Physical Treatments: Specific Physical Therapy Journal
Year:2017 | Volume:6 | Issue:4|Papers Count:7

Purpose: Today considering the high prevalence of diabetes and its associated pressure ulcers, also irreparable consequences such as amputation and death, the use of orthotic devices is increasing. A variety of devices have designed to prevent ulcers in the patients’ feet, however other aspects of the treatment, especially the performance of these patients in standing and walking, which are their main daily activities, have not been considered in designing and use of orthotic devices. In addition, the differences between the available devices and their effects have not been described yet. Therefore the aim of this review article is to answer these issues.Methods: A comprehensive research was done in databases of PubMed, Google Scholar, and ISI Web of Knowledge. The keywords such as “diabetic neuropathy”, “orthosis”, “plantar pressure”, “balance”, “energy consumption”, and “spatial-temporal parameters of gait” and their results were analyzed. The quality of articles were evaluated by Downs and Black tool.Results: After proper search, 245 English articles were found with the related keywords. Then, 184 articles were excluded because of a common title or incomplete text. Also, 25 articles were excluded from the study, because their contents did not relate highly to this study or have reasonable conclusion based on the findings of other articles. Eventually the results of 36 articles were examined and reported.Conclusion: This study has examined the various articles from randomized control trial to case report. Most studies emphasized on the reduction of plantar pressures and ulcer treatment with orthotic devices. A few studies are available on the effects of orthosis in standing balance and walking parameters. However, no study was found with regard to the effect of orthotic treatments on energy consumption in these patients. Because this topic is very important, it is suggested that future studies be focused on these issues.

Purpose: Low Back Pain (LBP) is one of the most common musculoskeletal problems in the world so that about 80% of people are affected by LBP at least once in a lifetime. Therefore, knowing the risk factors for LBP is an important topic. Obesity is also a major health problem that is dramatically rising. If there is a proven relationship between obesity and LBP, losing weight can be an effective advice to help treat effectively LBP. This study aimed to evaluate the association between LBP and Body Mass Index (BMI), Body Fat Percentage (BFP), Waist to Hip Ratio (WHR), and Waist to Height Ratio (WHtR).Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 60 women aged 20 to 40 years were randomly recruited by convenience sampling method during 2016-2017. They were living in one of the dormitories of Tehran, and were selected according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Of them, 30 persons suffered from LBP during the past year and 30 were healthy. Therefore, the participants were divided into two groups: LBP and healthy. Height, weight, waist circumference, hip circumference, and also the skin folds at triceps, quadriceps, and suprailiac were measured for all participants. Statistical analyses were done using SPSS22.Results: The mean BMI value, although, was higher in patients with LBP, but showed no statistically significant difference between the two groups (P=0.17). The mean values of WHR (P=0.04), WHtR (P=0.04), and BFP (P=0.03) in participants with LBP were significantly higher than those in the control group.Conclusion: The present study confirmed the relationship between the WHR, WHtR, and also BFP with the incidence of LBP in women. The strongest relationship was found between LBP and BFP.

Purpose: Comparing the effects of manipulating senses on relative phase transition bimanual coordination pattern of active and inactive women with Multiple Sclerosis (MS).Methods: The methodology of this study was repeated-measures design. Study participants comprised 10 active women and 10 inactive women with multiple sclerosis who voluntarily participated in this experiment. The participants (n=20; aged 18-25 years) performed bimanual in-phase and anti-phase movements with their wrists at three different speeds ranging from slow to fast and 5 different sensory conditions, including 1) normal sensory input, 2) masked vision, 3) masked proprioception, 4) masked audition, and 5) full sensory deprivation. Two-way (5 sensory conditions×2 groups) analyses of variance for repeated measures (ANOVA) were performed using SPSS 24.Results: The findings showed that the main effect of the senses and groups was not significant, while the effect of interaction between the senses and groups was significant (P=0.047). Accordingly, there was a significant difference between two groups with regard to the manipulation of proprioception, vision, and audition conditions. Regarding the effect of different senses in both active and inactive women with MS, only a significant effect was observed between two groups in manipulation of proprioception condition, when vision and audition were not manipulated (P=0.004). Also, comparing active and inactive woman with MS in different manipulated sensory conditions did not reveal significant differences.Conclusion: Proprioception in both active and inactive woman with MS has a significant impact on performing bimanual coordination task.

Purpose: To investigate the reliability of Functional Movement Screen (FMS) in basketball players. A few studies have compared the reliability of FMS between raters with different experience in athletes. The purpose of this study was to compare the FMS scoring between the beginners and expert raters using video records.Methods: This is a cross-sectional study. The study subjects comprised 15 elite boy basketball players. The subjects were randomly selected and each of them completed FMS tests. Three examiners (two beginners and one expert) watched the recorded video separately and scored the tests. We used the Kinovea video-analysis software for data analysis. The test-retest reliability was assessed using Intra-Class Correlation Coefficients (ICCs). Also inter-tester reliability of each test was computed using Fleiss’ kappa test.Results: The mean (SD) total FMS score for rater 1, rater 2, and rater 3 were 14.17 (1.26), 14.17 (1.94), and 13.67 (1.67), respectively. There was no significant difference between examiners with respect to total FMS score (P=0.136). Half of the individual FMS components had perfect agreement, and rest were categorized as moderate to substantial agreement. The high and moderate values of ICC as 0.88~0.99 and 0.71~0.91 were observed for intra-rater and interrater reliability, respectively.Conclusion: The examiners reported FMS total scores similarly. The inter-rater reliability for the test components had strong agreement. This finding suggests that FMS can be used in the evaluation of the abnormal movement patterns of the athletes.

Purpose: Children’s interaction with the environment considerably influences their growth. To create an environment that guarantees growth and development of children’s skills, children’s characteristics should be considered in selecting facilities, design, and setting of child-related environments. Proper tools should be used to study the compliance of the current design of playrooms in preschool centers with the criteria of user-centered design. The research objective was to design a tool for ergonomic assessment of preschool playrooms with a cooperative approach.Methods: In this descriptive-analytical research, after reviewing the resources and visiting the place, the preliminary items of the assessment tool were extracted. Afterwards, a 43-item assessment tool was developed through group sessions attended by experts and personnel of preschool centers. The validity of the tool was assessed through content and face validity assessment tests. Reliability of the test was measured by test-retest. The data were analyzed by Excel 2010 and SPSS15.Results: Research results indicated that 7 of the 43 items had low content validity and needed to be rejected. The calculated content validity index of the final version was 72.9, which was acceptable. During the content validity assessment, minor changes were made to two items.Results of the reliability also showed that this tool is repeatable with ICC=0.99 Conclusion: Considering the research results, the proposed assessment tool is properly efficient in assessing the environment of preschool centers.

Purpose: The current study aimed at evaluating the effect of 5-toed shoes on electromyographic activity of leg muscles during the stance phase of running.Methods: The current semi-experimental study recorded the electromyographic activity of tibialis anterior, soleus, gastrocnemius lateralis, and medialis muscles of 15 healthy male students (mean age: 24.5±3.4 years, mean height: 177.6±5.8 cm, and mean weight: 75.7±8.9 kg) during the stance phase of running in barefoot and shod (5-toed shoes) conditions. Paired sample t test was used for statistical analysis with SPSS19.Results: In shod running, electromyographic activity of tibialis anterior during loading response phase (P=0.001) and electromyographic activity of soleus (P=0.002) and medial gastrocnemius (P=0.004) during propulsion phase were significantly higher, compared with the barefoot running; there was no significant difference in gastrocnemius lateralis muscle between both conditions (P˃0.05).Conclusion: According to the current study findings, using 5-toed shoes could increase electromyographic activity of leg muscles during the stance phase of running.

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate excursion changes at the hip, knee, and ankle joints during gait in patients with knee osteoarthritis (KOA) of varying severity.Methods: The method of research was causal-comparative (Ex Post Facto). A Vicon motion analysis system with 4 T-Series cameras was used to measure the kinematics variables. Fifteen normal subjects without KOA and thirty patients with KOA participated in this study. According to Kellgren and Lawrence radiologic scale, the patients were divided into three groups of mild (n=10), moderate (n=10), and severe (n=10). Kinematics parameters of gait includes the range of motion (ROM) in all three planes of motion at the hip, knee, and ankle joints during gait, which were calculated by Vicon Nexus 1.8.5 software. All data were extracted by Polygon 3.5.1 and then were analyzed in SPSS20 using 1-way ANOVA test. The level of significance was set at P<0.05.Results: There were no significant differences in all kinematics parameters (joint angles) between the healthy and KOA groups (P>0.05). There were significant differences observed between groups of mild, moderate, and severe KOA with healthy one with respect to foot progress angles in the transverse plane, foot eversion/inversion excursion, knee flexion/extension excursion, knee abduction/adduction excursion, hip internal/external rotation excursion, anterior/posterior pelvic tilt, and lateral pelvic tilt (P<0.05).Conclusion: The results showed that some ROM parameters in all three planes of motion can estimate the severity of osteoarthritis. Some observed changes in kinematics parameters are due to effects of compensatory mechanisms, and some might be considered as the severity of the osteoarthritis. In addition, osteoarthritis in one joint had strong effects on other joints.