The primary function of the Rehabilitation Medicine Department is to diagnose and treat patients who have a dysfunction in locomotion, activities of daily living, occupational or avocational roles, communication, deglutition, or chronic pain. The major goal of the department is to help patients achieve maximal function so that they may resume optimal performance in their daily living activities. The Screening Protocol provides clinicians in the Rehabilitation Medicine Department a vehicle for developing and piloting new tests, techniques, technology, or equipment for evaluation and treatment of patients and/or subjects.The Rehabilitation Medicine Screening Protocol was used to pilot the following ten projects:1) Ultrasound determination of quadriceps displacement during muscle contraction in patients with polymyositis and normal subjects. 2) Pilot study to examine interrater reliability of the Kendall 10-Point Manual Muscle Testing Scale for the evaluation of muscle strength in children with dermatomyositis.3) Pilot study to examine interrater reliability of the Kendall 10-Point Manual Muscle Testing Scale for the evaluation of muscle strength in adults with polymyositis.4) Abnormal gait assessment.5) Pilot study to examine interrater reliability of the Brief Assessment of Motor Function (BAMF). Z01 CL-60052-01 RM (2)6) Pilot Study to examine content validity of the Myositis Performance Profile.7) Pilot study to assess muscle strength and performance in patients with hypoparathyroidism with synthetic human parathyroid hormone.8) Pilot study to examine the feasibility of using the Myrom dynamometer for the evaluation of muscle weakness in adults with myositis.9) Pilot study to examine concurrent validity for fine motor skills using the BAMF for children.10) Evaluation of pain intensity scales.
