Coping, problem solving, depression, and health-related quality of life in patients receiving outpatient stroke rehabilitation.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate whether patients with high and low depression scores after stroke use different coping strategies and problem-solving skills and whether these variables are related to psychosocial health-related quality of life (HRQOL) independent of depression. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: Two rehabilitation centers. PARTICIPANTS: Patients participating in outpatient stroke rehabilitation (N=166; mean age, 53.06±10.19y; 53% men; median time poststroke, 7.29mo). INTERVENTIONS: Not applicable. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Coping strategy was measured using the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations; problem-solving skills were measured using the Social Problem Solving Inventory-Revised: Short Form; depression was assessed using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale; and HRQOL was measured using the five-level EuroQol five-dimensional questionnaire and the Stroke-Specific Quality of Life Scale. Independent samples t tests and multivariable regression analyses, adjusted for patient characteristics, were performed. RESULTS: Compared with patients with low depression scores, patients with high depression scores used less positive problem orientation (P=.002) and emotion-oriented coping (P<.001) and more negative problem orientation (P<.001) and avoidance style (P<.001). Depression score was related to all domains of both general HRQOL (visual analog scale: ß=-.679; P<.001; utility: ß=-.009; P<.001) and stroke-specific HRQOL (physical HRQOL: ß=-.020; P=.001; psychosocial HRQOL: ß=-.054, P<.001; total HRQOL: ß=-.037; P<.001). Positive problem orientation was independently related to psychosocial HRQOL (ß=.086; P=.018) and total HRQOL (ß=.058; P=.031). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with high depression scores use different coping strategies and problem-solving skills than do patients with low depression scores. Independent of depression, positive problem-solving skills appear to be most significantly related to better HRQOL.

Early and Intensive Motor Training for people with spinal cord injuries (the SCI-MT Trial): protocol of the process evaluation.

INTRODUCTION: People with spinal cord injury receive physical rehabilitation to promote neurological recovery. Physical rehabilitation commences as soon as possible when a person is medically stable. One key component of physical rehabilitation is motor training. There is initial evidence to suggest that motor training can enhance neurological recovery if it is provided soon after injury and in a high dosage. The Early and Intensive Motor Training Trial is a pragmatic randomised controlled trial to determine whether 10 weeks of intensive motor training enhances neurological recovery for people with spinal cord injury. This pragmatic randomised controlled trial will recruit 220 participants from 15 spinal injury units in Australia, Scotland, Italy, Norway, England, Belgium and the Netherlands. This protocol paper describes the process evaluation that will run alongside the Early and Intensive Motor Training Trial. This process evaluation will help to explain the trial results and explore the potential facilitators and barriers to the possible future rollout of the trial intervention. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: The UK Medical Research Council process evaluation framework and the Implementation Research Logic Model will be used to explain the trial outcomes and inform future implementation. Key components of the context, implementation and mechanism of impact, as well as the essential elements of the intervention and outcomes, will be identified and analysed. Qualitative and quantitative data will be collected and triangulated with the results of the Early and Intensive Motor Training Trial to strengthen the findings of this process evaluation. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethical approval for the Early and Intensive Motor Training Trial and process evaluation has been obtained from the Human Research Ethics Committee at the Northern Sydney Local Health District (New South Wales) in Australia (project identifier: 2020/ETH02540). All participants are required to provide written consent after being informed about the trial and the process evaluation. The results of this process evaluation will be published in peer-reviewed journals. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trial Registry (ACTRN12621000091808); Universal Trial Number (U1111-1264-1689).

Motor imagery ability in patients with traumatic brain injury.

OBJECTIVE: To assess motor imagery (MI) ability in patients with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). DESIGN: Prospective, cohort study. SETTING: University hospital rehabilitation unit. PARTICIPANTS: Patients with traumatic brain injury (mean coma duration, 18d) undergoing rehabilitation (n=20) and healthy controls (n=17) matched for age and education level. INTERVENTIONS: Not applicable. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The vividness of MI was assessed using a revised version of the Movement Imagery Questionnaire-Revised second version (MIQ-RS); the temporal features were assessed using the time-dependent motor imagery (TDMI) screening test, the temporal congruence test, and a walking trajectory imagery test; and the accuracy of MI was assessed using a mental rotation test. RESULTS: The MIQ-RS revealed a decrease of MI vividness in the TBI group. An increasing number of stepping movements was observed with increasing time periods in both groups during the TDMI screening test. The TBI group performed a significantly smaller number of imagery movements in the same movement time. The temporal congruence test revealed a significant correlation between imagery and actual stepping time in both groups. The walking trajectory test revealed an increase of the imagery and actual walking time with increasing path length in both groups, but the ratio of imaginary walking over actual walking time was significantly greater than 1 in the TBI group. Results of the hand mental rotation test indicated significant effects of rotation angles on imagery movement times in both groups, but rotation time was significantly slower in the TBI group. CONCLUSIONS: Our patients with TBI demonstrated a relatively preserved MI ability indicating that MI could be used to aid rehabilitation and subsequent functional recovery.

Correlation of Spinal Cord Injury With Development Of Spinal Arachnoid Cysts: Two Case Reports.

BACKGROUND: Spinal arachnoid cysts are rare entities, which are composed of a duplication in the arachnoid membrane and resultant cerebrospinal fluid collection, which may present with a progressive myelopathy. The most common symptoms caused by spinal cord compression are paraesthesia, neuropathic pain, paresis and gait ataxia. CLINICAL CASES: We report here 2 cases from different perspectives of a spinal arachnoid cysts in spinal cord injury. The first case was the occurrence of a spinal cord injury due to compression of a spinal arachnoid cysts causing myelopathy. The second case is a patient who had a traumatic paraplegia for which stabilizing surgery was required and who subsequently developed a spinal arachnoid cysts with neuropathic pain. Both cases required surgery with immediate improvement. However, after a few months both patients needed a revision due to recurrence. CONCLUSION: Spinal arachnoid cysts may present with a heterogeneous clinical picture. If cysts are not clinically apparent, a conservative treatment with careful observation can be a justifiable option. In patients with progressive symptoms, surgery is the gold standard of care. However, the literature describes the need for revision surgery in only 12.5% of cases. Regular follow-up is necessary because both of the patients reported here needed revision surgery.

A randomized controlled trial on the immediate and long-term effects of arm slings on shoulder subluxation in stroke patients.

BACKGROUND: Arm slings are often used in clinical practice to support the hemiplegic arm aiming to prevent or treat glenohumeral subluxation. Evidence supporting the corrective effect of slings on subluxation is scarce and long-term studies are lacking. AIM: The aim of this study was to determine both the immediate and long-term effect on acromiohumeral distance using the Actimove® sling and Shoulderlift and to determine the effect of slings on pain and passive range of motion of the shoulder in stroke patients with glenohumeral subluxation. DESIGN: Randomized control trial. SETTING: Hospital inpatients. POPULATION: Stroke patients. METHODS: Twenty-eight stroke patients, with severe upper limb impairments, were randomly allocated to 3 groups (Actimove, Shoulderlift, No sling). Patients wore their supportive device for 6 weeks and no sling in the control group. Immediate and postinterventional effect on acromiohumeral distance was measured using sonography. Pain (VAS), ROM (goniometry), spasticity (Modified Ashworth Scale), Fugl-Meyer Assessment and trunk stability (TIS) were also assessed before and after the intervention. RESULTS: The level of immediate correction of both slings was different at baseline and after 6 weeks (0 weeks: Shoulderlift 63%, Actimove 36%; 6 weeks: Shoulderlift 28%, Actimove 24%). Comparing the level of subluxation over time shows a distinct decrease in subluxation but only for the control group (-37.59% or 3.30 mm). Subluxation remained the same in the Actimove group (-2.77% or 0.27 mm) but increased in the Shoulderlift group (+12.44% or 1.03 mm). After 6 weeks, the Actimove group reported more pain at rest (P=0.036). ROM for abduction and external rotation decreased in 2 groups and remained un-altered in the Shoulderlift group. CONCLUSIONS: Results of immediate correction varied. Subluxation seemed to reduce in patients that did not wear a sling. CLINICAL REHABILITATION IMPACT: The (assumed) presence of subluxation may not benefit from wearing an arm sling which may itself inhibit active correction. If a sling is indicated the Shoulderlift may be preferable to the Actimove sling.

Damage to Fronto-Parietal Networks Impairs Motor Imagery Ability after Stroke: A Voxel-Based Lesion Symptom Mapping Study.

BACKGROUND: Mental practice with motor imagery has been shown to promote motor skill acquisition in healthy subjects and patients. Although lesions of the common motor imagery and motor execution neural network are expected to impair motor imagery ability, functional equivalence appears to be at least partially preserved in stroke patients. AIM: To identify brain regions that are mandatory for preserved motor imagery ability after stroke. METHOD: Thirty-seven patients with hemiplegia after a first time stroke participated. Motor imagery ability was measured using a Motor Imagery questionnaire and temporal congruence test. A voxelwise lesion symptom mapping approach was used to identify neural correlates of motor imagery in this cohort within the first year post-stroke. RESULTS: Poor motor imagery vividness was associated with lesions in the left putamen, left ventral premotor cortex and long association fibers linking parieto-occipital regions with the dorsolateral premotor and prefrontal areas. Poor temporal congruence was otherwise linked to lesions in the more rostrally located white matter of the superior corona radiata. CONCLUSION: This voxel-based lesion symptom mapping study confirms the association between white matter tract lesions and impaired motor imagery ability, thus emphasizing the importance of an intact fronto-parietal network for motor imagery. Our results further highlight the crucial role of the basal ganglia and premotor cortex when performing motor imagery tasks.

Influence of motor imagery training on gait rehabilitation in sub-acute stroke: A randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of mental practice on motor imagery ability and assess the influence of motor imagery on gait rehabilitation in sub-acute stroke. DESIGN: Randomized controlled trial. SUBJECTS: A total of 44 patients with gait dysfunction after first-ever stroke were randomly allocated to a motor imagery training group and a muscle relaxation group. METHODS: The motor imagery group received 6 weeks of daily mental practice. The relaxation group received a muscle relaxation programme of equal duration. Motor imagery ability and lower limb function were assessed at baseline and after 6 weeks of treatment. Motor imagery ability was tested using a questionnaire and mental chronometry test. Gait outcome was evaluated using a 10-m walk test (near transfer) and the Fugl-Meyer assessment (far transfer). RESULTS: Significant between-group differences were found, with the vividness of kinesthetic imagery and the walking test results improving more in the motor imagery group than in the muscle relaxation group. There was no group interaction effect for the far transfer outcome score. CONCLUSION: Motor imagery training may have a beneficial task-specific effect on gait function in sub-acute stroke; however, longer term confirmation is required.