Objective: Radial shock wave therapy (RSWT) has increasingly been utilized in the treatment of spasticity recently. The purpose of the current study is to assess the effectiveness of RSWT in the ...treatment of ankle plantar flexor muscles spasticity of stroke patients by pedobarography and clinical evaluation.
Materials and Methods: A total of 23 stroke patients were enrolled into the study. Patients received an initial sham treatment of RSWT, followed by three separate interventional sessions received one week apart. Treatment success was assessed using the Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS), ankle passive range of motion (pROM) measurement and pedobarography.
Results and Discussion: No significant change was observed in clinical and pedobarographic values following sham RSWT. In the intervention group, however, MAS decreased from3.34±0.7 to 2.39±0.89 after a single RSWT session and to 2.04±0.92 first week and to 2.52±0.89 fourth week after three RSWT sessions. As a result of the study, heel peak pressure and total plantar contact area were improved. In particular, three RSWT sessions were more effective than single RSWT session.
Conclusions: We observed a significant improvement in plantar flexor spasticity in stroke patients after both a single and three RSWT sessions and this improvement persisted during the four-week study period.
Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science Vol.20(3) 2021 p.586-593
ABSTRACT
Introduction: Changes of electrophysiogical parameters with regard to cold have been studied intensively but not the morphology of nerves. We explored the effects of cold exposure on median ...nerve morphology. Methods: Cross‐sectional area (CSA) and depth of the right median nerve were assessed at the carpal tunnel and mid‐forearm levels before and after 15 min ice‐pack application in 34 healthy volunteers. Results: After cooling, mean CSA measurements increased at the carpal tunnel and mid‐forearm levels (from 8.00 to 8.85 and 6.64 to 7.55, respectively, P < 0.05); however, the depth values were similar. Conclusions: These preliminary results revealed that cold exposure may cause acute nerve swelling. Further studies with larger samples will be necessary to confirm our findings, to correlate them with electrophysiological data, and to explore when/how the nerve edema resolves. Muscle Nerve 49:502–505, 2014
The purpose of this study was to determine the accuracy of detecting knee effusion with clinical examination and to evaluate whether the amount of effusion, patient obesity, and the clinicians' ...experience affect the clinicians' decisions in patients with knee osteoarthritis. Patients presenting with knee pain were examined by two residents with different levels of experience and underwent ultrasonographic examination, including measurement of effusion in the medial, mid, and lateral aspects of the suprapatellar bursa. One hundred seventy-two knees of 86 patients were examined. Of the knees investigated, 127 (73.8 %) had effusion. The consistency between ultrasonographic and resident examination were weak (
κ
= 0.193,
p
= 0.007 and
κ
= 0.349,
p
< 0.001), although the more experienced senior resident had a stronger agreement. The overall inter-rater agreement between the two residents was low (
κ
= 0.254). The senior resident had a significantly higher accuracy ratio (
p
= 0.036). In the knees without effusion, the two examiners had no agreement (
κ
= −0.028,
p
= 0.856); however, the ratios of the true decisions were similar (
p
= 1.0). The accuracy of the less experienced resident's decisions was affected by effusion depth (
p
= 0.005). Clinicians' decisions and their accuracy in detecting knee effusion during clinical examination were different, especially in the absence of effusion. The consistency between ultrasonography and residents was low. The accuracy of clinical examination was affected by effusion depth and experience, but not by patient obesity.
Objective: The outbreak of Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) spread rapidly all over the worldwide and caused a pandemic. There are few studies in the literature that have investigated ...musculoskeletal symptoms of the disease, other than pulmonary symptoms. This study aimed to evaluate chronic musculoskeletal symptoms, quality of life, physical activity, and fatigue severity scores of patients with COVID-19 infection. Methods: A total of 235 patients who presented at our clinic between April and June 2021, were separated into two groups according to COVID-19 positivity (Group 1, n=75) and negativity (Group 2, n=160). The groups were compared with respect to demographic data, musculoskeletal pain and location, Visual Analogue Scale scores, Short Form-36 (SF-36) quality of life scores, physical activity scores, and fatigue severity scores. Results: Back pain, shoulder pain and the pain parameter of the SF-36 quality-of-life scale were significantly higher in the chronic period of COVID-19 patients (Group 1). A significant decrease was determined in the physical activity of COVID-19 patients (Group 1) evaluated with international physical activity scores, and the fatigue severity scores were significantly higher in these patients. Conclusion: Fatigue decreased activity, diminished quality of life, and especially back pain can be observed in the chronic period of patients with COVID-19. These effects of COVID-19 should be considered during musculoskeletal system examinations. Keywords: COVID-19, musculoskeletal symptoms, quality of life, fatigue Amac: Koronavirus hastaligi-2019 (COVID-19) hizlica yayilarak tum dunyayi etkiledi ve sonucta pandemi olarak ilan edildi. Literaturde; siklikla hastaligin bilinen solunum yollari semptomlari haricinde ozellikle kas iskelet sistemi semptomlarini arastiran cok az calisma vardir. Calismamizin amaci; COVID-19 geciren hastalarin kronik kas-iskelet sistemi semptomlarini, yasam kalitesi, fiziksel aktivite ve yorgunluk duzeylerini tespit etmektir. Yontem: Nisan-Haziran 2021 tarihleri arasinda poliklinigimize basvuran 235 hasta calismaya alindi. Hastalar; COVID-19 enfeksiyonu gecirenler Grup 1 (n=75), gecirmeyenler Grup 2 (n=160) olmak uzere iki gruba ayrildi. Hastalarin demografik verileri, kas iskelet sistemi agrisinin siddeti ve yeri, Vizuel Analog Skala skorlari, Kisa Form-36 (SF-36) yasam kalitesi olcegi skorlari, fiziksel aktivite skorlari ve yorgunluk siddet olcegi skorlari kiyaslandi. Bulgular: COVID-19 gecirmis (Grup 1) hastalarin kronik donemde sirt ve omuz agrilari ile SF-36 hayat kalitesi olceginde agri parametresi istatistiksel olarak COVID-19 gecirmeyen hastalara (Grup 2) gore daha anlamli bulundu. Ayrica uygulanan fiziksel aktivite ve yorgun siddeti olceklerinde COVID-19 geciren hastalarda (Grup 1) fiziksel aktivitenin anlamli derece azaldigini ve bu hastalarin anlamli derecede daha yorgun olduklarini tespit edildi. Sonuc: COVID-19 geciren hastalarda kronik donemde devam eden yorgunluk, aktivite ve yasam kalitesinde azalma ve ozellikle sirt agrisi izlenebilir. Kas iskelet sistemi muayenesinde COVID-19 hastaliginin bu etkisi goz onunde bulundurulmalidir. Anahtar Kelimeler: COVID-19, kas-iskelet sistemi, yasam kalitesi, yorgunluk
This study aims to investigate the association of two common HTR2A gene polymorphisms, rs6313 (102 T/C) and rs6311 (1438 A/G), with chronic low back pain (CLBP) and the pain threshold, disability, ...and sex differences.
A total of 121 patients (40 males, 81 females; mean age 36.8±9.9 years; range 18 to 50 years) having CLBP and 91 healthy controls (26 males, 65 females; mean age 34.1±10.2 years; range 18 to 55 years) were included. Pressure pain thresholds (PPTs) of all participants were examined with manual algometer in certain sites of their body.
The PPTs were all decreased in CLBP patients (p<0.05). Although PPTs were lower in healthy female subjects, there was no sex difference regarding PPTs in CLBP patients (p>0.05). rs6311 polymorphism of HTR2A gene was associated with CLBP (p<0.05). In rs6313 polymorphism, at least one copy of T carriers and in rs6311 polymorphism, at least one copy of G carriers showed higher disability.
The PPT decreases in CLBP patients similar to other chronic pain conditions without any sex difference. Although rs6311 single nucleotide polymorphism of HTR2A gene was associated with CLBP and rs6313 polymorphism was not, rs6311 might have a protective effect on disability of these patients.
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