ABSTRACT
The importance of cognitive resources was shown in dual task studies of postural control. However, there was no definite evidence on how verbal instructions influence the allocation of attention to postural control. Therefore, the objective of this study is to explore the effect of verbal instructions on postural performance. this Cross-sectional study was performed in 20 young adults [23.95 +/- 3.31]. Parallel standing/ hard surface, parallel standing/ foam surface, tandem standing/ hard surface were used as postural tasks and the choice reaction time task were conducted as cognitive task. Dual- task performance was measured under three different instructions including to pay attention to cognitive task, to postural task, and equal attention to both tasks. Comparing the performance of postural tasks under three different instructions were conducted by One-way ANOVA and showed in parallel standing on hard surface [p=0.831], parallel standing on foam [p=0.433], tandem standing on hard surface [p=0.912] for path length of COP and instructions in parallel standing on hard surface [p=0.308], parallel standing on foam [p=0.414], tandem standing on hard surface [p=0.867] for mean velocity were not significant. Postural performance in single and dual task conditions was significant only in parallel standing/ foam surface [p=0.046]. various instructions could not influence the amount of attention allocated to automatic postural tasks
ABSTRACT
Sensory deficits after stroke are common with prevalence rates variously reported to be 11% to 85%. In spite of the fact that Sensory deficits can decrease the quality of upper limb's movements and result in impairments in fine motor manipulation of objects, grasp and manipulative skills and finally decrease the patient's quality of life but commonly overlooked in stroke rehabilitation. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of sensory retraining on upper limb recovery. In this study we studied 5 chronic stroke patients were participated using a single-system [A-B] design. During the baseline phase patient's function and motor impairment of upper limb were measured by Fugl-Meyer and Motoricity Index and their hand dexterity were measured by Box and Block test on three days intervals. When Patients reached to a stable pattern of changes, their treatment program began. In this phase they received sensory retraining intervention for 6 weeks. Based on sensory retraining principles and according to each patient's abilities, intervention began with detection and localization of constant and moving touch and followed by higher discriminatory tasks, such as graphestesia. Then results of evaluations of two phases were analyzed. Four patients showed significant improvements in upper limb function. The data showed significant improvements in motor impairments and hand dexterity in all of them. Regarding of significant recovery of upper limb function, motor impairment and hand dexterity of patients, sensory retraining can be considered as a practical method in rehabilitation of stroke patients. However further research with larger sample size is needed