Kei Ohtsuka

Ankle-foot orthosis (AFO) is known to correct abnormal gait patterns and improve walking stability and speed in patients with hemiparesis. To quantify these benefits in post-stroke gait, a three-dimensional motion analysis of gait pattern was conducted. Forty patients with hemiparesis were enrolled. A three-dimensional motion analysis system was used to analyze patients' treadmill walking with/without an AFO. Outcome measures were 12 abnormal gait indices (forefoot contact, knee extensor thrust, retropulsion of the hip, flexed-knee gait, medial whip in the stance phase, circumduction gait, hip hiking, insufficient knee flexion during the swing phase, excessive lateral shifting of the trunk, contralateral vaulting, excessive hip external rotation, and posterior pelvic tilt), calculated using kinematic data and spatiotemporal indices, and the symmetry index of double-stance and single-stance time and step length. Forefoot contact (without AFO vs. with AFO: 71.0 vs. 65.8, P < 0.001), circumduction gait (65.0 vs. 57.9, P < 0.001), and contralateral vaulting (78.2 vs. 72.2, P = 0.003) were significantly reduced, whereas excessive hip external rotation (53.7 vs. 62.8, P = 0.003) significantly increased during walking with an AFO. Hip hiking (77.1 vs. 71.7) showed marginal reduction with the use of AFO ( P = 0.096). The absolute symmetry index of double-stance time (21.9 vs. 16.1, P = 0.014) significantly decreased during walking with an AFO. AFO effectively mitigates abnormal gait patterns typical of hemiparetic gait. A 3D motion analysis system with clinically oriented indices can help assess intervention efficacy for gait abnormalities.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to capture the lifestyle characteristics of traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients by administering the Frenchay Activities Index (FAI), a self-assessment questionnaire used for assessing life-related activities, among TBI patients. METHODS: This study was conducted using the revised FAI Self-Assessment Form, administering an interview-based questionnaire survey to TBI patients and healthy participants. The target group comprised 60 traumatic brain injury patients who had progressed from at least 1 year since the injury, with a comparison group of 788 healthy participants. RESULTS: A comparison of FAI scores between TBI patients and healthy participants by questionnaire revealed that TBI patients exhibited significantly higher FAI scores than healthy participants for outdoor walking and transportation use (Mann-Whitney U test, P<0.01). A comparison by occupation revealed that TBI patients were significantly less among the unemployed and other categories (Mann-Whitney U test, P<0.01). For office workers, government employees, high school students, and college students, scores were higher among TBI patients compared with healthy participants, although the differences were not significant. CONCLUSIONS: Although TBI patients were less active than healthy participants in life-related activities, their scores for cleaning up after meals and cleaning and putting things in order were close to those of healthy participants, indicating that TBI patients cannot be considered to be inactive. The findings also revealed differences in TBI patients' engagement in life-related activities and frequency of activities depending on their social position.

OBJECTIVES: This study investigates how online frame-of-reference (FOR) training of raters of the objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) for physical therapy students affects assessment accuracy. METHODS: The research was conducted in a 1-month-long randomized controlled trial. PARTICIPANTS: The participants were 36 physical therapists without experience assessing clinical skills using the OSCE. The training group completed the FOR training online, which was conducted once a week in two 90-minute sessions. The control group self-studied the rubric rating chart used in the assessment. As a measure of accuracy, weighted kappa coefficients were used to check the agreement between correct score and those assessment by the participant in the OSCE. RESULTS: The scores of the training group were higher than those of the control group in both post- and follow-up assessments, showing significant differences. No significant difference was found based on the assessment time and group for the high-agreement groups. Furthermore, scores of the low-accuracy training group were higher in the post- and follow-up assessments than those in the pre-assessment, showing significant differences. CONCLUSIONS: Online FOR training of the raters of the OSCE for physical therapists improved the assessment accuracy of the raters who had low accuracy in the pre-assessment; this improvement was maintained.

目的:本研究の目的は,理学療法士・作業療法士教育における臨床教育者の指導経験が診療参加型臨床実習に及ぼす影響について検証することである。方法:対象は藤田医科大学の教育病院において臨床実習を経験した理学および作業療法専攻の学生とし,臨床教育者の診療参加型臨床実習指導経験が無い群(CE未経験群)48名と有る群(CE経験群)49名の2群に分け,臨床実習中の学生のストレス状態,基本的姿勢,睡眠状態を比較した。結果:CE経験群では,CE未経験群と比較し,臨床実習中の対人関係,適性度,イライラ感のストレスが減少し,実習の満足度が増加していた。また,基本的姿勢の評価の点数は高かった。一方で,睡眠状態は,CE未経験群に比較してCE経験群では「不眠症なし」と判定された割合は減少し,「軽度不眠症」と判定された割合は増加していた。結論:指導経験ある臨床教育者による実習では,学生のストレスは軽減し,基本的姿勢の評価は向上するものの,睡眠状態に関しては,一定数の睡眠障害のある学生は残存し,心理面のサポートとともに,自宅での学習状況や睡眠時間を留意しながら指導する必要性が示唆された。(著者抄録)