Comparison of the Effects of an Eight-Week Push-Up Program Using Stable Versus Unstable Surfaces.
Comparison of the effects of an eight-week push-up program using stable versus unstable surfaces.
Filed under: Rehab Centers
Int J Sports Phys Ther. 2012 Dec; 7(6): 586-94
Chulvi-Medrano I, Martínez-Ballester E, Masiá-Tortosa L
Recently, the trend among physical training and rehabilitation professionals is the use of resistance exercise on unstable equipment in order to increase the effort of the agonist and stabilizing muscles. It is unknown if performing exercises on unstable surfaces provides a greater training stimulus as compared to training on a stable training surface. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to compare the effect that push-up training on stable and unstable surfaces had on strength performance in healthy young men.Thirty subjects with experience in resistance training participated in push-up training two days per week for eight weeks on one of three different surfaces: the floor (Tp), the T-Bow® (TBp) or the BOSU® (Bp).Strength, as measured by one repetition maximum (1-RM) and muscle endurance, as measured by number of pushups performed did not improve significantly (p>0.05) for any of the intervention groups.The addition of unstable surfaces in push-up training does not provide greater improvement in muscular strength and endurance than push up training performed on a stable surface in young men.3b.
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Walking training with foot drop stimulator controlled by a tilt sensor to improve walking outcomes: a randomized controlled pilot study in patients with stroke in subacute phase.
Filed under: Rehab Centers
Stroke Res Treat. 2012; 2012: 523564
Morone G, Fusco A, Di Capua P, Coiro P, Pratesi L
Foot drop is a quite common problem in nervous system disorders. Neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) has showed to be an alternative approach to correct foot drop improving walking ability in patients with stroke. In this study, twenty patients with stroke in subacute phase were enrolled and randomly divided in two groups: one group performing the NMES (i.e. Walkaide Group, WG) and the Control Group (CG) performing conventional neuromotor rehabilitation. Both groups underwent the same amount of treatment time. Significant improvements of walking speed were recorded for WG (168 ± 39%) than for CG (129 ± 29%, P = 0.032) as well as in terms of locomotion (Functional Ambulation Classification score: P = 0.023). In terms of mobility and force, ameliorations were recorded, even if not significant (Rivermead Mobility Index: P = 0.057; Manual Muscle Test: P = 0.059). Similar changes between groups were observed for independence in activities of daily living, neurological assessments, and spasticity reduction. These results highlight the potential efficacy for patients affected by a droop foot of a walking training performed with a neurostimulator in subacute phase.
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A pilot evaluation of on-road detection performance by drivers with hemianopia using oblique peripheral prisms.
Filed under: Rehab Centers
Stroke Res Treat. 2012; 2012: 176806
Bowers AR, Tant M, Peli E
Aims. Homonymous hemianopia (HH), a severe visual consequence of stroke, causes difficulties in detecting obstacles on the nonseeing (blind) side. We conducted a pilot study to evaluate the effects of oblique peripheral prisms, a novel development in optical treatments for HH, on detection of unexpected hazards when driving. Methods. Twelve people with complete HH (median 49 years, range 29-68) completed road tests with sham oblique prism glasses (SP) and real oblique prism glasses (RP). A masked evaluator rated driving performance along the 25?km routes on busy streets in Ghent, Belgium. Results. The proportion of satisfactory responses to unexpected hazards on the blind side was higher in the RP than the SP drive (80% versus 30%; P = 0.001), but similar for unexpected hazards on the seeing side. Conclusions. These pilot data suggest that oblique peripheral prisms may improve responses of people with HH to blindside hazards when driving and provide the basis for a future, larger-sample clinical trial. Testing responses to unexpected hazards in areas of heavy vehicle and pedestrian traffic appears promising as a real-world outcome measure for future evaluations of HH rehabilitation interventions aimed at improving detection when driving.
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Electroacoustic Comparison of Hearing Aid Output of Phonemes in Running Speech versus Isolation: Implications for Aided Cortical Auditory Evoked Potentials Testing.
Filed under: Rehab Centers
Int J Otolaryngol. 2012; 2012: 518202
Easwar V, Purcell DW, Scollie SD
Background. Functioning of nonlinear hearing aids varies with characteristics of input stimuli. In the past decade, aided speech evoked cortical auditory evoked potentials (CAEPs) have been proposed for validation of hearing aid fittings. However, unlike in running speech, phonemes presented as stimuli during CAEP testing are preceded by silent intervals of over one second. Hence, the present study aimed to compare if hearing aids process phonemes similarly in running speech and in CAEP testing contexts. Method. A sample of ten hearing aids was used. Overall phoneme level and phoneme onset level of eight phonemes in both contexts were compared at three input levels representing conversational speech levels. Results. Differences of over 3?dB between the two contexts were noted in one-fourth of the observations measuring overall phoneme levels and in one-third of the observations measuring phoneme onset level. In a majority of these differences, output levels of phonemes were higher in the running speech context. These differences varied across hearing aids. Conclusion. Lower output levels in the isolation context may have implications for calibration and estimation of audibility based on CAEPs. The variability across hearing aids observed could make it challenging to predict differences on an individual basis.
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