Physical Treatments: Specific Physical Therapy Journal
Year:2017 | Volume:7 | Issue:1|Papers Count:7

Purpose: Because walking is the main activity of humans for movement, many research studies have been conducted to understand its details. One of the main issues in this regard is gait symmetry and the effect of various factors on it. Accordingly, the present study aimed to review the selected factors affecting gait symmetry.Methods: A literature review was performed on articles published from 2000 to 2016 using Science Direct, Google scholar, PubMed, Ovid Medline, Scopus and Medline databases. The search keywords were “gait asymmetry”, “bilateral coordination”, “bilateral asymmetry”, “limb dominance”, “laterality”, “limb preference” and “performance asymmetry.” Results: A total of 60 scientific articles were selected according to the research criteria by searching the relevant articles published from 2000 to 2016 in reliable scientific databases.Conclusion: A review of the previous studies shows that walking in normal people is asymmetric in terms of the lower limb function. Also, limb disorder due to the illness and or disorder creates gait asymmetry. Therefore, regaining perfect symmetry or decreasing gait asymmetry by exercise and intervention in such individuals is considered a method to examine the success of rehabilitation process. However, as factors like movement speed and age can affect gait asymmetry, they should be controlled during the examination of gait asymmetry. Moreover, this information could be useful for gait assessment, clinical prescriptions for patients with abnormalities, designing orthosis and prosthesis, as well as improving the performance of athletes.

Purpose: Osteoarthritis is one the most common chronic diseases of the joints that mostly affects knee joint. Low power laser is one the minimally invasive treatments of osteoarthritis.However, the efficacy of this therapy is still controversial. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of low power laser therapy in reducing pain and increasing knee range of motion compared to placebo laser.Methods: This study was a double-blind clinical trial performed at a day clinic in Tehran, Iran, from March 2016 to February 2017. Treatment for both groups comprised 10 sessions, 5 times a week. In this study, low power laser with a wavelength of 810 nm and a power of 100 mW at 8 points was applied around the knee during two weeks of treatment. At the same time, laser was applied in the placebo group, but the power output was zero. Data analyses were performed by repeated measures ANOVA test using SPSS version 20.Results: The mean pain score at rest (P=0.691), as well as at activity (P=0.751) were not significantly different between the two groups. The range of motion of knee flexion (P=0.435), and the range of motion of knee extension (P=0.885) showed no significant difference between two groups. Both interventions over time lead to a significant change in pain at rest and at activity and also increase in the range of motion in knee flexion and extension (P<0.05).Conclusion: Both placebo treatment with routine physiotherapy and active laser therapy with routine physiotherapy decreased knee pain and increased knee range of motion in patients affected with osteoarthritis and there was no significant difference between two therapies.

Purpose: To determine whether Myofascial Release (MFR) technique in upper cervical region is more effective than using conventional exercises to improve cervical muscle strength in patients with cervicogenic headache. Design: Randomized Controlled Trial. Setting: An outpatient physical therapy clinic, University of social welfare and rehabilitation science, Iran.Methods: We conducted a prospective, randomized controlled, and single blinded trial on 34 patients with cervicogenic headache, aged 15-75 years, which assigned randomly to exercise group (n=17, mean (SD) age=38 (11.31) years) and suboccipital myofascial release group (n=17, mean (SD) age=38.88 (9.38) years). Ten treatment sessions, 6 times a week for each group were applied. Outcome measures were isometric cervical muscle strength (flexors, extensors, right and left rotators and lateral flexors) measured by force gauge.Results: Statistical analysis (paired t test) revealed a significant improvement in cervical muscle strength after treatment in the MFR and exercise groups compared with before treatment (P<0.05). Based on ANCOVA results, pretest scores as controlling factor, no significant difference was found between two groups after 10 treatment sessions with regard to all variables (P>0.05) except cervical flexors strength (P=0.021) and cervical left rotators strength (P=0.031).Conclusion: Pain and myofascial stiffness can be an impediment for full muscle interference in contraction and application of suboccipital MFR and common exercises can be effective techniques in restoring cervical muscle strength, especially in cervical rotatory movements.

Purpose: Reaction time is a good indicator of coordination between sensory motion and individual performance. It is the time interval from perceiving sudden stimulus until the reaction to that stimulus. One of the factors affecting reaction time is fatigue. Considering the different characteristics of fatigue in men and women, this study aimed to compare the effect of fatigue on the choice reaction time between men and women.Methods: The present study has quasi-experimental design with pretest and posttest. A total of 16 healthy men and 16 healthy women within the age range of 18 to 35 years participated in this study. For measuring the reaction time and fatigue, 4-choice reaction time test and Borg Scale were used, respectively. To induce muscle fatigue, the stretch-shortening cycle protocol, which involves consecutive jumps in repetitive short and ascending cycles were used. When the participants’ attempts score to perform the protocol reached 15 or more, execution of the protocol was terminated and the test of the choice reaction time was administered using visual stimulus.Reaction time was recorded in both modes before and after the fatigue. Descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation), and inferential statistics (correlated t test and covariance analysis) were used to analyze the obtained data. Statistical analyses were performed with SPSS 19.Results: There was no significant difference between the choice reaction time of men and women before and after fatigue (P>0.05). Although, after fatigue, the mean score of the participants’ reaction time increased in both men and women groups, this difference was not statistically significant.Conclusion: Fatigue had no significant impact on the choice reaction time of non-athlete healthy men and women. And despite different fatigue characteristics in men and women, no difference was observed in the choice reaction time between two groups. It seems that the exhaustion perceived by the participants was the result of peripheral fatigue, not central fatigue.

Purpose: Long term effects of poliomyelitis are known in many countries. Despite no definite label for these signs and symptoms, there is a remarkable similarity among patients with regard to description of the problems and complications of the disease. In this study, we compared the prevalence of symptoms of Post-Polio Syndrome (PPS) in athlete and non-athlete poliomyelitis survivors.Methods: This is a causal-comparative study. The statistical population consisted of all people who had polio in Kerman Province. Of them, 28 people (9 males and 19 females) with the mean (SD) age of 36.61 (8.23) years were purposefully selected as the study samples and were grouped in athlete and non-athlete samples. The athlete group comprised 15 people with an mean (SD) age of 34.62 (9.42) years who were engaged in physical activities, including swimming, table tennis and sitting volleyball, 3 times a week (on average) during the last year. The non-athlete group also consisted of 15 people with an mean (SD) age of 6.91 (38.33) years who didn’t do any regular physical activity during this time. With respect to the major indexes of PPS, the symptoms of this syndrome were examined using quality of life questionnaire (SF-36), Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS), and McGill pain questionnaire to evaluate mental and physical function, fatigue and muscular pain, respectively in the study groups.The obtained data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, the Pearson correlation coefficient and Independent t test with SPSS V-22. The significance level was set at P≤.05.Results: The results indicate a high prevalence rate of PPS syndrome including main symptoms of pain and fatigue (57.53%). Results also support a significant difference between the physical health of athlete and non-athlete groups (P=0.02), while no significant difference was observed between these two groups with respect to their mental health status. Also, there was a significant difference between the athlete and non-athlete people in terms of the fatigue (P=0.04) and pain intensity (P=0.04).Moreover, there was a significant relationship between the age at the first attack of polio and fatigue (r=0.59) and physical health (r=0.69), while there was no significant relationship between the age at the first attack of the disease and pain (r=0.24) and mental health (r=-0.09).Conclusion: Regular physical activity can help patients with a history of polio achieve higher level of health and lower level of functional impairments. Improving the physical condition of these patients through training programs can play an important role in improving their quality of life.

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the symmetry of the isometric strength of the shoulder and scapulothoracic muscles in volleyball and futsal athletes.Methods: In this case-control study, the strength of the scapulothoracic muscles and rotation of the shoulders in 20 adult volleyball athletes and 20 futsal adult athletes, who were randomly selected from sports clubs around Tehran, were measured using a manual dynamometer. The obtained data between the different groups and within the individual groups were compared by Independent and paired t tests, respectively.Results: The isometric strength of the external rotator muscles, internal rotator muscles, upper trapezius and serratus anterior of the dominant side of volleyball and futsal athletes were different (P<0.05). The isometric strength of the same muscles in the dominant side of the volleyball athletes was more than the non-dominant side (P<0.05). However, the isometric strength of the middle trapezius and rhomboid muscles were less. The ratio of agonist to antagonist, in all muscle groups between two groups, in the dominant side as well as between the dominant and non-dominant side, were different in volleyball athletes.Conclusion: In volleyball athletes, disturbances in the strength ratio of the agonist and antagonist muscles of the scapula, and weaknesses in these muscles, impair the dynamic stability of the scapula and shoulder joints and disturbances in the rhythm of the scapulohumeral muscles. It is recommended that during training, assessment and treatment of these athletes strengthening these muscles be considered.

Purpose: Dry needling has been introduced as an effective method to treat the upper trapezius myofascial pain. Muscle damage after receiving the local twitch response can increase the risk of tissue fibrosis in some cases. This study aimed to investigate how the clinical parameters change after dry needling without local twitch response.Methods: This is a quasi-experimental study, with pretest and posttest. A total of 26 patients suffering from neck pain with an active trigger point in their upper trapezius muscles were recurited via the convenience sampling methods. In all patients, the needle was moved 15 times in the trigger point of the trapezius muscle and then remained in place for 5 minutes. Participants were assigned in the dry needling with local twitch response (experimental group) when a local twitch response was evoked from muscle and without receiving local twitch response or deqi (control group) when a local twitch response was not seen. Then, they were treated with one session of dry needling. Before the intervention and 24 hours after the treatment, pain, pain pressure threshold, and neck disability index were evaluated. The obtained data were analyzed by multivariate ANCOVA using SPSS version 20.Results: After the treatment, no significant changes were seen in the experimental group compared to the control group (P>0.05) regarding the pain, the pain pressure threshold, and neck disability index.Conclusion: Dry needling along with receiving local twitch response does not have a superiority over the dry needling without receiving the local twitch response while the treatment aimed to receive the immediate effects.