The primary purpose of this study was to examine whether grip strength is related to total muscle strength in children, adolescents, and young adults. The second purpose was to provide reference ...charts for grip strength, which could be used in the clinical and research setting. This cross-sectional study was performed at primary and secondary schools and the University of Applied Sciences. Three hundred and eighty-four healthy Dutch children, adolescents, and young adults at the age of 8 to 20 years participated. Isometric muscle strength was measured with a handheld dynamometer of four muscle groups (shoulder abductors, grip strength, hip flexors, and ankle dorsiflexors). Total muscle strength was a summing up of shoulder abductors, hip flexors, and ankle dorsiflexors. All physical therapists participated in a reliability study. The study was started when intratester and intertester reliability was high (Pearson correlation coefficient >0.8). Grip strength was strongly correlated with total muscle strength, with correlation coefficients between 0.736 and 0.890 (
p
< 0.01). However, the correlation was weaker when controlled for weight (0.485–0.564,
p
< 0.01). Grip strength is related to total muscle strength. This indicates, in the clinical setting, that grip strength can be used as a tool to have a rapid indication of someone’s general muscle strength. The developed reference charts are suitable for evaluating muscle strength in children, adolescents, and young adults in clinical and research settings.
Objective:
To develop evidence-based recommendations for effective and safe diagnostic assessment and intervention strategies for the physiotherapy treatment of patients in intensive care units.
...Methods:
We used the EBRO method, as recommended by the ‘Dutch Evidence Based Guideline Development Platform’ to develop an ‘evidence statement for physiotherapy in the intensive care unit’. This method consists of the identification of clinically relevant questions, followed by a systematic literature search, and summary of the evidence with final recommendations being moderated by feedback from experts.
Results:
Three relevant clinical domains were identified by experts: criteria to initiate treatment; measures to assess patients; evidence for effectiveness of treatments. In a systematic literature search, 129 relevant studies were identified and assessed for methodological quality and classified according to the level of evidence. The final evidence statement consisted of recommendations on eight absolute and four relative contra-indications to mobilization; a core set of nine specific instruments to assess impairments and activity restrictions; and six passive and four active effective interventions, with advice on (a) physiological measures to observe during treatment (with stopping criteria) and (b) what to record after the treatment.
Conclusions:
These recommendations form a protocol for treating people in an intensive care unit, based on best available evidence in mid-2014.
For older adults, acute hospitalization is a high-risk event with poor health outcomes, including functional decline. In absence of practical guidelines and high quality randomized controlled trials, ...this Delphi study was conducted. The aim of this study was to obtain consensus on an exercise intervention program, a core outcome set (COS) and handover information to prevent functional decline or restore physical function in acutely hospitalized older patients transitioning from hospital to home. An internal panel of experts in the field of exercise interventions for acutely hospitalized older adults were invited to join the study. In the Delphi study, relevant topics were recognized, statements were formulated and ranked on a 9-point Likert scale in two additional rounds. To reaching consensus, a score of 7-9 was classified as essential. Results were expressed as median and semi-interquartile range (SIQR), and consensus threshold was set at SIQR≤0.5. Fifteen international experts from eight countries participated in the panel. The response rate was 93%, 93% and 80% for the three rounds respectively. After three rounds, consensus was reached on 167 of the 185 (90.3%) statements, of which ninety-five (51.4%) were ranked as essential (median Likert-score ≥7.0, SIQR ≤0.5). This Delphi study provides starting points for developing an exercise intervention, a COS and handover information. The results of this Delphi study can assist physical therapists to provide a tailored exercise intervention for older patients with complex care needs after hospital discharge, to prevent functional decline and/or restore physical function.
Abstract
Background
Survivors of critical illness experience long-term functional challenges, which are complex, heterogeneous, and multifactorial in nature. Although the importance of rehabilitation ...interventions after intensive care unit (ICU) discharge is universally recognized, evidence on feasibility and effectiveness of home-based rehabilitation programs is scarce and ambiguous. This study investigates the feasibility of an interdisciplinary rehabilitation program designed for patients with Post-Intensive Care Syndrome (PICS) who are discharged home.
Methods
A mixed method, non-randomized, prospective pilot feasibility study was performed with a 6-month follow-up, comparing the intervention (REACH) with usual care. REACH was provided by trained professionals and included a patient-centered, interdisciplinary approach starting directly after hospital discharge. Primary outcomes were patient safety, satisfaction, adherence, referral need and health care usage. Secondary outcomes, measured at 3 timepoints, were functional exercise capacity, self-perceived health status, health-related quality of life (HRQoL), return to work and psychotrauma. Risk of undernutrition was assessed at baseline.
Results
43 patients with a median mechanical ventilation duration of 8 (IQR:10) days, were included in the study and 79.1% completed 6-month follow-up. 19 patients received the intervention, 23 received usual care. Groups were similar for gender distribution and ICU length of stay. No adverse events occurred. REACH participants showed higher satisfaction with treatment and reported more allied health professional visits, while the usual care group reported more visits to medical specialists. Qualitative analysis identified positive experiences among REACH-professionals related to providing state-of-the-art interventions and sharing knowledge and expertise within an interprofessional network. Similar recovery was seen between groups on all secondary outcomes, but neither group reached reference values for HRQoL at 6 months. Larger return to work rates were seen in the REACH group. Prevalence of undernutrition at hospital discharge was high in both groups (> 80%), warranting the need for careful tuning of physical therapy and nutritional interventions.
Conclusions
This study shows that providing early, home-based rehabilitation interventions for patients with PICS-related symptoms is feasible and perceived positively by patients and professionals. When provided in an interdisciplinary collaborative network state of the art, person-centered interventions can be tailored to individual needs potentially increasing patient satisfaction, adherence, and efficacy.
Registered in the Dutch Trial register: NL7792:
https://www.trialregister.nl/trial/7792
, registered 7-06-2019.
30 to 60% of the acute hospitalized older adults experience functional decline after hospitalization. The first signs of functional decline after discharge can often be observed in the inability to ...perform mobility tasks, such as raising from a chair or walking. Information how mobility develops over time is scarce. Insight in the course of mobility is needed to prevent and decrease mobility limitations.
The objectives of this study were to determine (i) the course of mobility of acute hospitalized older adults and (ii) the association between muscle strength and the course of mobility over time controlled for influencing factors.
In a multicenter, prospective, observational cohort study, measurements were taken at admission, discharge, one- and three months post-discharge. Mobility was assessed by the De Morton Mobility Index (DEMMI) and muscle strength by the JAMAR. The longitudinal association between muscle strength and mobility was analysed with a Linear Mixed Model and controlled for potential confounders.
391 older adults were included in the analytic sample with a mean (SD) age of 79.6 (6.7) years. Mobility improved significantly from admission up to three months post-discharge but did not reach normative levels. Muscle strength was associated with the course of mobility (beta = 0.64; p<0.01), even after controlling for factors as age, cognitive impairment, fear of falling and depressive symptoms (beta = 0.35; p<0.01).
Muscle strength is longitudinally associated with mobility. Interventions to improve mobility including muscle strength are warranted, in acute hospitalized older adults.
Aim
To synthesize the evidence about the characteristics (frequency, intensity, time, type) and effects of physical rehabilitation interventions on functional recovery and performance in daily ...functioning in children and young people with acquired brain injury (ABI), including traumatic brain injuries (TBI) and non‐TBI, during the subacute rehabilitation phase.
Method
Using scoping review methodology, a systematic literature search was performed using four databases. Articles were screened by title and and data from eligible studies were extracted for synthesis.
Results
Nine of 3009 studies were included. The results demonstrated a variety of intervention characteristics: frequency varied between 1 and 7 days per week; time of intervention varied between 25 minutes and 6 hours a day; intervention types were specified in seven studies; and none of the included studies reported details of intensity of intervention. All studies reported positive results on the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health: Children and Youth (ICF‐CY) levels of body function and activities after the intervention period, with study designs of included studies being cohort studies without concurrent controls (n=7) or case reports (n=2).
Interpretation
Inconsistency in results hampers generalizability to guide clinical practice. Physical interventions during subacute rehabilitation have potential to improve functional recovery with intervention characteristics as an important factor influencing its effectiveness. Future well‐designed studies are indicated to gain knowledge and optimize rehabilitation practice in paediatric ABI and high‐quality research including outcomes across all ICF‐CY domains is needed.
podcast : (https://youtu.be/PK_uRyg4YXI)
This scoping review is commented by Forsyth on page 7 of this issue.
Abstract
Background
Intensive care unit (ICU) stays often lead to reduced physical functioning. Change in physical functioning in patients in the ICU is inadequately assessed through available ...instruments. The de Morton Mobility Index (DEMMI), developed to assess mobility in elderly hospitalized patients, is promising for use in patients who are critically ill.
Objective
The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinimetric properties of the DEMMI for patients in the ICU.
Design
A prospective, observational reliability and validity study was conducted.
Methods
To evaluate interrater and intrarater reliability (intraclass correlation coefficients), patients admitted to the ICU were assessed with the DEMMI during and after ICU stay. Validity was evaluated by correlating the DEMMI with the Barthel Index (BI), the Katz Index of Independence in Activities of Daily Living (Katz ADL), and manual muscle testing (MMT). Feasibility was evaluated based on the percentage of participants in which the DEMMI could be assessed, the floor and ceiling effects, and the number of adverse events.
Results
One hundred fifteen participants were included (Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II APACHE II mean score=15.2 and Sepsis-related Organ Failure Assessment SOFA mean score=7). Interrater reliability was .93 in the ICU and .97 on the wards, whereas intrarater reliability during the ICU stay was .68. Validity (Spearman rho coefficient) during the ICU stay was .56, −.45, and .57 for the BI, Katz ADL, and MMT, respectively. The DEMMI showed low floor and ceiling effects (2.6%) during and after ICU discharge. There were no major adverse events.
Limitations
Rapid changes in participants' health status may have led to underestimation of intrarater reliability.
Conclusion
The DEMMI was found to be clinically feasible, reliable, and valid for measuring mobility in an ICU population. Therefore, the DEMMI should be considered a preferred instrument for measuring mobility in patients during and after their ICU stay.
The purpose of this work was to identify risk factors for deformational plagiocephaly within 48 hours of birth and at 7 weeks of age.
This was a prospective cohort study in which 380 healthy neonates ...born at term in Bernhoven Hospital in Veghel were followed at birth and at 7 weeks of age. Data regarding obstetrics, sociodemographics, asymmetry of the skull, anthropometrics, motor development, positioning, and care factors related to potentially provoking deformational plagiocephaly were gathered, with special interest for putative risk factors. The main outcome measure at birth and at 7 weeks of age was deformational plagiocephaly, assessed using the plagiocephalometry parameter oblique diameter difference index, a ratio variable, calculated as the longest divided by the shortest oblique diameter of the skull x 100%. A cutoff point of > or = 104% was used to indicate severe deformational plagiocephaly.
Only in 9 of 23 children who presented deformational plagiocephaly at birth was deformational plagiocephaly present at follow-up, whereas in 75 other children, deformational plagiocephaly developed between birth and follow-up. At birth, 3 of 14 putative risk factors were associated with severe flattening of the skull: gender, birth rank, and brachycephaly. At 7 weeks of age, 8 of 28 putative risk factors were associated with severe flattening: gender, birth rank, head position when sleeping, position on chest of drawers, method of feeding, positioning during bottle-feeding, and tummy time when awake. Early achievement of motor milestones was a protective factor for developing deformational plagiocephaly. Deformational plagiocephaly at birth was not a predictor for deformational plagiocephaly at 7 weeks of age. There was no significant relation between supine sleeping and deformational plagiocephaly.
Three determinants were associated with an increased risk of deformational plagiocephaly at birth: male gender, first-born birth rank, and brachycephaly. Eight factors were associated with an increased risk of deformational plagiocephaly at 7 weeks of age: male gender, first-born birth rank, positional preference when sleeping, head to the same side on chest of drawers, only bottle feeding, positioning to the same side during bottle feeding, tummy time when awake < 3 times per day, and slow achievement of motor milestones. This study supports the hypothesis that specific nursing habits, as well as motor development and positional preference, are primarily associated with the development of deformational plagiocephaly. Earlier achievement of motor milestones probably protects the child from developing deformational plagiocephaly. Implementation of practices based on this new evidence of preventing and diminishing deformational plagiocephaly in child health care centers is very important.
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