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PHYS THER
Vol. 87, No. 11, November 2007, pp. 1559-1560
DOI: 10.2522/ptj.2007.87.11.1559.2
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Letters and Responses

On "Modified constraint-induced therapy..." Page and Levine. Phys Ther. 2007;87:872–878.


I would like to compliment Page and Levine1 on a well-written article providing modifications of a technique that has proven to be instrumental in the rehabilitation of individuals with hemiparesis following a cerebral vascular accident. However, I am concerned about the choice of words ("chronic stroke") to define the population. My first encounter with this term occurred when a graduate student presented it in her thesis. I discussed my concerns and the inappropriate use of this term, as, to my knowledge, "chronic stroke" has never been operationally defined and universally accepted. Your article came out weeks after I recommended changing the term from "chronic stroke" to something that can be understood and is more descriptive of the population. However, I note that PTJ has used this term in the past and that it has been used in Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation as well. I’m unaware how many others use this term.

I feel that we should not be creating our own "jargon"; instead, we should be using terms that are more universally accepted and that actually describe our population. "Chronic stroke" concerns me, as it is not descriptive. Stroke is the actual accident, and "chronic" does not give me a time frame. My concern is that I want physical therapists to be able to communicate with other professionals, and if I don’t understand what "chronic stroke" is, how can I expect others outside our profession to understand it? Developing our own jargon isolates us from other professionals.

Ellen A Hillegass

EA Hillegass, PT, PhD, CCS, is based in Atlanta, Ga


  Footnotes
 
This letter was posted as a Rapid Response on September 6, 2007, at www.ptjournal.org.

References

  1. Page SJ, Levine P. Modified constraintinduced therapy in patients with chronic stroke exhibiting minimal movement ability in the affected arm. Phys Ther. 2007;87:872–878.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

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This Article
Right arrow Extract Freely available
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when Rapid Responses are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Hillegass, E. A
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Hillegass, E. A
Related Collections
Right arrow Adaptive/Assistive Devices
Right arrow Stroke (Neurology)
Right arrow Stroke (Geriatrics)
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati  
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Copyright © 2007 by the American Physical Therapy Association.