مجله پژوهش در علوم توانبخشی
سال یازدهم شماره 5 (1394)

Cerebral palsy is the most common cause of motor disability in childhood. This study was conducted to determine the effects of 8 weeks of therapeutic rebound therapy on balance, flexibility, and muscle strength of the knee in children with spastic cerebral palsy.
This semi-experimental study was performed on a total of 20 children of 6 to 12 years of age with spastic cerebral palsy studying at special schools of Isfahan, Iran. The participant were selected through convenience and purposive sampling and were randomly assigned to the control (n = 10) and experimental groups (n = 10). After a briefing session, informed consent forms were obtained from parents of all subjects. A digital dynamometer, the Berg Balance Scale (BBS), and the sit and reach test were used to assess knee flexor and extensor muscle strength, balance, and flexibility, respectively. Children performed selected training under the supervision of specialists for 8 weeks, 3 sessions per week. Data were analyzed using repeated measures ANOVA with significance level of P All parameters measured in the study, including balance, flexibility, and muscle strength of the knee, had significant interactions (P Due to the effectiveness of this training, as illustrated in this study, and being low-cost, safe, and applicable at home, these exercises can be used for a wide range of people with cerebral palsy.

Down syndrome, as a genetic disorder, is one of the major causes of mental retardation and results in delayed motor skills such as fine motor, gross motor, and visual motor control and power. Dexterity is a functional hand skill that requires coordination between gross and fine motor functions that are affected by motor problems in these children. Considering the importance of the development of gross and fine motor functions, and coordination between them to perform activities such as dexterity, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of perceptual motor exercise on dexterity in children with Down syndrome.
The present study was a clinical trial with a single-subject design. The study subjects were selected through convenience sampling. In the basic phase, participants were evaluated twice a week using the Purdue Pegboard Test. In the treatment phase, the subjects participated in perceptual motor exercise sessions 3 times a week for 60 minutes for a period of 1.5 months. To investigate the variation pattern in the basic and treatment phases, C-statistics and Bayesian analysis were used.
Bayesian analysis showed that the effect of perceptual motor exercise on dexterity, based on mean montage score, was strong in 2 participants, strong to very strong in 1 participant, moderate to strong in 1 participant, and weak in 1 participant.
The results indicate that perceptual motor exercise can be an effective intervention for improving dexterity in children with Down syndrome. Thus, studies with stronger methodology are required

In many cases, social conditions are such that reduce mobility opportunities, particularly the opportunity of successful running experiences for blind children. As a result of this issue, self-efficacy is reduced in blind children regarding running that is a necessary activity for children’s motor, physical, and psychological development. Hence, the aim of the present study was to assess the impact of facilitating running for blind children on their self-efficacy regarding running.
This quasi-experimental study was conducted on blind children from an elementary school for visually impaired children in Isfahan Province, Iran. The experimental group included 8 children (2 girls and 6 boys) with mean age of 9.5 ± 1.6 years and the control group included 10 children (3 girls and 7 boys) with mean age of 10.3 ± 1.6 years. Facilitation of running in this research was implemented using an interface belt for group running of blind individuals. The exercise program consisted of 3 45-minute sessions per week and lasted for 6 weeks. Running self-efficacy was measured before and after the intervention using the Running Self-Efficacy Questionnaire for Blind Children in the form of interviews. Data were analyzed using repeated measures ANOVA. All P values of less than or equal to 0.05 were considered significant.
The results showed significant interaction between running distance self-efficacy (F(1, 16) = 6.35) (P = 0.02) and running skill self-efficacy (F(1, 16) = 14.19) (P Significant improvement in self-efficacy of the experimental group could be linked to the strengthening of self-efficacy resources as a result of running training in facilitated conditions. Findings suggest that not only is running training possible for blind children, but it also has optimal effects on the improvement of their running self-efficacy.

New evidences indicate the effectiveness of passive muscle stretching in decreasing blood glucose level. The aim of this study was to evaluate the immediate effect of passive stretching on the level of blood glucose in patients with diabetes.
In the present study, 50 patients with diabetes were randomly allocated to two control (n = 25) and intervention (n = 25) groups. Patients in the intervention group received a 20-minute passive muscle stretching intervention, but patients in the control group did not receive any intervention. The level of blood glucose was measured before and immediately after the intervention in the two study groups.
Immediately after stretching, the blood glucose level was significantly lower in the intervention group in comparison to the control group (P The findings of this study indicated that passive muscle stretching has a significant effect in the immediate reduction of blood glucose level in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Parents of children with language impairment play an important role in improving their child's language development. Thus, training them on early intervention is essential. An effective program in this respect is Enhanced Milieu Teaching (EMT). EMT implements language learning strategies through daily parent-child interactions in order to promote expressive language skills in children with language impairment. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of EMT on expressive language skills of toddlers (24-30 months) with language delay in Isfahan, Iran.
It was a single-subject study with multiple baselines and different behaviors. The subjects were 3 toddlers with expressive language delay, and their mothers. The participants were selected through purposive sampling and received EMT within 17, 14, and 9 sessions. The outcome of the intervention was evaluated immediately after and 3 months after the treatment. Increased expressive lexicon of nouns, verbs, and word compounds was their speech goal. Visual analysis and improvement rate difference (IRD) were used to analyze data.
All 3 children showed significant progress in their expressive language skills during the intervention phase, maintaining sessions, and 3 months after the intervention compared to baseline. The IRD for expression of nouns, verbs, and word compounds were 1, 0.91, and 0.77 for child A, 0.92, 0.77, and 0.6 for child B, and 1, 1, and 0.66 for child C, respectively.
Training parents of children with expressive language delays on EMT can improve their children’s expressive language skills.

Myofascial pain is one of the most commonly experienced pains in muscles or their fascia and is often associated with the myofascial trigger point (MTP). Various methods have been employed to relieve chronic MTP pain, but none have been successful in the treatment alone. Dry needling is method that has been used to treat MTP in recent years. This minimally invasive procedure is performed through the insertion of acupuncture needles into the skeletal muscles. The present study was a review of researches which have investigated the dry needling method in the treatment of MTP and its impact on improving myofascial pain. Dry needling is a relatively new treatment method. Therefore, further researches are necessary to clarify its mechanism of action and method of use in terms of number of therapy sessions, the length of time the needles remain in the skin, and the number of needles in the muscles.

Stroke is the acute neurological damage caused by perturbation of blood flow or lack of blood supply to part of the brain tissue and nervous system resulted from cerebral artery occlusion by a blood clot or a ruptured artery. This loss causes different functional disorders such as spasticity. Botulinum toxin has been acknowledged as an effective method in reducing spasticity. The purpose of this paper was to review the literature regarding the impact, results, and application of botulinum toxin.
Articles were obtained using the keywords stroke, spasticity, and botulinum toxin from PubMed, MEDLINE, Springer, Science Direct, Elsevier, and Scopus without any time limitation.
Approximately 193 papers were retrieved from the websites using the abovementioned keywords and 36 of them fulfilled the inclusion and exclusion criteria. These articles described the application of botulinum toxin in limb spasticity reduction, motor function improvement, and gait factors promotion. These studies reported that this injection should be combined with other treatments such as physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and home-based exercises in order to cause significant improvement in the ability of the patient.
Botulinum toxin is an effective treatment used in combination with rehabilitative technics to reduce spasticity due to cerebral disorders, and in turn, improve motor function and quality of life.