Physical Treatments Journal
Volume:14 Issue: 1, Winter 2024

Shoulder arthroplasty, a dependable and successful method to relieve pain and restore joint mobility, is increasingly chosen by a large number of individuals. The recent rise in interest in a return to sport (RTS) after shoulder arthroplasty prompts a comprehensive review of RTS outcomes in this context.

This systematic review was conducted to extensively examine RTS elements following shoulder arthroplasty. The review included searches from various databases, including Web of Science, PEDRO, Google Scholar, PubMed, ScienceDirect, SCOPUS, and CINAHL, spanning from January 2000 to May 2023. Additionally, a thorough manual search was undertaken, including a comprehensive review of article sources.

Among 18 articles, we found significant RTS rates (>80%), level (high/excellent), time to RTS (5.3 months to 9.1 months), and a high number of RTS patients in swimming after shoulder arthroplasty. After shoulder arthroplasty, patients returned to some sports activities, such as swimming, tennis, golf, leg sports, skiing, and so on.

This systematic review showed significantly high RTS rates, levels, and number of patients among different arthroplasty types, such as total shoulder arthroplasty (TSA) and reversed total shoulder arthroplasty (RTSA). The most prevalent sport was swimming among patients. We hope this comprehensive systematic review provides insight into coaches and trainers to help patients increase their quality of life and have successful RTS after shoulder arthroplasty.

This study aims to conduct a systematic review of injury prevention programs on muscle flexibility in children and adolescents.

Relevant articles were searched in two electronic databases, PubMed and Scopus. An electronic search was conducted on December 1, 2022, without applying any year constraints. Studies that investigated the effect of injury prevention programs on muscle flexibility in subjects under 17 years of age were included. The study method was evaluated using the PEDro scale. 

A total of 3563 studies were initially retrieved from databases, and data from 5 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were used in this systematic review. Injury prevention programs (three out of five articles) can improve the muscle flexibility of children and adolescents (before and after the intervention).

Injury prevention programs can improve the muscle flexibility of children and adolescents in the intervention group (before and after the intervention); although no improvement was observed in the control group. Therefore, factors, such as duration, frequency and intensity of the program, gender, activity level, type of sport, and sample size are decisive in muscle flexibility.

This study aims to perform a bibliometric analysis centered on recent advancements in injury prevention for female athletes.

The study employed Excel, VOSviewer, and the bibliometric R-package tools to analyze and evaluate relevant records obtained from the Web of Science (WOS) database, using a reliable search methodology.

From the WOS database, a collection of 10 560 scientific records was acquired using specific keywords, covering the period between 2010 and 2023. These records were subjected to content analysis, revealing the prevalent themes in this research area. Noteworthy topics included risk, risk factors, prevention, women, exercise, physical activity, epidemiology, injuries, performance, injury, strength, and health. The investigation also indicated that the journals “American journal of sports medicine” and “journal of athletic training” demonstrated the highest level of activity in this field. Regarding research productivity, developed countries, such as the United States and Canada stood out as the most prolific contributors. Moreover, the study recognized Gregory D Myer as the most active author in this area.

The convergence of injury prevention in female athletes continues to be a subject of significant research attention. This study highlights that the bulk of the literature on this subject originates from researchers in developed countries. However, it is crucial to recognize that a substantial segment of the global population, particularly in developing nations, lacks sufficient representation in research related to early life psychology concerning exercise and physical activity.

Pronation in the foot is a normal rolling movement occurring at the subtalar joint during running. The human foot, as the primary interface with our environment, presents morphological and postural changes following prolonged running. This study aims to identify running mechanics while training on the sand in runners with pronated feet. 

Thirty runners with pronated feet were in the control group, and 30 runners with pronated feet were in the experimental group. An experimental group conducted an 8-week corrective exercise program, while a control group did not exercise. A force plate was included to collect ground reaction forces in the walkway. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) with repeated measures test was conducted to identify the presence of an interaction between the within-and between-subject factors on the dependent variables. The significance level was set at P<0.05.

The experimental group displayed lower first peak vertical ground reaction force (P=0.026), peak mediolateral ground reaction force (P=0.000), anterior-posterior impulse (P=0.032), loading rate (P=0.004) and a larger last peak vertical ground reaction force (P=0.000) during training on the sand. Irrespective of the group under consideration, a lower first peak mediolateral ground reaction force (P=0.000), peak positive free moment amplitude (P=0.001), and a larger last peak mediolateral ground reaction force (P=0.003) observed in the post-test compared to the pre-test. 

We suggest that training on sand may be a suitable intervention to change running mechanics in male runners with pronated feet.

Shin splints are a common injury in the world of sports, causing pain along the inner edge of the tibial and impacting an athlete’s performance and well-being. The study aims to examine how kinesio taping application affects pain, postural control, and plantar pressure parameters in athletes with shin splints.

A placebo-controlled trial design was used, with 32 athletes with shin splints randomly assigned to either the kinesio taping group (KT=16) or the placebo group (PC=16). The KT group received kinesio tape with 75% tension applied to the affected shin, while the PC group received the same application without tension. Before and after the taping intervention, pain levels, postural control, and plantar pressure parameters were evaluated.

Results indicated that the KT group experienced a significant pain reduction and improved postural control and plantar pressure parameters compared to the PC group. 

These results suggest that kinesio tape can relieve pain in the short term and enhance postural control and plantar pressure distribution in athletes with shin splints. Further research is necessary to explore the long-term effects and underlying mechanisms.

Intensive military training courses are among the programs and specialties of the police force. Musculoskeletal disorders in the military are one of the vital factors that keep people away from courses and shorten their service life. This research aims to measure the prevalence of musculoskeletal injuries in newly arrived students in the pre-service training course of the police force using the Oslo Sports Trauma Research Center (OSTRC) questionnaire.

For this purpose, 124 soldiers with a mean age of 20.7 years, a mean height of 178.5 cm, a mean weight of 72.9 kg, and a mean activity per week for 3 hours and 19 minutes in one of the training barracks affiliated to the Tehran Police Force and were selected and completed the OSTRC questionnaire every month for 6 months. The research design of this study is epidemiology and the results are presented descriptively.

The results of the research related to prevalence measurement on a monthly mean showed that ankles at 2.8%, knees at 2.2%, and waist at 1.8% respectively have the highest prevalence rates among soldiers. Also, among the harmful factors, the parade had the largest share with 22.5% and during 6 months, the second month had the highest number of injuries, and the sixth month had the lowest number of injuries. In terms of participation in exercises, 86.6% of soldiers participated in practical classes without any physical injuries during the six months. A total of 9.1% of the soldiers could not perform optimally and properly despite their full attendance in the practical classes due to physical injuries and finally, 3.8% of the participants, despite attending the practical classes, had to leave the class halfway due to the severity of the injury.

What is clear is that the most affected areas are the central area and the lower limbs, and the spine of the back, head, neck, and upper limbs were not among the most damaged areas. Finally, it seems that the prevalence rate among the soldiers in training courses is acceptable and close to the average of global statistics. However, it is required to take preventive measures as well as plan to add classes and specialized exercises to strengthen physical fitness and specialized exercises related to improving the conditions of damaged areas.

Chronic non-specific low back pain (CNSLBP) is a common health issue caused by a mix of biological, psychological, and social factors. Cognitive functional therapy (CFT) is a comprehensive way to treat CNSLBP that focuses on changing negative thoughts and unhelpful habits through relaxation techniques. Since the evidence on the efficacy of CFT is still limited, it is essential to conduct clinical trials aimed at the effectiveness of CFT in the treatment of CNSLBP. This study aims to examine the effect of cognitive functional therapy on psychological variables in women with CNSLBP.

Thirty women with CNSLBP were recruited for the clinical trial. They were randomly divided into two experimental and control groups (15 patients in each group). Our experimental group will have 18 individualized CFT sessions, each lasting an hour, over two months. The control group received no intervention. Pain intensity, disability, and kinesiophobia were assessed via the visual analog scale, Oswestry, and Tampa scale, respectively. Two-way repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare results between groups.

Two-way repeated measures ANOVA results showed that the experimental group compared to the control group in reducing pain (P=0.000, ηp2=0.787), disability (P=0.005, ηp2=0.457) and Kinesiophobia (P=0.000, ηp2=0.561) had a significant difference.

CFT reduced pain, disability, and kinesiophobia in patients with CNSLBP. Further evaluation of the efficacy of CFT in high-quality randomized clinical trials among patients with CNSLBP is recommended.

The purpose of this research was to compare the effect of video games, training with catalogs, and face-to-face training of the FIFA +11 warm-up program on the level of acceptance and belief of football players.

The current semi-experimental research was done on 240 male players and coaches present in the premier soccer league of Khorasan Province who were randomly divided into four groups: 11+ face-to-face exercises, catalog, video games, and control (60 people in each group). Electronic questionnaires on acceptance and knowledge were filled by players and coaches. Then, the subjects of the training groups performed the exercises in three 15-minute sessions per week for eight weeks. Kruskal-Wallis test and marginal mean were used to check differences between the groups. 

After eight weeks of training, there was a significant difference in the knowledge and awareness of the players between the four groups (P<0.05). Also, the marginal average test results showed that the effect of these exercises on the level of knowledge and awareness of the players was greater in the face-to-face group than in other groups. Also, 33.3% of the players considered these exercises to be boring and 23.7% of the players considered the limitation of time to do other exercises and soccer skills as one of the factors that prevent them from doing the exercise.

Football players had low levels of knowledge and awareness of 11+ exercises, which increased after eight weeks of 11+ exercises using face-to-face exercises, catalogs, and videos.