Journal of Modern Rehabilitation
Year:2014 | Volume:8 | Issue:3|Papers Count:10

Background and Aim: Genu varum and genu valgum are two most common deformities of the knee joint in children and adults. In these deformities knee muscles function maybe affected by the alteration in mechanical axis of lower limb. The aim of this survey was to provide some basic knowledge about the function of knee muscles in patients with genu varum and genu valgum deformities.Materials and Methods: Studies were identified by searching in the Pub-Med, Science Direct, Google Scholar databases and authoritative references available on the internet and library for articles and books published after 1990,with the key words such as genu varum, genu valgum, knee muscles, bow leg, knock knee and knee frontal angle.Results: Among 102 papers and 10 books resulted from the first search, only 30 papers and 5 books were related to this literature review and just10 papers and 2 books among them were about changes in knee muscles.Conclusion: The results of this survey indicated that patients with genu varum and genu valgum deformities have architectural and functional alteration in their knee muscles. According to the results most of these studies have noticed the basic changes in quadriceps muscle function and architecture. It is necessary to study more about the function of other knee muscles.

Background and Aim: The aim of this study was to collect and review Aphasia screening test s for speech- language pathologists.Materials and Methods: Searching was done in databases of MEDLIN, SID, Magiran, IRAN MEDEX and 5 site of ASHA, Pub Med, Google Scholar, Science Direct, and Web of Science from 1949 to 2012 ,and Screening tests were collected and reviewed on the basis of time of composition, subtests ,validity, and reliability.Results: In this study, 14 screening tests were identified. The maximum number of items were (72 subtests) for screening test and the minimum number of test items were (4 subtests) for Franchay Aphasia Screening test (FAST). The latter is the first test which evaluated the areas of comprehension and writing in addition to reading and speech. The results indicated that 10 test s have one type of validity, and eight tests have reliability.Conclusion: Considering the importance of the aphasia disorder and lack of a complete source for quick and easy identification of Aphasia, and also finding screening tests in this disorder in Persian language, the results of this study can be useful to familiarize speech and language therapists with this disorder. A pplication of these test s is recommended in various stages of rehabilitation.

Background and Aim: The number of elderly population in the world and also in Iran has increased due to health improvements and therefore, the quality of life has been focused in this group of population. Physical disabilities and particularly balance disturbances are among the consequences of the ageing process and hence, would affect the quality of life in elderly population. Mental practice is in fact the cognitive review of a physical skill without performing obvious bodily movements. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of mental practice of a movement skill on improvement of the quality of life in elderly men (60-80 yrs).Materials and Methods: This was a Single blind Randomized controlled trial (RCT) study. The study was approved by the research ethics committee of the Tehran university of medical science (Irct ID: IRCT201107041722N3). The elderly population was 44 elderly men (60-80 yrs.) who were living in Kahrizak Nursing Home. They were randomly assigned in two groups and entered th.e study based on inclusion criteria. After baseline assessment, the quality of life of all of participants were assessed by SF36 test and also at 3 various stages (i.e. respectively, before the beginning of ,baseline assessment; two weeks after intervention ,short term follow up; and 3 months after intervention, long term follow up). Elderly population in the intervention group did mental practice of one movement skill for 4 weeks and during this periods, the control group did no mental practice.Results: The results of our study showed the scores of SF36 in physical component, after the intervention of mental practice, have had a significant difference between the control and intervention groups. Although test scores in mental component and the whole test score showed no significant difference between the case and control groups at 3 stages of assessments.Conclusion: The results of this study showed the significant effects of mental practices on physical component of SF36 in elderly population. However, these results also showed that this type of mental practice had no significant effects on mental component and total score of SF36.

Background and Aim: One of the most common defects observed after stroke is deficit in trunk control and balance which can lead to disability or dependency in many functional activities in life. Many therapeutic approaches are used in the rehabilitation of stroke patients, but there is no any unique accepted approach in this field yet. However there are many evidences that show task-oriented practice for neuro-movement rehabilitation can be efficient. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of intensive task-oriented balance practices on functional balance and mobility in patients with chronic stroke.Materials and Methods: This study was an intervention - quasi-experimental with chronic stroke on 13 patients (study on 4 women, 9 men, mean age 55.07±8.41) which were selected according to inclusion criteria. The intervention included 10 days of intensive practice during 2 weeks, 5 days per week for 3 hours a day. The assessments (Berg Balance Scale, Time Up and Go) were performed before and after the intervention.Results: Intensive task-oriented balance training in patients with chronic stroke significantly increased the functional balance (p=0.005) and reduced the time of functional mobility (p=0.001).Conclusion: The results showed that intensive task-oriented balance training can improve functional balance and functional mobility. Because this study was done only in one group, conducting more studies with appropriate control group is suggested. Follow up were recommended in order to show durability effect for future researches.

Background and Aim: Scapular muscles stabilization and neuromuscular control are important factors in shoulder function during dynamic activities. The three-dimensional pattern of integrated movement between gleno-humeral and scapula-thoracic joints is known as the scapula-humeral rhythm. More involved rotator cuff and scapular muscles causes more motor units are being recruited, therefore perhaps with loading on scapular muscles, can evaluate muscles role in scapular position more accurately and comprehensively.Materials and Methods: Thirty male basketball players, aged between 20 to 40 years were recruited for modified lateral scapular slide test. The linear distance between inferior angle of scapula and spinous process of T7-8 was examined in 90 degrees of scaption without load and with 1 kg loading by two examiners in one session using the caliper. One of the examiners repeated the test in next week.Results: Amount of inter and intra-rater intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) for 90 degrees of unloaded scaption was 0.73 and 0.82, respectively and for 1 kg loading position was 0.54 and 0.86, respectively. Amount of standard error of measurement (SEM) in inter and intra-rater measurements for 90 degrees of unloaded scaption was 0.83 and 0.59 cm, respectively and for 1 kg loading position was 0.97 and 0.45 cm, respectively.Conclusion: 1 kg loading in scaption, did not significantly improve the reliability of the test that shows the amount of load is not appropriate to activate the muscles in the athletes.

Background and Aim: Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) is a technique widely used in developing marketing strategies and improving products or service quality. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the quality of rehabilitation services in two aspects of importance and satisfaction with performance in four selected centers in Tehran by using IPA and also examine the relationship between demographic variables and dimensions of the service quality.Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional study which was done among the 196 patients who visited four selected rehabilitation centers in Tehran (Helal-e-Ahmar, Molavi, Emam Khomeini and Shafa). A questionnaire was used to assess the quality of services in these centers. Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 17.Results: According to the results, the quality of services in selected centers took place in the first quarter of Importance-Performance Analysis that means they are in desirable situation. In addition, no significant difference was observed among importance and performance of dimensions of service quality and age and sex variables (P>0.05). But there was a correlation between importance (P=0.04) and satisfaction with performance (P=0.03) in tangibles dimension and also between importance and level of education variable in assurance dimension (P=0.01).Conclusion: Although the selected centers were in the favorable situation, but the managers should be aware of strengths and weaknesses of the organization so that they provide quality improvement and increase customer’s satisfaction.

Background and Aim: Memory and learning specially auditory-verbal learning affected on developed and forming the cognitive skills in children. The auditory- verbal learning assessed with several methods. The Rey auditory verbal learning test is a useful tool for the assessment of auditory verbal learning. The Persian version of Rey test is not used for assessment auditory-verbal learning in Persian language children. The aim of the present study was to assess the auditory verbal memory and learning performance of 9 to 11 year old healthy children using the Persian version of rey auditory-verbal learning test and comparing these data with children from other countries.Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was done on 86 healthy children with age ranging from 9 to 11. Different aspects of memory like immediate recall, delayed recall, recognition, forgetting rate, interference and learning were assessed using the Persian version of Rey auditory-verbal learning test.Results: It was observed a significant correlation between the scores on the first trial to fifth trial. The mean scores of the participation increased from 7.34 on the first trial to 13.93 on the fifth trial. The correct answer was more in girls than the boys. There was not significant correlation between immediate and delayed recall. There was significant correlation between delayed recall and recognition. The proactive and retroactive interference and forgetting rate scores were 0.97, 0.87 and 0.37 respectively.Conclusion: The Persian version of Rey test in the clinical setting is a useful tool for assessment of memory and auditory-verbal learning. The scores increased from first trial to fifth trial show learning effect in Persian language children. The auditory verbal memory and learning performance of Persian language children in Persian version of Rey test was compared to the performance of the same population in other countries.

Background and Aim: Language disorders are one of the most prominent features seen in autistic children. The present study intends to investigate some linguistic features of speech in Persian-speaking children with autism in comparison with their typically developing age mates.Materials and Methods: By recording the speech of 20 autistic girls and boys who were seven to eleven years old, phonetic, phonologic, morphologic and syntactic features of their speech were compared with those of their typically developing age-mates. The SPSS (18) and Exact Fischer Test were used to analyze the collected data.Results: The results showed that consonant deletion, substitution of phonemes, using stress on inappropriate syllable, atypical intonation, incorrect use of tense, incorrect use or not using prepositions, problems in making the nouns plural and not using complex sentences were significantly different in children with autism and typically developing children (p<0.05), while epenthesis, metathesis, violating subject-verb agreement, having difficulty with making the verbs negative, and using demonstratives were not significantly different (p>0.05).Conclusion: Children with autism had more problems in phonetic, phonologic, morphologic and syntactic features of speech in comparison with their typically developing age-mates. Therefore, withappropriate treatment programs, these problems could be reduced.

Background and Aim: Oral feeding difficulties are common in children with cerebral palsy. Early oral motor interventions may improve oral feeding skills in these children. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of intervention duration of oral motor stimulation on feeding skills in spastic cerebral palsy.Materials and Methods: Twelve children with spastic cerebral palsy 2-7 years aged were participated into two groups A and B. Children in the group A received oral-motor stimulation for 12 session(3 days per week) and group B received stimulation program for 24 session(3 days per week).Feeding skills was assessed using Oral Motor Assessment Scale (OMAS). Data were analyzed using Friedman and Mann-Whitney tests.Results: The results of the study revealed a significant improvement in feeding skills for both groups. The B group had significantly advanced in mouth closure, lip closure on utensil and sucking straw than children in group A (P<0.05). The difference between two group in control of food during deglutition, mastication and control of liquid during deglutition was not significant (P>0.05).There was difference in the total score of feeding skills was not significant between the two groups (P>0.05).Conclusion: Oral-motor intervention might be improved feeding performance in children with cerebral palsy but continuation (increased duration) of intervention improved specific components of feeding behaviors.

Background and Aim: According to the attachments lumbar spine and pelvic muscles, it seems that pelvic tilt and lumbar lordosis have previous studies about this relationship have shown different results and these conflicting results can hamper therapist to set a correct therapeutic plan. The aim of this study was to examine this relationship in a large sample and with more accurate instruments.Materials and Methods: One hundred and eighty healthy women (20-65 year-old) with a mean age of 41.45±12.27 participated in this study. Pelvic tilt was measured by inclinometer and lumbar lordosis by flexible ruler. Statistical tests have been performed by SPSS (version 11.5) computer software.Results: The results of this study showed a weak correlation between pelvic tilt and lumbar lordosis (r=0.16, p<0.05). This association was little affected by age.Conclusion: This study has examined the relationship between pelvic tilt and lumbar lordosis of healthy women in static position. The present study showed a weak correlation between pelvic tilt and lumbar lordosis in healthy women.