Abstract-In a quasi-experimental pre-and postdesign, we examined the effect of rollator use on functional rehabilitation outcome in geriatric patients. From a sample of 458 geriatric inpatients, we matched 30 subjects who were not using assistive devices in their everyday lives but received a wheeled walker at the time of hospital admission (first-time user group) according to their admission scores on three motor performance tests (Timed Up-and-Go, Five-Times-Sit-to-Stand, and Performance-Oriented Mobility Assessment-Balance) with 30 patients who were actively using rollators as their primary walking aid for at least 3 months (long-term user group) and 30 control subjects without walking-aid assistance. Measurements were repeated after the inpatient rehabilitation regimen. The Kruskal-Wallis test did not reveal significant group differences in rehabilitation progress. Controls and device users, regardless of walking-aid experience, demonstrated nearly comparable mobility, strength, and balance improvements. More than half of each cohort (controls, n = 22; first-time, n = 17; long-term, n = 18) achieved functional gains in all three motor tests. The study showed that rollator assistance does not interfere with rehabilitation outcome and, to some extent, legitimates the prescription of assistive devices to improve confidence and restore or maintain motor ability at the highest possible level.

resisted treatment. Before his admission, the patient had not undergone detoxification therapy.Detoxification was started with a diminished dose of zolpidem 200 mg, valproic acid 500 mg and mirtazapine 30 mg daily with a progressive reduction of zolpidem and a simultaneous increase of mirtazapine up to 45 mg and valproic acid up to 1,000 mg daily. Mirtazapine initially improved the patient's insomnia and restlessness, but soon the sedative effects of mirtazapine were not enough to control the symptoms of the reduction of zolpidem. On Day 26 of his hospitalization, zolpidem had been reduced to 70 mg daily, but the patient was persistently complaining of insomnia and was irritable and isolated. He was obsessively asking for higher dose of zolpidem or an extra dose of benzodiazepine. To control his severe insomnia and craving for zolpidem, quetiapine 50 mg at night was added and was titrated to 100 mg when zolpidem was stopped (Day 40). The patient was discharged with a prescription of mirtazapine 45 mg daily, valproic acid 1,000 mg daily, and quetiapine 100 mg every night, with no severe difficulties in sleeping and no craving for zolpidem. Three months after detoxification from zolpidem, he has had no relapse, he does not report a craving for zolpidem or for benzodiazepines, and he has not developed any tolerance to the sedative effect of mirtazapine and quetiapine. He occasionally has mild sleep difficulties and mild anxiety symptoms that he tolerates. JAGS