TOPIC

Neurological research

Everything we have read on neurological. Each paper is summarised from the full article rather than its abstract, so the limitations are in there too, and the funding wherever the paper declares it.

2,792 PAPERS · PAGE 16 OF 56 · NEWEST FIRST

• PTOTOther2020A Reaching Performance Scale for 2 Wolf Motor Function Test Items.Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitationThe modified scale shows only weak-to-moderate agreement between raters, so it is not yet reliable for clinical use. It did correlate with other stroke measures, suggesting it may help distinguish movement quality in the future.
• PTOTOther2020Digital Phenotyping to Quantify Psychosocial Well-Being Trajectories After Spinal Cord Injury.American journal of physical medicine & rehabilitationSmartphone surveys and GPS tracking were feasible in 43 wheelchair users with spinal cord injury, but newly injured adults dropped out more. Depression was linked to lower social participation; community mobility relationships varied by person.
• PTOTSLPRCT2020Biopsychosocial intervention for stroke carers (BISC): results of a feasibility randomised controlled trial and nested qualitative interview study.Clinical rehabilitationA biopsychosocial intervention for stroke carers was feasible but not tested for efficacy. Carers valued peer support and flexibility, but struggled to attend group sessions due to competing demands. One-to-one delivery had better attendance.
• PTOTOther2020Health literacy, health outcomes, and the caregiver role in traumatic brain injury.Rehabilitation psychologyTwenty-one percent of TBI caregivers had low health literacy. These caregivers reported more burden, less satisfaction with the relationship, and poorer physical health, but no differences in mental health or caregiving ideology.
• PTOTCohort2021Chronic Poststroke Deficits in Gross and Fine Motor Control of the Ipsilesional Upper Limb.American journal of physical medicine & rehabilitationPeople with chronic stroke showed reduced fine and gross motor dexterity in their ipsilesional (same-side) arm. Standard clinical tests like the Nine-Hole Peg Test and Box and Blocks Test can detect these deficits, which often go unnoticed when therapy focuses solely on the contralesional arm.
• PTOTSLPMeta-Analysis2021Effectiveness of non-pharmacological interventions for treating post-stroke depressive symptoms: Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Topics in stroke rehabilitationNon-drug therapies slightly reduced post-stroke depression overall. Music therapy and psychosocial therapy showed small-to-medium benefits, while exercise and multifactorial interventions did not. These effects were small, so these therapies should complement, not replace, standard care.
• PTOTMeta-Analysis2020Transcranial direct current stimulation for improving ambulation after stroke: a systematic review and meta-analysis.International journal of rehabilitation research. Internationale Zeitschrift fur Rehabilitationsforschung. Revue internationale de recherches de readaptationActive tDCS improved functional mobility and Timed Up and Go scores after stroke, but did not significantly improve walking speed or endurance compared to sham stimulation. The benefit was seen in general walking ability measures rather than specific gait velocity or distance.
• PTOTSLPCohortEvaluating the Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Relationships Predicting Suicidal Ideation Following Traumatic Brain Injury.The Journal of head trauma rehabilitationSuicidal thoughts after brain injury were linked to depression, substance misuse, and injury severity. Injury severity predicted these thoughts even when depression was absent. Screen all patients for suicidal thoughts, not just those with diagnosed depression.
• PTOTSurvey2021Rates, patterns, and correlates of fitness tracker use among older adults with multiple sclerosis.Disability and health journalAmong older adults with MS, 28% use fitness trackers. Users report slightly more physical activity than non-users, but this association exists only in those who already have higher income, employment, and less disability.
• PTOTCohort2021Regional Variations in Rehabilitation Outcomes of Adult Patients With Traumatic Brain Injury: A Uniform Data System for Medical Rehabilitation Investigation.Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitationAdults with traumatic brain injury discharged after inpatient rehabilitation varied widely by U.S. region. After accounting for patient factors, some regions had higher discharge function scores, longer stays, or lower likelihood of going home.
• PTOTSLPOther2021Brain Injury Functional Outcome Measure (BI-FOM): A Single Instrument Capturing the Range of Recovery in Moderate-Severe Traumatic Brain Injury.Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitationA new 31-item measure tracks recovery from moderate to severe brain injury more accurately than standard scales. It captures patients who are nearly normal and those with profound impairment, avoiding the common problem where scores bunch up at the very top or bottom.
• OTCohort2020Sleep impairment is related to health-related quality of life among caregivers of lower-functioning traumatic brain injury survivors.Rehabilitation psychologyCaregivers of service members with traumatic brain injury who perceived the survivor as having lower everyday function and who reported high sleep-related impairment had worse social quality of life. This link was not found in caregivers of civilians.
• PTOTRCT2020The Efficiency, Efficacy, and Retention of Task Practice in Chronic Stroke.Neurorehabilitation and neural repairMore practice hours improved perceived arm movement quality in chronic stroke, but extra hours gave smaller gains and larger doses faded faster. The authors suggest shorter, spread-out practice and encouraging daily arm use to retain gains.
• PTOTOther2020Classification of Parkinson's disease and essential tremor based on balance and gait characteristics from wearable motion sensors via machine learning techniques: a data-driven approach.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationMachine learning models using wearable sensor data on balance and gait could distinguish Parkinson's disease from essential tremor, with neural networks performing best. However, accuracy was moderate and the dataset heavily favored Parkinson's cases, limiting immediate clinical application.
• PTOTCohort2020Rudimentary Dexterity Corresponds With Reduced Ability to Move in Synergy After Stroke: Evidence of Competition Between Corticoreticulospinal and Corticospinal Tracts?Neurorehabilitation and neural repairIn people with moderate arm impairment after stroke, the ability to move the arm out of synergy and the ability to move within synergy trade off against each other. This suggests a competition between brain pathways, where recovering fine control may temporarily reduce gross synergy movement.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• PTOTRCT2021Sustained efficacy of incobotulinumtoxina repeated injections for upper-limb post-stroke spasticity: A post hoc analysis.Journal of rehabilitation medicineRepeated incobotulinumtoxinA injections for upper-limb post-stroke spasticity reduced muscle tone and caregiver burden more than placebo. Benefits in tone and disability increased with each injection cycle up to 48 weeks, suggesting a cumulative effect rather than a single-shot fix.
• PTOTRCT2020Relationships between accelerometry and general compensatory movements of the upper limb after stroke.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationAccelerometer data from daily life, but not clinic visits, reflects movement quality. People who compensated more during tasks used their non-paretic arm more and showed less variability at home. Clinic training masks these patterns, so daily wearables capture compensations that in-clinic tests miss.
• OTCohort2021Cognitive and emotional symptoms in patients with first-ever mild stroke: The syndrome of hidden impairments.Journal of rehabilitation medicineOne year after mild stroke, 67% of 117 patients had at least one abnormal cognitive test score and 43% had at least one abnormal emotional score. Only 18% had no detectable deficit.
• PTOTRCT2021Effects of Lower Thoracic Spinal Cord Stimulation on Bowel Management in Individuals With Spinal Cord Injury.Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitationBowel routines dropped from 118 minutes to 18 minutes in five men with cervical spinal cord injury using implanted spinal cord stimulation. Mechanical methods and medications became less necessary. This is a tiny case series, so it proves feasibility, not efficacy.
• PTOTOther2020Postural control strategy after incomplete spinal cord injury: effect of sensory inputs on trunk-leg movement coordination.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationPeople with incomplete spinal cord injury struggle to shift from an ankle to a hip balance strategy when sway increases or surfaces soften. Trunk-leg coherence measured by two sensors tracked this reliably, unlike standard balance measures.
• PTOTNarrative Review2020These legs were made for propulsion: advancing the diagnosis and treatment of post-stroke propulsion deficits.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationPost-stroke walking deficits stem from poor propulsion, not just weakness. Current rigid braces can block push-off. Emerging therapies like functional electrical stimulation and soft exosuits aim to restore true propulsion, but these remain experimental and require rigorous testing before clinical adoption.
• PTOTSLPOther2021Stroke impairment categories: A new way to classify the effects of stroke based on stroke-related impairments.Clinical rehabilitationStroke patients fall into seven distinct impairment groups. These groups predict different therapy needs and outcomes. Motor-Cognitive-Sensory strokes are most common. Loss of Consciousness strokes have highest mortality. Clinicians can use these categories to benchmark expected therapy doses and discharge destinations.
• PTOTOther2020Improving Accelerometry-Based Measurement of Functional Use of the Upper Extremity After Stroke: Machine Learning Versus Counts Threshold Method.Neurorehabilitation and neural repairMachine learning models accurately measured functional arm use in stroke survivors, closely matching video evidence. The standard counts threshold method failed, grossly overestimating functional use by including nonfunctional movements like arm swing. This suggests current accelerometry metrics may be misleading for assessing real-world recovery.
• PTOTSLPRCT2020'Recoupling' the attentional and motor control of preparatory postural adjustments to overcome freezing of gait in Parkinson's.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationIn people with Parkinson's, freezing attempts failed when the sideways weight shift was too small. Training a specific verbal or analogy cue to increase this shift helped nearly all participants initiate a step successfully, with no difference between the two cue types.
• PTOTCohort2020Executive Control of Walking in People With Parkinson's Disease With Freezing of Gait.Neurorehabilitation and neural repairPeople with Parkinson's who report freezing of gait showed higher prefrontal brain activity while walking than those without freezing. This suggests their brains work harder to control movement. However, their actual walking speed and step variability looked the same as non-freezers once disease severity was accounted for.
• PTOTSLPSystematic Review2020Virtual reality and non-invasive brain stimulation for rehabilitation applications: a systematic review.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationCombining virtual reality with brain stimulation showed promise for stroke, pain, and PTSD in small trials, but results were mixed and no study proved it works better than either alone. Single-session treatments mostly failed, so this is not yet a standard care option.
• PTOTCohort2021Predictive Value of Midsagittal Tissue Bridges on Functional Recovery After Spinal Cord Injury.Neurorehabilitation and neural repairWider ventral and dorsal tissue bridges seen on 1-month MRI were associated with better neurological grade and functional recovery at 12 months after spinal cord injury. This helps set prognosis, not a treatment target.
• PTOTRCT2021Telerehabilitation After Stroke Using Readily Available Technology: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Neurorehabilitation and neural repairACTIV did not significantly improve physical function at 6 months after stroke. Participation and self-rated health favoured ACTIV, and those receiving at least half the intervention showed physical gains, but these were not sustained.
• PTOTOther2020Multiple processes independently predict motor learning.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationIn healthy young adults, improvements in hitting targets were independently predicted by faster hand movements, more efficient visual search, and looser eye-hand coupling. Avoiding distractors was predicted only by looser eye-hand coupling. This shows motor learning involves multiple distinct processes.
• PTOTRCT2020Effects of virtual reality training on occupational performance and self-efficacy of patients with stroke: a randomized controlled trial.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationAdding 3 weeks of virtual reality training to standard care improved self-efficacy and daily living activities in stroke survivors, but did not improve occupational performance or upper limb function more than standard care alone.
• OTOther2021Rasch Analysis of Social Attitude Barriers and Facilitators to Participation for Individuals with Disabilities.Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitationA questionnaire measuring perceived social barriers and supports for people with stroke, spinal cord injury, or brain injury showed scores that were consistent and related to standard social health measures. It may help therapists identify participation problems, but does not show any treatment works.
• PTOTRCT2020Commercial head-mounted display virtual reality for upper extremity rehabilitation in chronic stroke: a single-case design study.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationSeven people with chronic stroke played commercial VR games for ten weeks. Most showed improved arm function on clinical tests. The games required no button pressing, allowing those with severe weakness to participate using straps. This is a small pilot, not proof of efficacy.
• PTOTSLPOther2021Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic Among Posthospital Brain Injury Rehabilitation Providers.Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitationSeven posthospital brain injury rehabilitation organizations adapted services with telehealth and strict safety protocols during the pandemic. Infection rates remained low among patients and staff, with zero deaths reported, though financial strain and service limitations were significant.
• PTOTPilot2021Effect of Different Forms of Activity-Based Recovery Training on Bladder, Bowel, and Sexual Function After Spinal Cord Injury.Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitationStand training did not improve bladder, bowel, or sexual function after spinal cord injury. Arm crank exercise lowered bladder pressure and improved bladder compliance, but bowel and sexual function scores did not change.