Johns Hopkins undergraduates have designed and built a device to enable critically ill intensive care unit patients to leave their beds and walk while remaining tethered to essential life-support equipment. The invention allows doctors to better understand whether carefully supervised rehabilitation, as opposed to continuous sedation and bed rest, can improve the recovery of intensive care patients.

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On Wednesday 14 May the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign was joined by 135 supporters, clinicians and healthcare professionals, from around the country, at a Parliamentary reception to lobby Government to improve specialist services for people with neuromuscular conditions.

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As part of the ongoing poll series, Debating Health: Election 2008, a recent survey by the Harvard Opinion Research Program at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and Harris Interactive® finds that a majority of Americans (62%) believe that wounded Iraq war veterans do not receive high quality care in military and Veteran’s Administration (VA) hospitals once they return to the U.S.

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Researcher Daan Hobbelen of TU Delft has developed a new, highly-advanced walking robot: Flame. This type of research, for which Hobbelen will receive his PhD on Friday 30 May, is important as it provides insight into how people walk. This can in turn help people with walking difficulties through improved diagnoses, training and rehabilitation equipment.If you try to teach a robot to walk, you will discover just how complex an activity it is.

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The average length of stay for patients in hospital rehabilitation declined from 22 days to 18 days over five years, according to a new report from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI). Inpatient Rehabilitation in Canada, 2006-2007, CIHI’s fifth annual report on rehabilitation services in Canada, is based on data for over 30,000 patients in participating facilities in seven provinces.

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A recent study shows that pre-operative assessments of breast cancer patients by physical therapists allow for early diagnosis and successful treatment of lymphedema. The study, conducted by the National Naval Medical Center (NNMC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and in collaboration with the University of Michigan-Flint and George Mason University, was published in the journal, Cancer (April 25, 2008).

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Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who are in their final years of survival do not get the same benefits from pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) as patients who have more years left to live - regardless of their age, complicating illnesses or lung function, according to new research funded by the Veteran’s Administration, which was presented at the American Thoracic Society’s 2008 International Conference in Toronto on Tuesday, May 20.

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Mary Harney TD, Minister for Health and Children yesterday, 20th May, 2008, welcomed the major consultation programme being undertaken by the National Rehabilitation Hospital which is taking place today, Tuesday, 20th May, 2008.

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A study led by Dr. Ann F. Jacobson, associate professor in Kent State’s College of Nursing, unveils the reasons why people may initially choose to postpone but ultimately undergo total knee replacement surgery and emphasizes the need for better patient education before and after the procedure.

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Stroke patients are at high risk for falls and subsequent injuries after leaving the hospital, but prevention programs may reduce this risk, New Zealand researchers reported in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.”People who have had a stroke fall almost twice as often as people who haven’t had a stroke,” said Ngaire Kerse, Ph.D.

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