism ResearchAfter training, community clinicians reported more confidence, knowledge and use of screening tools, and their diagnoses matched an expert assessment in 71% to 95% of cases checked. But this rests on seven small training programmes, mostly pilots, with no follow-up.
• PTSystematic Review2025Evidence on the Effectiveness of Public Policies for Physical Activity Promotion in the Early Childcare Education and Care Setting: A Systematic Review.Child: care, health and developmentRequiring physical activity in childcare changed what centres offered, with 74% to 94% adherence, but did not consistently get children moving more. Most included studies were rated only fair or poor quality.
• PTRCT2024Remote delivery of a weight management intervention for adults with intellectual disabilities: Results from a randomized non-inferiority trial.Disability and health journalAdults with intellectual disability lost more weight at 6 months with the programme delivered by video call and apps than by home visits, but COVID disrupted the home-visit group, so the comparison is not clean. By 18 and 24 months the groups no longer differed.
• SLPMeta-Analysis2024Relationship between mastication and malnutrition in community-dwelling older adults: a meta-analysis.CoDASOlder adults with chewing trouble were 2.21 times as likely to be malnourished when three studies were pooled, but the range around that estimate ran from 0.93 to 5.26, which takes in no link, and the authors rated the evidence very low. This cannot show cause.
• OTRCT2024Feasibility study of a parent-driven intervention for youth with Down syndrome.Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDRBoth five-session parent programmes, one behavioural and one educational, were practical to run and children's behaviour problems, irritability and hyperactivity fell over the study in both. The behavioural programme was not clearly better than the educational one. Only 20 families took part.
• PTRCT2024The Influence of "Labels" for Neck Pain on Recovery Expectations Following a Motor Vehicle Crash: An Online-Randomized Vignette-Based Experiment.The Journal of orthopaedic and sports physical therapyCalling neck pain after a car crash "whiplash-associated disorder" or "neck pain" lowered people's expectation of full recovery compared with "neck strain". Differences were small, at most 1.0 point on an 11-point scale.
• PTSLPMeta-Analysis2024The Prevalence and Nature of Eating and Swallowing Problems in Adults with Fibromyalgia: A Systematic Review.DysphagiaPooled from just two studies, 51.9% of adults with fibromyalgia had swallowing problems, but the true figure could lie anywhere from 25.6% to 77.2%. Core issues such as aspiration and painful chewing were never measured.
• OTSLPMeta-Analysis2023Effects of Parent-Implemented Interventions on Outcomes of Children with Autism: A Meta-Analysis.Journal of autism and developmental disordersTraining parents to deliver autism intervention produced moderate gains in children's social skills, behaviour and communication versus usual care or waiting lists, but little improvement in daily living skills. Better-run trials showed smaller gains.
• PTRCT2023Autonomic nervous system and endocrine system response to upper and lower cervical spine mobilization in healthy male adults: a randomized crossover trial.The Journal of manual & manipulative therapyLower cervical mobilisation lowered salivary cortisol over 30 minutes in healthy young men, and cortisol at 30 minutes differed between upper and lower cervical techniques. Heart rate variability barely changed. Twenty men, no control group: mechanism, not proof it helps patients.
• SLPRCT2023Telemedicine Referral to Improve Access to Specialty Care for Preschool Children in Rural Alaska: A Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial.Ear and hearingTelemedicine referral got more rural Alaska preschoolers seen for ear and hearing follow-up, and faster: 76.9% of 39 referred children versus 50.0% of 32 when the school sent a letter home, with a median 28-day wait versus 85 days among those seen.
• PTMeta-Analysis2023Risk factors for rotator cuff disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis of diabetes, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia.Annals of physical and rehabilitation medicineDiabetes and high blood lipids each come up repeatedly as linked to rotator cuff disease across pooled observational studies. The high blood pressure link looks real on paper but rests on biased studies, and the one study that followed people forward in time found no link.
• SLPRCT2023A randomized crossover single-case series comparing blocked versus random treatment for anomia.Neuropsychological rehabilitationBoth blocked and random practice improved naming of trained words, and to a similar degree. Three months later, the random order held up slightly better. Individual responses varied, so which schedule suits a patient may need a trial of each.
• OTSLPSystematic Review2022Calm with horses? A systematic review of animal-assisted interventions for improving social functioning in children with autism.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceHorse-based programmes were the only animal interventions with supporting evidence: most trials reported better social functioning in children with autism, but none was free of bias. The single dog-reading trial found nothing, and the dolphin programme did no better than an animal-free control.
• PTMeta-Analysis2022Does the efficacy of neurodynamic treatments depend on the presence and type of criteria used to define neural mechanosensitivity in spinally-referred leg pain? A systematic review and meta-analysis.The South African journal of physiotherapyNeural mobilisation eased pain more than control treatment whichever criteria were used to define nerve mechanosensitivity, so those tests may not pick out who benefits. Disability improved only where that diagnosis was less certain, and most trials were at high risk of bias.
• PTSystematic Review2022Home-based and remote functional exercise testing in cardiac conditions, during the covid-19 pandemic and beyond: a systematic review.PhysiotherapyThe 6-minute walk test is the only test tried at home or remotely in cardiac patients, and it usually tracked clinic distances well. One small study tested the timed up and go, and it is unclear whether any can guide exercise prescription.
• PTRCT2022An 8-week aerobic cycling intervention elicits improved gait velocity and biomechanics in persons with Parkinson's disease.Gait & postureEight weeks of aerobic cycling three times a week improved walking speed in people with mild to moderate Parkinson's disease: the cycling group gained 0.14 m/s while the control group declined by 0.09 m/s. Changes to the walking pattern itself mostly did not reach significance.
• SLPSystematic Review2022Pharmacological and dietary-supplement treatments for autism spectrum disorder: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.Molecular autismRisperidone and aripiprazole improved social-communication difficulties and repetitive behaviours in children, but evidence was low quality and both caused weight gain, sedation and extrapyramidal symptoms. Most trials were small (median 40 participants) and enrolled children with irritability.
• OTRCT2022An app-based just-in-time-adaptive self-management intervention for care partners: The CareQOL feasibility pilot study.Rehabilitation psychologyPeople caring for someone with spinal cord injury, Huntington disease or a stem cell transplant stuck with a 90-day app and Fitbit: 69 of 70 finished. The app group scored better on 3 of 10 measures, but the trial was too small to confirm benefit.
• PTRCTFour Square Step Test Performance in Hip Fracture Patients.Journal of geriatric physical therapy (2001)Four months after hip fracture, 13 of 40 patients could not attempt the Four Square Step Test and 74% of those who did took longer than 15 seconds. Left-side fractures were slowest, especially when visual cognition was poor.
• PTMeta-Analysis2025Effects of proprioceptive exercise for knee osteoarthritis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciencesProprioceptive exercise improved balance on the Timed Up and Go test by 1.53 seconds, past the 1.3-second threshold patients can feel. Pain, stiffness and physical function did not improve enough to matter.
• PTSystematic Review2025Effectiveness of physical therapy interventions for coccydynia: a systematic review with a narrative synthesis.Archives of physiotherapyManipulation, stretching, massage, shock wave therapy, kinesiotaping and muscle energy technique all eased tailbone pain and improved function in the short term against the comparison each trial used. But the trials were small, four at high risk of bias, and long-term effects remain unclear.
• PTMeta-Analysis2025Changes in walking speed following resistance training in people with multiple sclerosis: A systematic review and meta-analysis.PM & R : the journal of injury, function, and rehabilitationResistance training improved walking speed by 0.10 m/s more than usual activity, the threshold considered a meaningful change. But only one of six trials found that difference alone, and resistance training beat no other form of exercise.
• SLPSystematic Review2025Autism interventions designed or adapted for the Black/African American population: A systematic review.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceEight US studies since 2017 have designed or adapted an autism intervention for Black people. None was randomised, none included Black autistic adults, most worked with parents, and none addressed the language needs of the community.
• PTRCT2024Effects of proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation combined with threshold inspiratory muscle training on respiratory function in neurocritical patients with weaning failure: a randomized controlled trial.International journal of rehabilitation research. Internationale Zeitschrift fur Rehabilitationsforschung. Revue internationale de recherches de readaptationIn neurocritical patients who could not be weaned from a ventilator, adding proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation to threshold inspiratory muscle training improved maximum inspiratory pressure more than the training alone. Diaphragm movement, diaphragm thickening and lung function did not differ between the groups.
• PTMeta-Analysis2024Effects of Analgesics on Self-Reported Physical Function and Walking Ability in People With Hip or Knee Osteoarthritis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Physical therapyNSAIDs, acetaminophen and opioids each gave a small improvement in what people with hip or knee osteoarthritis said they could do day to day. NSAIDs also eased pain while walking. The improvements were small and only around 12 weeks of treatment was tested.