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Biomedical subjects

C A Trombly

Publications and source records attributed to C A Trombly.

12 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Deficits of reaching in subjects with left hemiparesis: a pilot study.

Therapy to restore functional movement of stroke patients is based on assumptions about the deficits that occur in motor control as a result of stroke. Success has been limited, perhaps as a result of insufficient information concerning the characteristics of movement after stroke. In this pilot study, the Waterloo Spatial Motion Analysis Recording Technique (WATSMART), an optoelectric motion analysis system, was used with surface electromyography to measure voluntary reaching in the impaired and unimpaired arms of 5 subjects with left hemiparesis. The ability to reach in a smooth coordinated way was significantly poorer in the impaired arms than in the unimpaired arms, for which scores were essentially normal. The patients were less able to activate the muscles of the impaired arm and, as a result, used a greater percentage of the maximum activity they could generate to complete the unresisted reaching task. The electromyographic differences between arms, however, did not reach significance. The results corroborate previous findings and show that movement deficits of particular patients can be diagnosed precisely with kinematic analysis and electromyography. If greater precision in diagnosis were available clinically, more effective therapy might be developed.

Acceleration↗
PubMed1990

The effects of education on hand use with industrial workers in repetitive jobs.

Eighteen subjects participated in a preliminary study to determine the effects of two types of educational programs on the hand-use patterns of industrial workers at risk for developing cumulative trauma disorder (CTD). The subjects were divided into three groups: Two groups received different educational programs and the third group served as the control. One program used a handout as the only educational tool; the other used the handout as well as a hands-on demonstration of the concepts in the handout. Pretests and posttests of the frequency of movements identified with CTD of the hand and wrist during work were administered to all subjects. Both educational programs were significantly effective in reducing the number of at-risk movements performed by workers tested 1 week after receiving the education. No significant difference was found between the two educational programs. The results of this study show that education can affect hand-use patterns, and a similar study on a larger sample is recommended.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

The effectiveness of therapy in improving finger extension in stroke patients.

Twenty post-stroke patients were assigned to one of three treatment conditions or to a control group to test whether exercises, determined in a previous study to recruit maximal extensor digitorum participation, would improve finger extension function over time. The exercises were resisted grasp, resisted extension, and ballistic extension. Improved function was defined as increased active range of motion, speed of reversal of movement, and ability to grasp and release cylinders. Significantly more subjects assigned to ballistic or resisted extension conditions improved in their ability to rapidly reverse movement over the course of treatment as opposed to those assigned to resisted grasp or control conditions. However, Kruskal-Wallis nonparametric analyses of variance indicated that no exercise improved all three components of function significantly more than another or the control condition. Since no clear difference was found between the control and treatment conditions, it was concluded that motor unit recruitment as an attribute of activity is insufficient to improve function in post-stroke patients. The strength of this conclusion is limited by a chance imbalance of patient assignment in which significantly more patients assigned to resisted and ballistic extension conditions were at a higher level of recovery of motor control.

Aged↗
PubMed1985

Kinesthetic recall of children with athetoid and spastic cerebral palsy and of non-handicapped children.

Twenty-four children with spastic or athetoid quadriplegic cerebral palsy were paired according to severity of motor disability and age, then matched with 12 non-handicapped children of similar ages. The children were tested with a standard kinesthesiometer and two kinds of scores were recorded. Absolute Error scores reflected the children's deviation from the target and Total Movement scores reflected their over-all range of movement. There were significant differences between groups in Absolute Error scores, with the cerebral-palsied children performing worse than the controls and the spastic children worse than the athetoid children. All three groups tended to underestimate the targets and there were no significant differences in Total Movement scores.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

The effect of wrist immobilization on performance of the Jebsen Hand Function Test.

Eighteen normal subjects participated in a study designed to monitor the effect of wrist motion on the time required to complete manual tasks from the Jebsen Hand Function Test. Activities were performed with the wrist free and with the wrist immobilized by a commercially available splint. The results showed a statistically significant increase in time to do the tasks during immobilization when compared to the free condition. There was great variation in patterns of motion between individuals. Treatment implications include individual consideration of position of wrist immobilization for splinting, proper length and fit of splint designed to immobilize, and the importance of practice in tasks following loss of wrist motion.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1983

The effects of exercise on finger extension of CVA patients.

The choice of activity to improve finger extension of post-CVA patients is based on untested assumptions and hypotheses. In this study, using electromyography of the extrinsic finger muscles and electrogoniometry of wrist and finger joints, the effects of five types of exercise on the finger extension of post-CVA patients were documented. Results indicated that resisted and rapid exercises recruited high percentages of output of all three muscles. Slow, unresisted extension exercises preferentially recruited the extensor digitorum. No exercise caused significant immediate changes in range of motion (ROM), flexor/extensor balance, time required to open the hand, or level of activity of the extensor digitorum during opening of the hand. Resisted grasp did not limit the patients' ability to extend the fingers. Variability in percent of motor output among the subjects of this study indicates the need to monitor each patient during therapy.

Cerebrovascular Disorders↗
PubMed1983

Immediate effects of positioning devices on the normal and spastic hand measured by electromyography.

There is a continuing controversy in the literature and in clinical practice about whether positioning devices are effective in decreasing spasticity and, if so, which type is most effective. In this study, the immediate effects of a volar resting splint, a finger spreader, a firm cone, and no device were compared on eight normal and four hemiplegic subjects. Electromyography (EMG) was used to measure flexor muscle activity of the tested forearm while the subjects squeezed a grasp meter with the contralateral hand and during the following relaxation period. Results showed significantly greater EMG activity for the finger spreader compared to no device in the flexor carpi radialis of normal subjects during the grasping period. Hemiplegic subjects did not show significantly less EMG activity when using positioning devices compared to no device. In fact, the volar splint appeared to increase the EMG activity while the subjects were grasping.

Electromyography↗