CIMT: A Case Study

Stroke is a leading cause of adult disability and patients face multiple challenges, such as weakness/paralysis on one side of the body, social disability, inability to walk and self-care, the decline in community participation, and the decline in cognitive and emotional functioning. These challenges impede them from independently performing their daily activities related to work, school, parenting, or leisure. Evidence Based Practice shows that the best way to treat individuals with stroke is through the use of the mental practice. Mental practice is a training method during which a person cognitively rehearses a physical skill in the absence of overt, physical movements for the purpose of enhancing motor skill performance. It is a practice

1.    Define the terms ischemia and infarction.     Ischemia- local decrease in blood supply    Infarction- death & deterioration of tissue resulting from lack of blood supply. 2.    What is a stroke? Name the two main types of strokes and describe the mechanism(s) by which each type occurs. Cerebrovascular Accident- condition in which brain tissue is deprived of blood

Participation in the study will lead to results clarifying the best treatments for individuals that have experienced a stroke with impact to cognitive functioning. This information will be extremely useful to society as many individual’s experience strokes in their lifetime. The data obtained from the study will allow health professionals to partake in evidence based practice, reinforcing the concept of best practice for their patients. Referencing the study will allow the professionals to select the intervention with the strongest results, therefore leading to most improved cognitive functioning in individuals post

Brain foundation 2011, A-Z of disorders, Stroke, Brain Foundation, Sydney, viewed 30 June 2011, .

There is evidence to suggest that improved motor recovery occurs when the brain uses the original neural system to control the movement as this is shown to represent "true" recovery. Whereas, if new networks were to form in the unaffected hemisphere of the brain, motor recovery will be reduced. As a result of using these new networks, fine motor control is lost and employment of compensatory movement strategies are associated with a poorer functional outcome (Nudo, 2007). The recovery of motor skills following a stroke, like walking, relies on the brain’s ability

Exploration of the Disease Strokes are caused by a block in the blood supply to the brain which causes a decrease in oxygen and delivery of other important supplies which facilitate proper functioning. Fifteen million cases are reported worldwide annually, although not all of these cases are mortalities, the large prevalence

The lack of technology in the past has left multiple stroke patients struggling with physical and mental impairments. However, due to the constant change and improvements made to technology, patients are now getting more help with their physical and mental needs. Nowadays, the odds of a patient gaining full function and ability back after a traumatic brain injury are much more favorable than not. Advanced technology such as robotic gloves, interactive video games, and electrical stimulators are effective tools in the treatment of strokes because they stimulate the brain to help regain ability and motor functions.

Stroke is a public health burden that affects 15 million people worldwide (World Health Report, 2002), approximately 795,000 people per year in the United States (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, America’s Burden on Stroke, 2012) and specifically in Mississippi, stroke is the fifth leading cause of death (Mississippi Vital

About 7,740 participants were a part of this study. They data collected was based on neurological exams, neuroimaging studies, neuropsychological evaluations, performance based testing and daily participation in home and community. According to the research, there were three important findings. First, 45% of the patients participating were <65years old, and 27% of the patients were <55years old. Second, of all the patients who sustained strokes, nearly 50% had mild stokes. 33% patients had moderate and 18% had severe stroke and 6%

What is a stroke? What causes them, and how can we recover from them? All of these questions are both posed, and answered in the article Plasticity during stroke recovery: from synapse to behavior. (Murphey, Corbett, 2009) A stroke, is a brain attack, caused by restricted, or lack of, blood

Constraint-Induced Physical Therapy is a specialized rehabilition approach used to improve motor ability and the functional use of a limb affected by brain injury or a stroke. After suffering a stroke, a person can lose the function of one of their limbs. These stroke survivors can get frustrated and learn to stop using affected limb and start relying on the unaffected limb. Constraint-Induced Physical Therapy tries to decrease the effects of learned non-use by forcing patients to use the affected side. CIMT uses techniques like placing a mitt on the patient’s unaffected functional hand and forcing them to perform tasks with their stroke-affected limb for a majority of the day. This therapy also has the patient perform repetitive movements to repair the brains pathways. CIMT is a deliberate practice that focuses on relearning previously acquired motor skills. Relearning motor skills is measured by acquisition, retention, and transfer of skills. Acquisition is the performance of a previously learned motor skill. To relearn a motor skill, the skill must be rehearsed repeatedly. The more time a patient devotes to a task the more opportunity they have to improve their movement

I have reached out to RMT to schedule an onsite visit to discuss corrective actions. Julie Brackett with RMT did respond to the email I sent indicating she was out of today, and we will be coordinating the timing of the visit tomorrow morning.

Physical therapists working at these large hospitals throughout the Midwest where recruitment will occur will be formally trained how on how to perform MT so that therapists will be consistent within and between patients. Both groups will receive 1 hour of MT of the upper extremity 5 days a week for 4 weeks. In addition to this treatment, the physical therapist will also work with patients in both groups on limb activation for 1 hour 5 days a week for 4 weeks and provide the more traditional physical therapy given to stroke patients, such as doing exercises to improve strength in the upper and lower extremity on the affected side involving neuromuscular re-education, pre-walking functional activities, weight shifts in sitting or standing, or the maintenance of unassisted

My research addresses rehabilitation post-stroke, primarily improving lower extremity function. I study factors contributing to compensation, which involves greater than normal use of the non-impaired limb compared to the impaired limb. Compensation can be detrimental to rehabilitation as the impaired limb is underutilized and function cannot be restored. This may

During the research process three articles met the matrix criteria and support early intervention of cognitive rehabilitation of having a great effect on improving ADL participation in stroke patient. The first article from Cochrane library titled “Cognitive rehabilitation for executive dysfunction in adults with stroke or other adult non-progressive acquired brain damage” by Charlie et al discuss which adaptive technique was used to assist stroke survivors who have cognitive impairment, but intact motor function to became independent in the ADL. The research was completed on “19 studies of 907 randomized participants, 496 TBI, 344 strokes, 67 other acquired brain injury. Data were available to potentially include 13 of the studies within meta-analyses (770 participants, 417 TBI, 304 stroke, 49 other acquired brain injury), with 660 participants who are related to the research were included in the treatment groups to be studied in the review. Studies performed during the research were related to (1) cognitive rehabilitation versus sensorimotor meta-analyses (one study, 86 participants), (2) cognitive rehabilitation versus no intervention or placebo meta-analyses (four studies, 184 participants) and (3) experimental cognitive rehabilitation versus standard cognitive rehabilitation meta-analyses (eight studies, 404 participants)”