Reablement of Instrumental Activities of Daily Living for Patients With Stroke: A Randomized Crossover Trial.

IMPORTANCE: Reablement is a person-centered and goal-oriented rehabilitative intervention to optimize people's chances to live independently. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of a reablement intervention on performance of instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) in three aspects (i.e., actual performance, ability, and self-perceived difficulty) for patients with stroke. DESIGN: A single-blinded, randomized crossover study. SETTING: Participants' home and community. PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-seven patients with stroke. INTERVENTIONS: Each participant received two interventions (IADL reablement and health education). Each intervention was administered for 6 wk. All participants were randomly assigned to one intervention and then received the other intervention after a 4-wk washout period. OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Outcomes of actual performance and self-perceived difficulty were derived from the Frenchay Activities Index (FAI) and the difficulty dimension of the Participation Measure-3 Domains, 4 Dimensions (PM-3D4D), respectively. Outcomes of ability were measured with the Lawton Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Scale (LIADL) and the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure Performance score (COPM Performance). RESULTS: No statistically significant differences were found in the three aspects between the IADL reablement and health education (ps = .148-.570). Compared with the health education, the IADL reablement showed better improvements on the FAI, LIADL, COPM Performance, and difficulty dimension of the PM-3D4D with trivial to small effect sizes (ds = 0.17-0.45). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Our results reveal that the IADL reablement has the potential to increase the frequency of IADL administration, enhancing the capability to perform IADLs and reducing the self-perceived difficulty of carrying out IADLs. Plain-Language Summary: The results of this study showed positive outcomes for a reablement intervention that focuses on goal-oriented instrumental activities of daily living for patients with stroke. An IADL reablement intervention may be useful for improving the ability to carry out IADL tasks at home and in the community.

Association between hyperlipidemia and trigger finger: A nationwide population-based cohort study.

The cause of trigger fingers remains uncertain. High lipid levels in the blood may reduce blood supply to the distal fingers and promote inflammation. We aimed to explore the association between hyperlipidemia and trigger finger. A nationwide population-based cohort study using longitudinal data from 2000 to 2013, 41,421 patients were included in the hyperlipidemia cohort and 82,842 age- and sex-matched patients were included in the control cohort. The mean age was 49.90 ± 14.73 years in the hyperlipidemia cohort and 49.79 ± 14.71 years in the control cohort. After adjusting for possible comorbidities, the hazard ratio of trigger finger in the hyperlipidemia cohort was 4.03 (95% confidence interval [CI], 3.57-4.55), with values of 4.59 (95% CI, 3.67-5.73) and 3.77 (95% CI, 3.26-4.36) among male and female patients, respectively. This large-scale population-based study demonstrated that hyperlipidemia is correlated to trigger finger.

Investigation of the home-reablement program on rehabilitation outcomes for people with stroke: A pilot study.

BACKGROUND: Reablement is 1 approach to conduct rehabilitation in the community (ie, home environment), which aims to enhance an individual's functional ability to perform everyday activities that individuals perceive as important. We investigated the effects of a home-reablement program on different rehabilitation outcomes in people with stroke. METHODS: A single-blind randomized clinical trial was conducted. Twenty-six people with stroke were randomly assigned to the home-reablement group or control group. For 6 weeks, participants in the home-reablement group received training for activities of daily living (ADL) that they perceived as important but difficult to perform. Participants in the control group received conventional rehabilitation in the hospital. Outcome measures included the Fugl-Meyer Assessment for the upper-extremity (FMA-UE) and the Stroke Impact Scale 3.0 (SIS 3.0) subscales. RESULTS: No statistically significant differences between the 2 groups were noticed in the FMA-UE and the SIS 3.0 subscales (P = .226-1.000). Small effect size (success rate difference = 0.12-0.25) were noticed in the FMA-UE and the 5 SIS 3.0 subscales. The home-reablement group exhibited a greater proportion of participants with scores greater than the minimal detectable change in the FMA-UE and the 6 SIS 3.0 subscales (ie, strength, ADL/instrumental ADL, mobility, emotion, memory, and participation). CONCLUSIONS: People with stroke that underwent the 6-week home-reablement program showed potential for improving their motor function, ADL/instrumental ADL, emotion, memory, and activity participation.

Sonoelastography for the evaluation of an axillary schwannoma in a case of quadrilateral space syndrome.

Entrapment axillary neuropathy at the quadrilateral space, also known as quadrilateral space syndrome (QSS), is a rare cause of posterior shoulder pain. We present a case of an axillary schwannoma causing QSS evaluated by both conventional ultrasound and sonoelastography. The application of sonoelastography is useful in elaborating the elastic feature of a soft tissue tumor, which provides additional information to conventional ultrasound regarding its growth pattern, and can help the differential diagnosis and guide the management.