[Purpose] The present study aimed to determine the effects of a task-oriented training on paretic upper extremity functional performance in patients with subacute stroke. [Participants and Methods] Twenty-eight subacute stroke sufferers (mean age: 50.07, standard deviation 9.31 years; mean time since stroke 11.11, standard deviation 6.73 weeks) were randomly allocated to task-oriented training (n=14) or conventional exercise program (n=14) group. They were trained as a hospital-based, individualized training 1 hour a session, 5 sessions a week for 4 weeks. Wolf Motor Function Test (primary outcome), motor portion of Fugl-Meyer assessment upper extremity, and hand function domain of Stroke Impact Scale were assessed at baseline, after 2 and 4 weeks of training. [Results] All participants completed their training programs. At all post-training assessments, the task-oriented training group showed significantly more improvements in all outcomes than the conventional exercise program group. No serious adverse effects were observed during or after the training. [Conclusion] Task-oriented training produced statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvements of paretic upper extremity functional performance in patients with subacute stroke. These beneficial effects were observed after 2 weeks (10 hours) of training. Future investigation is warranted to confirm and expand these findings.

A TTM-based intervention could improve back muscle endurance and physical function, and reduce the pain in rice farmers with LBP. Further studies should be considered to explore the long-term effects of this intervention.

Abstract. [Purpose] This study aimed to evaluate the health-promoting behaviors of physical therapy students, and compare the behaviors among students in different year of study. [Subjects and Methods] The Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile-II questionnaire was distributed to 720 undergraduate students attending public physical therapy schools to evaluate their health-promoting behaviors (health responsibility, physical activity, nutritional habits, spiritual growth, interpersonal relations, and stress management). An analysis of variance followed by a post-hoc test was used to determine differences in the behaviors among students in 4 different years of study.[Results] The students scored highest on the interpersonal relations (3.28 ± 0.47) and lowest on the physical activity (2.29 ± 0.51) subscales. Comparisons of the behaviors among students in the 4 study years revealed that the first year students had the lowest score of nutritional habits, while third and fourth year students had significant lower scores than the first and second year students on the stress management subscale.[Conclusion] Physical therapy students seem to have good health-promoting behaviors in the dimensions of psychosocial well-being (spiritual growth, interpersonal relations, and stress management). These findings could be useful for the school administrators to structure curriculums as well as healthier environments, and develop activities for encouraging physical therapy students to adopt healthy lifestyles.

The 8-week, TOCCT significantly improved physical function and perception of performance and satisfaction with the activities of individuals with SCI when compared with the pre-training period. The training could also help most of the participants to achieve their training goals. Future studies with randomized controlled trial and longitudinal design are suggested to reveal further benefits of such training on individuals with SCI.

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