Upper Extremity Function in Stroke Subjects: Relationships between the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health Domains

 ABSOLUTELY NOTHING HERE GETS SURVIVORS RECOVERED! I'd fire anybody associated with this, including the mentors and senior researchers. Stroke research is to get survivors recovered, this did nothing towards that. Yeah, you got published, but didn't advance stroke recovery at all!

Upper Extremity Function in Stroke Subjects: Relationships between the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health Domains

Iza Faria-Fortini, OT, MSc Department of Occupational Therapy, Fundac ¸~ ao Mineira de Educac ¸~ ao e Cultura (FUMEC), Belo Horizonte, Brazil Stella Maris Michaelsen, PT, PhD Department of Physical Therapy, Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina, Florian opolis, Brazil Janine Gomes Cassiano, OT, PhD Department of Occupational Therapy, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil Luci Fuscaldi Teixeira-Salmela, PT, PhD Department of Physical Therapy, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil 

ABSTRACT: 

Upper limb (UL) impairments are the most common disabling deficits after stroke and have complex relationships with activity and participation domains. However, relatively few studies have applied the ICF model to identify the contributions of specific UL impairments, such as muscular weakness, pain, and sensory loss, as predictors of activity and participation. The purposes of this predictive study were to evaluate the relationships between UL variables related to body functions/structures, activity, and participation domains and to determine which would best explain activity and participation with 55 subjects with chronic stroke. Body functions/structures were assessed by measures of grip, pinch, and UL strength, finger tactile sensations, shoulder pain, and cognition (MMSE); activity domain by measures of observed performance (BBT, NHPT, and TEMPA); and participation by measures of quality of life (SSQOL). Upper-limb and grip strength were related to all activity measures (0.52 , r , 0.82, p , .0001). Shoulder pain (r ¼À.39,p , .001) was the variable which was mostly related to participation. Grip strength alone accounted for 62%, 54%, and 36% of the variance in the activity measures (respectively TEMPA, BBT and NHPT). Shoulder pain accounted for 30% of the participation measure. Strength deficits and shoulder pain of the paretic UL demonstrated to be important targets for clinical interventions to improve activity and participation with chronic stroke subjects. Level of Evidence: 2c. J HAND THER. 2011;24:257–65.