Abstract
This study examined the differences in distance of motion (DOM) and exercise repetitions of patients performing three bilateral upper extremity exercise tasks. Participants sanded an inclined board under three different conditions: rote exercise, occupationally embedded exercise (working on a shelf), and altruistic occupationally embedded exercise (working on a rocking horse for children). It was hypothesized that differences would be observed between the conditions, with altruistic occupationally embedded exercise predicted to elicit the greatest DOM and the most repetitions, and rote exercise predicted to elicit the lowest DOM and the fewest repetitions. A counterbalanced design was used so that each subject experienced each condition on 3 consecutive days. Subjects included 9 male and 10 female inpatients, who required upper extremity strengthening, from two Ohio rehabilitation centers. Results for distance of motion were not significant and did not support the hypotheses. There also was a lack of significant differences in repetitions. Several explanations of the results are explored in the discussion.
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