Despite its relative importance, "use" of the affected upper extremity (UE) following stroke has obtained very little attention. This can be explained in part by the fact that effective means of measuring "use" are not readily available to clinicians. The objective of this cross-sectional study was to examine whether measures of manual dexterity and UE function, commonly used by clinicians and researchers, can effectively gauge at-home "use" of the affected UE by patients who have suffered a stroke. / Methods. Gross and fine manual dexterity, UE specific function, UE related independence, grip strength and endurance were evaluated on 47 chronic stroke survivors living in the community. "Use" of the affected UE was measured using the Motor Activity Log. / Results. "Use" of the affected UE was found to have a linear relation with measures of UE capacity, once age and side of paresis were controlled in the analysis. In fact, up to 80% of the variance in "use" could be accounted for by some of the models. Both the TEMPA unilateral functional score and the Box & Block Test on the affected side were associated with an increase of ~20% in "use" for each increase of one standard deviation. All of the other measures were associated with substantially lower increase in "use" per standard deviation change. / Conclusion. Measures involving movement of the affected shoulder and elbow such as the TEMPA or the Box & Block Test are more closely associated with increased "use" of the affected UE in comparison to other measures such as the Nine Hole Peg Test or grip strength that can be completed without incorporating the shoulder and elbow.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.78341 |
| Date | January 2003 |
| Creators | Côté-LeBlanc, Geneviève |
| Contributors | Wood-Dauphinee, Sharon (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (School of Physical and Occupational Therapy.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001976469, proquestno: AAIMQ88176, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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