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.

3,875 PAPERS · PAGE 11 OF 78 · NEWEST FIRST

• PTOTSystematic Review2018Postacute Care Setting, Facility Characteristics, and Poststroke Outcomes: A Systematic Review.Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitationStroke patients rehabilitated in inpatient rehabilitation facilities were associated with lower mortality and often better community discharge than those in skilled nursing facilities, but functional gains were inconsistent and costs were higher.
• PTOTSLPCase Series2018High-Intensity Variable Stepping Training in Patients With Motor Incomplete Spinal Cord Injury: A Case Series.Journal of neurologic physical therapy : JNPTFour people with incomplete spinal cord injury walked faster and farther after intensive stepping training. The programme was safe and feasible, but gains vanished within a year. The severe impairments of three participants likely limited how much they could improve.
• PTRCT2018Effects of extracorporeal shock wave therapy on upper extremity muscle tone in chronic stroke patients.Journal of physical therapy scienceIn chronic stroke upper-limb hypertonia, patients receiving ESWT plus general physical therapy and development therapy twice weekly for 8 weeks had lower measured tone, stiffness and elasticity in forearm and finger flexors than sham plus the same therapy.
• PTOTCase-Control2018Effects of anterior weight-shifting methods on sitting balance in wheelchair-dependent patients with spinal cord injury.Journal of physical therapy scienceWheelchair users with spinal cord injury reached further forward and moved their center of pressure more when extending arms than crossing them. Adding a ball changed little for them, unlike healthy adults. Arm position matters more than holding an object for sitting balance.
• PTRCT2017Effects of continuous visual feedback during sitting balance training in chronic stroke survivors.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationWhen the screen was removed after training, chronic stroke survivors did not improve balance without feedback. They did improve while the screen was on.
• PTNarrative Review2017Skeletal muscle mechanics, energetics and plasticity.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationSpastic muscles in stroke and cerebral palsy have altered architecture and stiffness, and ultrasound stiffness tests may help separate passive from nerve-related stiffness. This review does not show that any treatment works.
• PTOther2017Paretic versus non-paretic stepping responses following pelvis perturbations in walking chronic-stage stroke survivors.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationIn ten chronic stroke survivors, first recovery steps after sideways pelvis pushes changed similarly with the paretic and non-paretic legs. The paretic foot landed further from the body centre, and more time was spent on the non-paretic leg.
• PTOTCase Series2017Cognitive functioning over 2 years after intracerebral hemorrhage in school-aged children.Developmental medicine and child neurologyMotor function improved after childhood intracerebral hemorrhage, and some reasoning skills reached average range, but working memory stayed low and processing speed lagged peers. Motor recovery may mask cognitive needs, so plan serial cognitive testing.
• PTOTOther2017Pattern of improvement in upper limb pointing task kinematics after a 3-month training program with robotic assistance in stroke.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationAfter 3 months of combined robot-assisted shoulder/elbow training and conventional occupational therapy, upper-limb scores and robot-measured reaching improved. Shoulder/elbow improved before wrist/hand; distance, velocity and smoothness improved before accuracy. The study cannot separate the two treatments.
• PTOTSLPOther2018A scoping review of the needs of children and other family members after a child's traumatic injury.Clinical rehabilitationAfter traumatic injury in children, families and children often struggled to get information, emotional help, and school or community support. Four studies identified needs for physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy and audiology, but evidence on measuring needs was absent.
• PTCase Report2018Effects of task-specific paretic ankle plantar flexor training on walking in a stroke patient: a single-case study.Journal of physical therapy scienceA stroke patient added task-specific heel-raise training to outpatient range-of-motion, standing practice, and daily home walking. Paretic plantar flexor strength, walking speed, step length, and trailing limb angle improved; a single case cannot prove the exercise works.
• PTOther2018Body composition differences between adults with multiple sclerosis and BMI-matched controls without MS.Disability and health journalAcross men and women together, body composition did not show a clear difference between adults with MS and BMI-matched controls. Men with MS had lower lean mass and higher fat mass in arms, legs, and trunk; women did not.
• PTOTPilot2017A Home-Based Telerehabilitation Program for Patients With Stroke.Neurorehabilitation and neural repairPatients completed nearly all assigned home telerehabilitation days, and arm Fugl-Meyer scores increased, but this was a small uncontrolled pilot that also included daily L-Dopa or placebo.
• PTOTSLPRCT2017Effects of Training Intensity on Locomotor Performance in Individuals With Chronic Spinal Cord Injury: A Randomized Crossover Study.Neurorehabilitation and neural repairHigh-intensity stepping training improved peak treadmill speed and fastest walking speed more than low-intensity training in chronic spinal cord injury. Changes in the standard six-minute walk test did not significantly differ between the two intensities.
• PTPilot2018Lateral Corticospinal Tract Damage Correlates With Motor Output in Incomplete Spinal Cord Injury.Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitationGreater lateral corticospinal tract damage was associated with weaker same-side ankle and knee torque and shorter 6-minute walking in 14 people with chronic cervical incomplete spinal cord injury. Gracile fasciculus damage did not show the same side-specific motor pattern.
• PTOTSLPPilot2018The feasibility of an acute high-intensity exercise bout to promote locomotor learning after stroke.Topics in stroke rehabilitationA five-minute high-intensity exercise session before gait practice is feasible for people with chronic stroke. Both treadmill and seated arm-leg cycling raised lactate levels without causing fatigue or interfering with subsequent practice, though the seated ergometer allowed longer time at target intensity.
• PTOther2017Forced Use of the Paretic Leg Induced by a Constraint Force Applied to the Nonparetic Leg in Individuals Poststroke During Walking.Neurorehabilitation and neural repairApplying a resistance force to the nonparetic leg during early swing increased paretic leg muscle activity and the time spent on the paretic leg alone during treadmill walking. It did not test whether this improves walking function.
• PTRCT2017Upper extremity resistance exercise with elastic bands for respiratory function in children with cerebral palsy.Journal of physical therapy scienceAdding elastic band arm exercises to standard therapy did not significantly improve breathing capacity in children with cerebral palsy. However, it did significantly increase grip strength and showed a trend toward better expiratory muscle strength, though the study was too small to confirm benefits.
• PTOTOther2017Effects of virtual reality intervention on upper limb motor function and activity of daily living in patients with lesions in different regions of the brain.Journal of physical therapy scienceAfter 4 weeks of VR games, upper-limb and daily-living scores were higher in 14 people with hemiplegic stroke. With no control group, these gains cannot be proven to be from VR.
• PTOTCohort2017Less-Affected Hand Function in Children With Hemiparetic Unilateral Cerebral Palsy: A Comparison Study With Typically Developing Peers.Neurorehabilitation and neural repairChildren with hemiparetic cerebral palsy took 21.4 seconds longer on hand function tests with their less-affected hand compared to typical peers. This subtle deficit suggests therapists should assess and treat the less-affected hand, not just the weaker one.
• PTOTOther2017A composite robotic-based measure of upper limb proprioception.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationA robotic test identifies proprioceptive impairment in over 60% of stroke patients, detecting more cases than standard clinical exams. This composite score offers a precise, objective measure for tracking recovery and evaluating rehabilitation treatments.
• PTPilot2018Modulation of working memory load distinguishes individuals with and without balance impairments following mild traumatic brain injury.Brain injuryThe expected difference in how brain networks switched off was not found. Recent mild TBI patients who reported balance problems showed other brain activity and network coordination differences during a working memory task, but performed it similarly.
• PTOTNarrative Review2017Motor system plasticity after unilateral injury in the developing brain.Developmental medicine and child neurologyEarly skilled movement training after unilateral brain injury may shape motor circuits in animal models. The review does not show it improves function in children.
• PTPilot2017Balancing the playing field: collaborative gaming for physical training.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationStroke patients paired with a healthy expert had better game performance together than alone, especially in stability, and preferred it. Healthy pairs did not improve overall and had lower accuracy.
• PTOTCohort2017Longitudinal Structural and Functional Differences Between Proportional and Poor Motor Recovery After Stroke.Neurorehabilitation and neural repairStroke patients with poor motor recovery had more corticospinal tract damage and later white-matter loss. Those with proportional recovery had preserved tracts and stronger resting brain synchrony in premotor networks. This may guide prognosis, not treatment choice.
• PTOTPilot2017Effects of somatosensory electrical stimulation on motor function and cortical oscillations.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationAfter one 2-hour sensory nerve electrical stimulation session, eight people with chronic acquired brain injury moved their fingers more independently and completed hand tasks faster. The pilot had no control group, so this cannot show the treatment works.
• PTRCT2017Immediate effect of transcranial direct current stimulation combined with functional electrical stimulation on activity of the tibialis anterior muscle and balance of individuals with hemiparesis stemming from a stroke.Journal of physical therapy scienceA single session of combined brain and muscle stimulation produced no immediate change in muscle activity or balance in stroke survivors. Clinicians should not expect this combined protocol to yield instant functional gains.
• PTCohort2017Relationship of white matter lesions and severity of pushing behavior after stroke.Journal of physical therapy scienceIn acute stroke patients with pushing behavior, daily living improvement did not differ by stroke type or white matter lesions. Total anterior circulation strokes had worse pushing, trunk control, and impairment than partial anterior circulation strokes.
• PTOther2017Inactive lifestyles and sedentary behavior in persons with chronic aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage: evidence from accelerometer-based activity monitoring.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationSix months after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage, 33 people had similar sedentary time to 18 controls but less overall activity; their activity bursts were shorter and sitting or lying spells longer despite no paresis.
• PTCohort2018Early changes in cerebral autoregulation among youth hospitalized after sports-related traumatic brain injury.Brain injuryFive of six hospitalized youth with sports-related brain injury had impaired brain blood flow regulation within 24 hours, even when Glasgow Coma Scale was 15 and headache was present.
• PTOther2017The correlation between diaphragm thickness, diaphragmatic excursion, and pulmonary function in patients with chronic stroke.Journal of physical therapy scienceIn chronic stroke, paretic-side diaphragm movement and thickness at full inspiration were linked to higher FVC and FEV1. No treatment was tested, so this does not show that diaphragm training will improve breathing.
• PTRCT2017Increasing upper limb training intensity in chronic stroke using embodied virtual reality: a pilot study.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationIn 10 chronic stroke survivors, embodied VR upper-limb training added to usual therapy raised active training time, movements, and movements per minute. Functional outcomes changed little or inconsistently, and no control group means the VR contribution cannot be separated.
• PTSurvey2017Characteristics associated with freezing of gait in actual daily living in Parkinson's disease.Journal of physical therapy scienceParkinson's patients with freezing of gait reported episodes most often when fatigued (89.3%), and when hurrying to the toilet, in crowded places, or answering the phone. Fatigue was frequent but did not match other situational patterns.
• PTRCT2017Effects of gait training on sand on improving the walking ability of patients with chronic stroke:a randomized controlled trial.Journal of physical therapy scienceNo clear difference was found between sand and firm-ground gait training for walking ability in chronic stroke. Both groups improved dynamic balance, and only the sand group improved walking endurance, so sand is not shown to be better.
• PTOTOther2017The effect of group exercise program on the self-efficacy and activities of daily living in adults with cerebral palsy.Journal of physical therapy scienceIn adults with cerebral palsy, a 6-week group program combining boccia, range-of-motion, stretching, massage and breathing improved confidence in doing tasks and activities of daily living more than range-of-motion and stretching alone. Boccia alone cannot be credited.
• PTOTCohort2017Relationship between psychophysiological factors and prognosis for activities of daily living in patients with stroke in a recovery rehabilitation unit: a preliminary study.Journal of physical therapy scienceAt admission, worse motor paralysis and higher depression scores were associated with poorer daily living function 2 months later in 13 stroke patients in a rehabilitation unit. This does not show that treating these problems improves daily living.
• PTOTRCT2017Effect of EMG-triggered neuromuscular electrical stimulation with bilateral arm training on hemiplegic shoulder pain and arm function after stroke: a randomized controlled trial.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationPain at rest did not differ between groups, but EMG-triggered NMES plus bilateral arm training reduced pain during shoulder movement and worst pain more than TENS plus the same training, with benefit still seen at follow-up.
• PTPilot2017Manual physical balance assistance of therapists during gait training of stroke survivors: characteristics and predicting the timing.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationIn four patients not used to build it, a lower-back sensor algorithm caught 81% of therapist balance assistance events, and 87% of its alerts were real. It missed shoulder corrections. This is a small engineering step, not evidence that therapy changes.
• PTOTOther2017The effect of fluidotherapy on hand dexterity and activities of daily living in patients with edema on stroke.Journal of physical therapy scienceThree weeks of fluidotherapy significantly reduced hand edema in stroke patients and improved daily living independence, but did not significantly improve hand dexterity. The study had no control group, so natural recovery cannot be ruled out.
• PTOther2017Changes in gluteal pressure and center of force during sitting in children with cerebral palsy.Journal of physical therapy scienceChildren with cerebral palsy had higher peak gluteal pressure and a more posterior center of force while sitting than typically developing peers. Check seating pressure relief, but this small study did not test interventions.
• PTOTOther2017Mapping upper-limb motor performance after stroke - a novel method with utility for individualized motor training.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationA robot-based reaching map identified individual upper-limb impairment patterns after chronic stroke and was used to select training movements. In two adults, no controlled outcome tested whether this improves function.
• PTRCT2017The immediate effect of FES and TENS on gait parameters in patients after stroke.Journal of physical therapy scienceNo gait parameter changed more with FES added to exercise than with TENS added to exercise. In the FES group only, cadence and speed rose after the 30-minute session; TENS did not show a change in either measure.
• PTSystematic Review2017Robotic assisted gait as a tool for rehabilitation of individuals with spinal cord injury: a systematic review.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationRobotic gait training for spinal cord injury was described as helping walking, cardiorespiratory, sensory and functional outcomes, but this review did not compare devices or show that a device causes a specific outcome.
• PTOTOther2017A multisession evaluation of an adaptive competitive arm rehabilitation game.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationFor people with arm impairment playing a competitive arm game at home with a friend or relative, competition felt more enjoyable and produced more arm movement than playing alone. At a clinic, competing against another patient showed no such advantage.
• PTOther2018Abnormal muscle activation patterns are associated with chronic gait deficits following traumatic brain injury.Gait & posturePeople with chronic TBI walking deficits showed abnormal timing in shin, calf, and thigh muscles during walking. The abnormality was linked to Dynamic Gait Index scores, not standing balance or 6-minute distance.
• PTOTRCT2018Functional Reach, Depression Scores, and Number of Medications Are Associated With Number of Falls in People With Chronic Stroke.PM & R : the journal of injury, function, and rehabilitationIn people with chronic stroke, more medications and higher depression scores predicted more falls. Functional reach distance also predicted falls, with a cutoff of 18.15 cm for recurrent falls. Other common tests like Berg Balance and Timed Up and Go did not distinguish fallers.
• PTOther2018The known-groups validity of intensity-based physical activity measurement using an accelerometer in people with subacute stroke.Journal of physical therapy scienceIn subacute stroke, an accelerometer estimated energy cost well during some movement tasks, but underestimated quiet lying, sitting and standing. The device was adequate for active tasks. It was not adequate for still posture.
• PTOTCohort2017Relation of depressive symptoms to outcome of CI movement therapy after stroke.Rehabilitation psychologyDepressive symptoms did not stop stroke patients from improving arm use after Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy. Patients with clinically significant depression improved just as much as those without. Depression scores also dropped slightly, but the change was too small to be clinically meaningful.
• PTOTCohort2018Prediction of falling risk after discharge in ambulatory stroke or history of fracture patients using Balance Evaluation Systems Test (BESTest).Journal of physical therapy scienceIn ambulatory stroke patients, low scores on the BESTest sections for Anticipatory Postural Adjustments and Sensory Orientation were significantly associated with falls within six months. These two specific balance components may help identify high-risk patients who appear stable enough for discharge.
• PTOTSLPCohort2018Effects of Age and Sex on Hospital Readmission in Traumatic Brain Injury.Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitationOlder adults with traumatic brain injury face higher hospital readmission risk than younger adults. However, younger adults readmit fastest, with the highest rate in the first week after discharge. Readmission reasons also shift by age, moving from mental health and injury issues in younger groups to circulatory and respiratory problems in older groups.