Occupational Therapy with the Screw Block® Kit for Improving Upper Limb Function in Stroke Patients: A Quasi-randomized Controlled Trial

Objectives : A pilot study was conducted primarily to examine the effect of rehabilitation using the Screw Block® kit on the upper limb function of hemiplegic stroke patients. Methods : In this pilot, single-center, quasi-randomized, controlled trial, 30 stroke patients were randomly allocated to either the experimental group or the control group. They received training with either Screw Block® for 20 min in addition to conventional occupational therapy (20-40 min) or conventional occupational therapy, which included upper limb functional training for 40-60 min. In both groups, training was conducted 5 days a week for 3 weeks (15 sessions in total). Upper extremity function on the paralyzed side, which was the primary outcome, was evaluated using the Simple Test for Evaluating Hand Function (STEF) before and after the interventions. Results : The study sample included 28 men and 2 women (mean age, 62.5 years). The experimental group showed a significant improvement in mean STEF score compared with the control group (T=2.252, P=0.032, Cohen's d=0.82). Conclusion : Occupational therapy using Screw Block® was more effective than conventional occupational therapy alone in improving the upper limb function in stroke patients.