Rehabilitation and Therapy Commons^™

Exploring Animal Assisted Therapy As A Therapeutic Tool For Use In Occupational Therapy, Malia Proveaux

MOT Student Capstones

Occupational therapy (OT) is an evidence-based and effective therapeutic approach; however, patient compliance and participation are the most significant factors determining outcome measures. Animal Assisted Therapy (AA T) is a therapeutic approach used for various disorders and medical diagnoses and has been showing strong growth in recent years. Animal-assisted therapy is the interaction of a patient and a trained animal to aid the patients' progress toward their functional goals and is a valuable complement to OT. The purpose of this study is to examine the evidence-based research supporting the inclusion of AAT during skilled OT interventions to improve clinical impact. …

Establishing Ot Programming Within A Local Correctional Facility, Kayla Kennedy

OTD Capstone Projects

This OTD capstone project was completed in collaboration with Davidson County Sheriff's Office in Nashville, TN. The criminal justice system is an emerging practice area for occupational therapy with limited established OT programs in jails and prisons. Individuals who are incarcerated have limited social interaction promoting positive behaviors, limited access to quality rehabilitative services, are separated from family/friends, may be placed in isolation and overall experience occupational deprivation. This capstone project aimed to establish OT programming in a local correctional facility using the Recovery Model and MOHO to address needs of residents of the Behavioral Care Center in a long-term …

Strategies For Promoting Engagement In Youth Advocacy Program, Dana Murray

OTD Capstone Projects

The focus of this capstone project was to increase participation in and awareness of Thiiirdspace, a youth program through Family Voices of Tennessee. This was primarily done through the use of Instagram and the creation of a marketing procedure.

The Effect Of An Instructional Video On Parental Test-Retest Reliability When Scoring The Asq-3, Erin Simunds Pt, Morgan Henry, Allison Jensen, Mallory Phillips, Justin Wilson

DPT Capstone Posters

Introduction

• Less than one-fifth of children with developmental delay receive early intervention before age 3.
• At well-child visits, parents may voice concerns they have about their child; however, physicians may not consider their input in overall decision making.
• Parents can complete formal screening tools across different settings, suggesting their ability to complete assessments in the home.
• Verbal parental input can be supplemented by viewing an instructional video on typical development and completing standardized screening tools.

Objective

• The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of an instructional video explaining test administration of the ASQ-3 on parental test-retest reliability. …

Equine-Assisted Activities: Increasing Participation And Quality Of Life For Individuals With Disabilities, Melissa Mabry

OTD Capstone Projects

The author partnered with a nonprofit organization, Saddle Up!, to incorporate an occupational therapy perspective in its work with children with disabilities and equine-assisted activities as part of the OTD capstone project.

Reimagining Room In The Inn’S Housing Readiness Program: Providing Teaching Strategies To Reach All Participants, Kara Reed

OTD Capstone Projects

The intent of this project was to provide housing readiness skills to obtain and maintain permanent housing for individuals transitioning off of Nashville's streets. This housing readiness project focused on improving Room In The Inn's current "Housing Power Week" program through updating content, expanding educational tools, and providing teaching strategies/ training to staff. The project expanded three primary modules including "Life Skills: Kitchen Readiness," "Grocery Preparation," and "Basic Budgeting." Each of these primary modules has between one and three subsections to further explore skills required for success in the home.

Developing Power Skills And Effective Partnerships With Individuals With Intellectual And Developmental Disabilities, Madison Mclean

OTD Capstone Projects

This project partnered with Friends Life Community of Nashville, TN, in effort to advocate for, increase meaningful participation in, and promote independence in individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities through the implementation of several training tools. Staff and families at Friends Life expressed a need for more classes in a virtual capacity due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to tools to guide Friends Life staff from an occupational therapy perspective. An occupational therapy-based training module was introduced to promote inclusion and teach activity analysis, goal-setting, and how to adapt tasks and the environment to maximize engagement and independence in …

Reducing Fall Among Acute Rehabilitation Patients Through Implementation Of A Video Monitoring System, Priscila Alfonso

Student Scholarly Projects

Practice Problem: Falls are a significant healthcare issue that leads to substantial patient suffering and exorbitant health care expense. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) identify falls as preventable and not eligible for reimbursement.

PICOT: The PICOT question that guided this project was: for acute rehabilitation inpatients (P), will the continuous use of video monitoring (VM) (I) compared to using bed alarms (C), decrease the fall rate by 10% (O) within six weeks of implementation (T)?

Evidence: The practice recommendation for using a VM system as a primary intervention or part of a multifactorial comprehensive fall prevention strategy …

Reducing Stroke Readmission Through The Implementation Of Telehealth, Leilani Hermosura

Student Scholarly Projects

Practice Problem: Readmission occurs frequently among patients with stroke and because of this, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have imposed programs to reduce 30-day readmissions among hospitals. The health care system must respond with transition of care, especially during the period of recent stroke to improve patient outcomes.

PICOT: The PICOT question that guided this project was among patients with a recent diagnosis of stroke (P), what is the effect of a telehealth appointment with a nurse practitioner (NP) for post discharge follow-up (I), compared to a standard face-to-face clinic appointment (C), on 30-day readmissions rates (O), …

Brachial Plexus Injury In 16 Year Old Football/Soccer Player, Becca Goldman

Graduate Research Showcase

Background: This subject of this case is a 16-year-old football offensive tackle/defensive end and soccer player. The subject is undersized for his position, weighing in at about 190 pounds. The injury occurred during the football season but was not reported to the athletic trainer until after the football season was over. The actual moment the injury occurred is unknown. During a weight training day after the end of the season the subject complained to the athletic trainer that he was unable to bench press because of pain in his right shoulder. Upon further examination, the athletic trainer discovered significant atrophy …

Systematic Review Shows No Strong Evidence Regarding The Use Of Elastic Taping For Pain Improvement In Patients With Primary Knee Osteoarthritis, Stephan Heddon, Nicole Saulnier, Jorge Mercado, Michelle Shalmiyev, Jean-Philippe Berteau

Publications and Research

Background:

A recent trend in the field of primary knee osteoarthritis suggests that elastic tape (e.g., K-tape) relieves pressure on the joint by increasing tension on fascia. Elastic tape (ET) is expected to decrease pain and help patients to recover faster.

Objective:

This systematic review aims to analyze the efficacy of this method on pain in patients with knee osteoarthritis by using The Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) score.

Data sources:

Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) standard for reporting systematic reviews of qualitative and quantitative evidence, we used 3 electronic databases, …

Comparison Of 360° Turn Cycles Among Individuals After Stroke And Healthy Older Adults, Rahul Soangra, Vennila Krishnan, Joby John, Ehsan Rashedi, Alison Mckenzie

Physical Therapy Faculty Articles and Research

Stroke survivors are at high risk of falling during turning. The kinematics of performing a 360° turn have not been fully analyzed among individuals after stroke. Quantitative differences in the parameters of turning between healthy older adults and those after stroke could provide detailed information on turning ability among these groups. The purpose of the current study was to characterize differences between healthy older adults and adults after stroke in 360° turn kinematics. Fourteen individuals with chronic stroke (mean age: 69 ± 8.4 years) and 14 healthy older adults (mean age: 74 ± 8.7 years) performed three trials of 360° …

The Reliability Of Tensiomyography For Assessment Of Muscle Function: A Systematic Review, Stephon Moise, Daniel Hampton

UCF DPT Research Capstone

Tensiomyography (TMG) is a non-invasive tool used to assess skeletal muscle tissue, including Displacement (Dm), Contraction Time (Tc), Sustain Time (Ts), Relaxation Time (Tr), and Delay Time (Td). This tool can be used clinically to determine muscular response to exercise.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the reliability of TMG measurements.

METHODS: Studies were identified from multiple databases and evaluated for inclusion. All studies underwent a quality assessment using the Modified Downs and Black checklist for assessing quality studies, and results were extracted from qualified articles.

RESULTS: 635 studies were identified with 16 studies retained following full …

Is There A Correlation Between Rate Of Electromyography Rise In The Flexor Carpi Radialis Muscle And Comfortable Gait Speed?, Emily Montecalvo, Vanessa Novoa, Shikha Ravikumar

UCF DPT Research Capstone

Falls are a leading cause of injury-related deaths in older adults. Although gait speed (a strong predictor of falls) correlates with handgrip strength, its correlation with muscle power (amount of force produced over time) is unknown. Since peak quadriceps rate of force development (RFD) occurs at a submaximal force during ambulation, RFD could be a determinant of gait speed13. Quadriceps RFD is a measure of lower extremity power13, just as handgrip RFD is a measure of upper extremity power. Assuming that RFD is uniform throughout the body, handgrip RFD may also be correlated with gait speed. One method of studying …

The Impact Of Skeletal Muscle Disuse On Distinct Echo Intensity Bands: A Retrospective Analysis, Zachary Logeson, Gerard-Kyle Abad, Johnathon Methven, Molly Gradl

UCF DPT Research Capstone

Echo intensity (EI) is a novel tool for assessing muscle quality. EI has traditionally been reported as the mean of the pixel histogram, with 0 and 255 arbitrary units (A.U.) representing exceptional and poor muscle quality, respectively. Analyzing specific EI bands, rather than the mean, may provide novel insight into changes in muscle quality.

PURPOSE: As our previous work showed deterioration of muscle quality after knee immobilization, we sought to retrospectively explore whether the increase in EI following disuse was limited to specific bands of the EI histogram.

METHODS: Thirteen females (age = 21 yrs) underwent two weeks of knee …

The Effects Of Pectus Excavatum Corrective Surgeries On Inspiratory Capacity Of Adults: Comparing Preoperative And Postoperative Results, Joshua Bolin

EXSI 432/532: Research Methods in Exercise Science: Research Proposal Posters

The purpose of this study is to perform specific tests and measurements before and after pectus corrective surgeries to find differences in lung volumes of individuals affected by pectus excavatum.

The Impact Of Exercise Programs On Dementia, Luke Beamer, Tori Birks

EXSI 432/532: Research Methods in Exercise Science: Research Proposal Posters

Dementia is defined by the loss of cognitive abilities such as thinking, remembering and reasoning. It also affects behavioral abilities and interferes with daily life and activities. Each person may experience several signs and symptoms depending on severity, from mild to severe (Jacobs et al., 2018).

Effects Of Electrical Muscle Stimulation (Ems) And Active Recovery On Blood Lactate Levels, Andrew N. Mintz

EXSI 432/532: Research Methods in Exercise Science: Research Proposal Posters

Electrical muscle stimulation (EMS) is a method of muscle recovery used by athletes before, during, and after competition. Active recovery is arguably the most popular recovery technique after intense exercise because of how much it reduces lactate levels in the blood. Few studies have analyzed the effects of EMS and active recovery on blood lactate levels in swimmers, and none have been found on the combination of the two. Therefore, there is an insufficient amount of information linking the two methods together for the purpose of maximizing blood lactate reduction. This study sought to analyze the effects that EMS and …

Yoga's Impact On Collegiate Male Soccer Player's Flexibility And Balance, Haley Church

EXSI 432/532: Research Methods in Exercise Science: Research Proposal Posters

As injuries increase in sports due to flexibility and balance issues, coaches and trainers strive to develop new techniques that can decrease the risk of injuries and improve overall performance of their athletes. The practice of yoga and its techniques have been associated with positive results in various aspects for decades. Most literature states that yoga does have a positive impact on flexibility and balance but lacks research on which type has the greatest impact (Polsgrove et al. 2016).

The Effect Of Static Versus Dynamic Stretching Programs On The Lower Body Power Assessments Of The Broad And Vertical Jumps On Male Collegiate Football Players, Antwann Mccray

EXSI 432/532: Research Methods in Exercise Science: Research Proposal Posters

Football is a sport that requires power to be successful. The broad and vertical jumps are used for talent identification as it relates to power. Increases in range of motion should increase power and therefore better performance on the broad and vertical jumps. This study analyzed dynamic versus static stretching and its effects on jumping performance, determining which had a greater positive effect on performance. This study used skill players from the Gardner-Webb University football team. The participants participated in the study during their off-season training (15 weeks), but their respective stretching protocols were implemented into the training. To determine …