The study showed no clear advantage of functional foot orthoses over UM.

Critical illness polyneuropathy and myopathy (CIPNM) frequently develops in patients hospitalized in intensive care units. The number of patients with CIPNM admitted to inpatient rehabilitation is increasing. The aim of this study was to comprehensively evaluate the outcome of their rehabilitation. Twenty-seven patients with CIPNM were included in the study. The diagnosis was established clinically and confirmed electrophysiologically. Manual muscle testing was used for the assessment of function. Activity was assessed using the functional independence measure and two walking tests. The patients were also assessed using an adapted International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) checklist. All assessments were performed at admission and discharge. Clinically important and statistically significant improvements were found in all observed measures. High and significant correlations were found between the measures, except between muscle strength and the results of walking tests. Improvement in body functions during rehabilitation decreased as the time from established diagnosis to the start of rehabilitation increased, but it was not related to rehabilitation duration. Improvements in terms of the ICF mainly corresponded to the gain in functional independence measure scores. Major improvement regarding body functions and activities/participation was achieved in patients with CIPNM with a relatively short rehabilitation. Rehabilitation of such patients should start as early as possible once the diagnosis has been established. Comprehensive assessment of such patients combining established scales, objective clinical tests, and the ICF is recommended.

Objective: To assess foot pain and its correlation with walking ability in diabetic patients. Subjects: Two groups of type 2 diabetic patients (30 with symptomatic neuropathy and 30 without symptomatic neuropathy) and 30 healthy volunteers were studied.

Plantar pressures measurement is a frequently used method in rehabilitation and related research. Metric characteristics of the F-Scan system have been assessed from different standpoints and in different patients, but not its reliability in rheumatoid arthritis patients. Therefore, our objective was to assess reliability of the F-Scan plantar pressure measurement system in rheumatoid arthritis patients. Twelve rheumatoid arthritis patients were included in this study. Plantar pressures measurement was carried out in six consecutive walks and average peak pressure on seven spots analyzed for each walk. Intraclass correlation was estimated for each spot and for within-patient coefficient of variation between spots. For each spot, average within-patient coefficient of variation between walks was also calculated. Repeated measures of analysis of variance and Hotelling's T test, both with Holm correction, were used to test equality of mean measurement across patients between walks. The intraclass correlations, which were all statistically significant at P<0.0001, ranged from 0.897 to 0.999, with a mean of 0.97 for single measure and 0.99 for average measure estimates. Overall median of within-patient coefficient of variation between walks was 7%. None of the tests of equality of means showed significant differences between walks. On both feet, the highest variability of measurements was observed at midfoot, whereas all the other spots demonstrated excellent reliability. The measurement setup was found to be highly reliable and therefore suitable for clinical practice, as well as for research. If possible, taking an average of several measurements is recommended.