Domain-specific quality of life assesment in spinal cord injured patients

The objective of the study was to describe the domain-specific quality of life in persons with spinal cord injury, and to evaluate the influences of injury level, time since injury, age at time of injury, marital status and education level on quality of life subscales. A cross-sectional questionnaire study was used. Thirty persons with spinal cord injury and 32 age-sex-matched healthy controls were included in the study. The SF-36 Health Survey was administered by telephone to patients. Correlations between the SF-36 subscale scores and time since injury; motor, sensory and radiologic injury levels were evaluated and comparison of scores from different sex, marital status and education level were performed. Quality of life scores were significantly lower in patients with spinal cord injury than in the control group in all subscales. A positive correlation between time since injury, neurologic level and physical functioning score; and between bodily pain subscale and all the remaining subscales was apparent. The spinal cord injury affects quality of life, mainly impairing its physical functioning domain. The most important determinant seems to be motor level of injury and bodily pain. Those who fall in the latter group can be modified by rehabilitation and medical treatment

Effectiviness of Volar Static Hand-Wrist Orthesis in Stroke Patients: orthesis in stroke patients

Objective: To evaluate the volar static hand-wrist orthoses, upper extremity motor development, manual dexterity and independence in daily life activities in stroke patients. Methods: Forty patients were prospectively randomized to use a volar splint or no splint (control group). All patients were included in a 6-week rehabilitation programme. Fugl-Meyer Assessment was used for clinical motor assessment, the Modified Ashworth Scale was employed for spasticity, the Nine Hole Peg Test (NHPT) was used for evaluating fine motor dexterity, and the Barthel index was employed for functional evaluation Results: Only a significant difference was found in the Modified Ashworth finger flexor values in Group 1 patients between hospitalisation and week 3 and week 6 but other scales were not significantly different among the groups. Conclusions: Volar static hand-wrist orthoses were shown to be particularly effective on finger flexors with exercise therapy in reducing muscle tone, and also beneficial exercise programmes in post-stroke rehabilitation. &nbsp