Archives of Rehabilitation (Journal of Rehabilitation)
Year:2018 | Volume:19 | Issue:1|Papers Count:10

Objective Language has three components: content, form and pragmatic. The content includes the semantic components. Semantic knowledge of word relationships requires awareness of the relationships between different words in the same field and other fields. One of the main components of the semantic is the mental lexicon that many of the semantic communications, including the organization and semantic representations of words, take shape in this network. The important issue is how to organize words in mind, linking the words together and their position in the semantic network. One task that helps to organize the meanings of the words in the mental lexicon is the word definition task. The ability to define words is reliant o several aspects of linguistic and metalinguistic development, literacy, and academic achievement. The aim of this investigation was to study the definitional style of nouns in typically developing school-aged children.Materials & MethodsIn this cross-sectional and descriptive-analytical study, 150 typically developing school-aged children, selected using multistage sampling method, studying in the second to sixth grades in 1, 7 and 17 municipal districts of Tehran were included. The definition skill was assessed with word definition task. The students were asked to define the words, and their answers were scored based on content. The reliability was assessed by two independent values, and the validity was determined by the content. The results were analyzed by the SPSS V.22 software using the methods of independent- samples T test, univariate analysis of variance and Tukey’s test.ResultsThe findings showed that by increasing the age, the noun definitions were developed from functional and concrete responses into combination two and using of superordinate terms were increased. The mean score of the content in word definition was significantly increased by age (P<0.001). Also the performance of girl students was better as they earned higher scores than the boys (P=0.03).ConclusionOn increasing the age, the content quality of word definitions improved significantly. The concepts were found to be organized into hierarchies of connections. Also, definitions were developed from functional and concrete responses into combination two and formal responses. And finally, the word definition task can be used by speech and language therapists in clinical and educational environments.

Objective The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of soft and semi-rigid prefabricated insoles on the improvement of pain and quality of life in women with plantar fasciitis.Materials & MethodsThis study was a randomized clinical trial. A society with 30 women diagnosed with plantar fasciitis by physical and rehabilitation physicians, orthopedic practitioners, and other rehabilitation colleagues and referred to an orthopedic clinic of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. Absolute recognition of plantar fasciitis was performed by the researcher using Windlass mechanism test. In this study, prefabricated soft insoles made from ethyl vinyl acetate with low-density and semi-hardened insoles of ethyl vinyl acetate with high-density were used. The insoles were full-length with an internal longitudinal arch proportional to the size of the feet of each patient. The intervention was randomly divided into two treatment groups. The patients (n=30) were divided into two groups of 15, which consisted of the test and measurement steps. The first group was without intervention, soft insoles and the semi-hardened insoles. The second group was with the stage without intervention, the soft insoles and semi-hardened insoles. Before intervention, the Foot and Ankle score and quality of life questionnaire (SF-36) was completed and then orthoses intervention was performed in two stages. One questionnaire completed after two weeks using orthosis and another six weeks after using orthosis. Normal distribution of data was calculated using Shapiro Wilk test, and for the final analysis, tests of repeated measures ANOVA were used. Statistical calculations were performed using SPSS 20 software and P<0.05 was considered significant.ResultsThe results demonstrated that the difference between the mean quality of life of patients in two stages of without insoles and with soft insoles was significantly higher in comparison to the without insoles stage (P<0.05). This result is same as when without insole stage is compared with semi-rigid insole and mean difference showed that this figure was significantly higher in comparison with the without insoles stage (P<0.05). The mean quality of life is higher in the semi-hard insoles in comparison to soft insole stage and the difference between these two stages is not significant (P˃0.05). The mean of foot and ankle pain in was significantly more inpatient without insole condition in comparison to patient with a soft insole (P<0.05). The mean foot and ankle pain in without insole condition is significantly more than the time when the patient has a semi-rigid insole (P<0.05). While the comparison of the pain score with soft insoles and semi-rigid insoles indicates that the pain level of the foot and ankle is significantly higher with the semi-rigid insoles.Conclusion Based on the present findings, it can be concluded that orthosis intervention, regardless of its gender, has no significant improvement in the quality of life in patients with plantar fasciitis. Furthermore, soft insole reduces the pain of the ankle and foot in these patients.

Objective Developmental stuttering is a speech disorder characterized by repetition, prolongation, block and disruption of the smooth flow of speech. Environmental, physical, mental, and cognitive-linguistic factors were involved in the initiation and development of stuttering. There have been several theories about the development of stuttering. One of these theories suggests that stuttering is a speech motor control disorder. Based on the speech-motor skills hypothesis, speech production is a motor skill similar to any other (fine) motor skill that humans possess, and the individual motor skills develop from the lowest skill level to the highest level of motor skills. The SMS view suggests that stuttering may arise from limitations in speech motor skill in people who stutter are located more toward the lower end of a presumed normal speech motor skill continuum. Therefore, people who stutter have difficulty learning speech motor skills and have a limited ability to benefit from speech motor practice compared to normal individuals. Many of the stuttering treatment programs teach the new pattern of speech, and the success of these treatment programs depends on the learning of the new speech patterns. So if people who stutter have limited speech motor skills, also will have little success in this treatment programs. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate motor speech sequence learning in adults who stutter.Materials & Methods This was a descriptive-analytical study with participants as 15 adults who stutter and 15 adults who do not stutter. All subjects were matched for age, sex and educational level. The average age was 28.73 for the adults who stutter was 28.4 for the normal people. All of the participants had history of neurological and motor speech disorders. The convenience sampling method was used for this study. The stuttering severity of people who stutter was assessed with Wingate scale and was in moderate range. Participants were asked to repeat an eight syllable non word sequence 30 times during three practice sessions. Recorded samples were analyzed with PRAAT software, and the variables used to measure performance gains included accuracy, response preparation time and sequence duration. The data were statistically analyzed by SPSS software (version 23).ResultsBased on the findings of the present study, PWS showed improvement in accuracy from day 1 to day 3 (P<0.05), but there was no difference between the two groups in this variable (P>0.05). Also, the reaction time of the PWS improved from day 1 to day 3 (P<0.05), but there was no difference between the two groups (P>0.05). The sequence duration of the PWS improved from day 1 to day 3 (P<0.05) and there was a significant difference between the two groups (P<0.05). According to the results of this study, PWS showed slower sequence duration compare to PNS.ConclusionThe results of this study showed that PWS show improvement in accuracy, reaction time and sequence duration variables from day 1 to day 3. Also, PWS show more substantial number of errors compared to PNS, but this difference was not significant between the two groups. Similar results were obtained for the reaction time. Results of this study demonstrated that PWS show slower sequence duration compared to PNS. Some studies suggested that this could be because people who stutter use a control strategy to reduce the number of errors, although many studies suggested that this may indicate motor learning. According to speech motor skills hypothesis, it can be concluded that people who stutter have limitations in motor speech learning abilities. The findings of the present study could have clinical implication for the treatment of stuttering.

Objective Stroke is one of the most important causes of disability worldwide. Fear of falling is one of the consequences of stroke that could decrease the quality of life. It presents in the patients who have fallen as well as in patients had not experienced a fall. Fear of falling is essential because of its impact on physical and mental health and even the quality of life. In addition to adverse effects of fear of falling on the patient, it may have a significant impact on the family quality of life. There are few published studies about the fear of falling after stroke, but given its significant implications for quality of life in patients, more studies are needed to improve the knowledge about the correlation of fear of falling and quality of life. The findings could help identify people at risk and also develop the prevention strategy in the management of fear of falling and quality of life. Previous studies assessed the acute and subacute patients with stroke and the authors could not find any research conducted with chronic subjects. Also, they measured the correlation between fear of falling and personal characteristics of participants and there is lack of evidence about the correlation between fear of falling with the rate of falling, postural control and SF-36. The objective of the current study was to examine the relationships between the fear of falling and rate of falling, balance, and quality of life in patients with chronic stroke.Materials & Methods The subjects (n=44, 20 males and 24 females) were selected based on the convenience sampling method from the patients who referred rehabilitation clinics. The inclusion criteria were individuals within at least six months after the stroke, unilateral signs, ability to walk independently and the exclusion criteria were metabolic or rheumatologic disease, lower extremity deformities, cognitive impairments and visual impairments. The participants completed a demographic form consisting of age, gender, height, weight, comorbidities, education, and the duration of the stroke, affected side, dominant side and rate of falls in last year. The fear of the falling and quality of life was measured using Fall Efficacy Scale- International and SF-36, respectively. Functional reach test and timed up and go were conducted for balance assessing. The Spearman' s correlation was used to find whether there are significant relationships between fear of falling and other variables.ResultsThe Pearson analysis showed correlation between Fall Efficacy Scale- International and timed up and go (P<0.001) and Functional reach test (P=0.03) scores and some subscales of SF-36 including physical functioning (P<0.001), role limitations due to physical health (P<0.001) and physical component (P<0.001).However, this association was not observed with the rate of falling (P=0.015), pain (P=0.42), general health (P=0.12), energy (P=0.09), social function (P=0.30) and role limitations due to emotional problems (P=0.24) and metal component (P=0.41).Conclusion The findings of the present study demonstrated the correlation between balance, physical dimensions of quality of life and fear of falling in patients with stroke; however, the rate of falling has no association with fear of falling.

Objective Ageing is associated with some physiologic and functional declines that can increase disability, frailty, and falls in the elderly, so balance is used as a factor in determining the level of independence of the elderly. On the other hand, the mean velocity is considered as the most reliable indicator of the center of pressure to assess the balance and reduce the risk of falling. Because of significant effects of balance and muscle strength in the health of the more elderly population, the purpose this study was to investigate the effects of a nine- weeks training program on the center of pressure indicators with open and closed eyes condition in the elderly male.Materials & MethodsIn this study, 27 elderly subjects with general health were participated voluntarily in this study. These were randomly divided into two training groups (n=15, mean age=61.5±08.59 years, weight=77.10±07.23 kg, height=167.6±6.4 cm) and control (n=12, mean age=62.6±08.44 years, weight=72.07±08.06 kg, height=167.9±01.08 cm). To assess the balance subjects were placed in a steady state on the foot scan at the beginning of the work, and the mean velocity of the center of pressure was first recorded in a static state with open eyes and then closed eyes. The kinetic data of the foot scan (mean velocity of the center of pressure) was calculated by RS-scan software, and the mean of the data was extracted from Excel software and evaluated. The training group then performed a nine-week program of lower limb muscle resistance training (on seven lower limb muscle groups including adductor and abductor of femurs, flexors, and extensor of femurs, flexors and extensor of knee, and plantar flexor of ankle) for 1.5 hour (15 minutes warm up, 1 hour of the main exercise, 15 minutes of cool down) and three sessions per week. During this period, the control group was requested to perform its daily activities. After completing the resistance training program, post-test was performed. Data were analyzed using independent and dependent T-analysis at a significant level (P≤0.05).ResultsLower limb muscle resistance training for nine weeks yielded a significant improvement in mean velocity of COP (P=0.005, t=3.07) and static balance with open eyes (P=0.004, t=3.46). In the training group, it has been pre-tested; however, no statistically significant effect was observed in static balance with closed eyes (P=0.15, t=1.49). Resistance training showed a significant difference between the control and the training group in the mean overall velocity of the center of pressure (P=0.04, t=2.43) and static balance with open eyes (P=0.01, t=2.39) as determined by independent t-test. This difference was not significant between two groups in static balance with closed eyes (P=0.22, t=1.25).ConclusionThe lower extremity muscle resistance training improves the center of pressure, static balance and reduces the fall risk. It is suggested that planning sufficient physical activities and training among all age groups is necessary. Appropriate resistance training program can prevent balance disorders and falling among the elderly population.

Objective The prevalence of disability is growing with the development of science and industrialization of the society. Disability is a psychological, biological phenomenon and impairment in any of these areas affect a person's health. Similar to other people in the community, these people need to use similar services. One of the critical issues for these people is the use of rehabilitation services. Rehabilitation services can be effective in improving the physical and mental status of people with disabilities. In some developing countries, there are no rehabilitation services, and only some services are provided in institutions and few needy people can use it. Community-Based Rehabilitation (CBR) encompasses a large part of the needs of people with disabilities including activities of daily living, social activities, and empowerment. CBR provide the essential rehabilitation services for the people living in remote and impoverished areas. The CBR program provides health and quality of life services which can increase individual’s ability and prevent factors such as depression and dependence due to disability. Considering that the evaluation of each plan and program is in the tasks and responsibilities of the management and that the CBR program is running since 2007 in the city of Bostanabad; however, its effectiveness has not been studied. Literature is scarce on the effectiveness of CBR programs among the two covered and non-covered groups. It is necessary to examine the effectiveness of CBR programs in improving the mental health status of the persons with disabilities. The aim of this study was to compare general health and depression of the people covered by the CBR program with non-covered.Materials & MethodsThis was a cross-sectional study. Physical movements impaired people qualified for the inclusion in the villages covered by CBR (n=48) in Bostanabad, and not under the CBR service (n=45, control group) in other villages were enrolled for this study. All participants in this study completed three questionnaires, including demographic, General Health Questionnaire (GHQ28) and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II). Data were analyzed using t-test independent for comparative groups.Resultsaccording to the results, 57% of participants were male, and 51.6% had a mild disability. The results do not demonstrate a significant difference in General Health between the two groups (P=0.870). GHQ28 subscales demonstrated a significant difference in depression (P=0.001) and social impairment (P=0.001) between two groups. There was no significant difference in the subscales of physical symptoms (P<102.9) and the symptoms of anxiety and sleep disorders (P<0.331). Participants in the CBR program demonstrated a lower level of depression compared with the non-covered group.Conclusion Implementing the CBR programs in rural and remote areas can be effective in reducing the depression of people with physical disabilities. These programs can create meaningful change and a more comprehensive framework for people with physical disabilities and can have positive effects on the general health. Further studies are required to collect more data about the general health and the quality of life of these groups of patients.

Objective Musculoskeletal disorders are a wide range of symptoms including pain and disability that are related to workspace and devices. Repeated activity, adopting fixed and inappropriate postures for a long time and activities including powerful movements of extremities are factors associated with WRMSDs. It seems professional drivers suffer from shoulder and upper extremities symptoms because of repetitive and long working hours with steering wheel and gear. The aim of this study was to investigate and compare the shoulder, arm, and hand disability among bus and taxi drivers.Materials & Methods This research was a cross-sectional, descriptive analytic study. In this study, the prevalence of upper limb musculoskeletal disorders in the urban bus and taxi drivers was investigated and compared. Subjects were included 300 professional drivers aged 25-55 years (mean±SD=41.24±8.28 for bus drivers and 41.22±8.09 for taxi drivers) who were divided into two groups (150 bus drivers and 150 taxi drivers). The method of sampling was simple. The inclusion criteria were: two years’ experience in professional driving and driving for eight hours or two four-hours a day for four days a week. Shoulder, arm, and hand disability were assessed based on DASH and a demographic questionnaire. DASH questionnaire asks about individual’s symptoms (such as pain severity during sleep or activity, weakness, and stiffness) as well as their ability to perform certain activities (individuals’ problem in daily activities and also social and occupational activities). Statistical analysis was performed by SPSS 21, t-test, Chi-square, and Spearman correlation tests.Results According to statistical findings, 33.66% of taxi drivers and 33.67% of bus drivers had musculoskeletal disorders of the shoulder, arm, and hand. In bus drivers, 46.66%, 48.66% and 4.66% and in taxi drivers 47.33%, 45.33%, 6.66% had no, light, and moderate problem in daily activities, respectively and just 0.66% of taxi drivers had severe problems in these activities. In bus drivers, 32.66%, 64% and 3.33% and in taxi drivers 34.66%, 60.66% and 4.66% had no, light, and moderate symptoms, respectively. In bus drivers, 36%, 40.66%, 18%, 5.33% and in taxi drivers 36%, 41.33%, 18%, 4% had no, light, moderate and severe problems in occupational and social activities, respectively and just 0.66% of taxi drivers were unable to perform these activities. There was a correlation between work hours per week (r=0.24, P=0.003) hours of sleep per day and night (r=0.24, P=0.003) and age (r=0.16, P=0.041) with musculoskeletal disorders in bus drivers. Also, there was a correlation between hours of sleep per day and night and musculoskeletal disorders in taxi drivers (r=0.19, P=0.016). There was no significant difference between disability, symptoms, and function of taxi and bus drivers (P=0.97) ConclusionThis study demonstrated increasing the sleep hours and decreasing the work hours per day and week can reduce the possibility of shoulder, arm, and hand symptoms.

Objective Mathematical learning disorder is a type of neurodevelopmental disorder detected by three types of working memory deficits, procedural and visual-spatial problems. The limited capacity of attention and a lot of environmental stimuli have encountered children with learning disorders with the problems. Since attention is one of the most important cognitive functions in the development of mathematics learning, it is important to recognize and evaluate a variety of attention deficits in this group of disorders. Therefore, considering to the three-factor model of Manly, based on sustained attention, selective attention, and control attention, in this study difference of patterns of attention in children with mathematical learning disorder using "Test of Everyday Attention for Children" was investigated.Materials & MethodsThe present study was a descriptive-analytic study in a community of students aged 7-11 years with a learning disorder in Tehran, Iran. The selection was based on the early diagnosis of learning disorder with psychiatric and the standard intelligence scores of the Wechsler test in the academic records. Accordingly, 17 male and female students aged 7-11 years with the mathematical disorder were selected from five public learning centers in Tehran and 17 normal children were matched in age and gender. Initially, the demographic information questionnaire was completed by families. Then A version of "Test of everyday attention for children" was taken by the researcher during the standard period in the calming room. Accordingly, two groups with a mathematical learning disorder and normal peers were compared in three domains of sustained attention, selective, control in "Test of Everyday Attention for Children." ResultsThe results of the Shapiro-Wilk test indicated that the distribution of values of all variables, except "sky search dual task" (sustained attention) and the speed of "creatures counting" (control attention), have a normal distribution in the learning disorder group (P>0.05). While the values of variables such as "Score" (sustained attention), "Opposite worlds", accuracy of "creatures counting" (control attention), and "walk don’t walk" (sustained attention) do not follow a normal distribution in the control group (P<0.05).In sustained attention and control attention domains, the results of the nonparametric tests indicated that have a significant difference in two groups in the subtests of "Score", "walk don’t walk", "sky search dual task", "creatures counting" and "opposite worlds." Homogeneity of variances with the Leven test, reports that equality of variances. Accordingly, the results of independent t-test indicated that children with mathematical learning disorder were worse than the control group in the "Code Transition" and "Score Dual Task" subtests. In the domain of selective attention, the results of independent t-test indicated that significant difference in the subtests of "map mission" and the speed and accuracy of "sky search" in the two groups. Therefore, all domains of sustained and control attention (P<0.001) and selective attention (P<0.05) were significantly different in the two groups.ConclusionThe results demonstrate that children with mathematical learning disorders were significantly worse than their normal peers in all three domains. Findings indicated that "Test of Everyday Attention for Children" has the potential to evaluate the attention deficits in mathematical learning disorder as compared with normal peers. Therefore, it can be an appropriate tool for the evaluation in this group.