Physical Treatments Journal
Volume:11 Issue: 3, Summer 2021

A lot of time is spent on exercising the body parts while the lips are neglected, despite the evidence on the wide-ranging effects of lips on overall health and quality of life. Oral rehabilitation by Patakara lip muscle trainer leads to a strong lip closure which can stand as the first-line defense mechanism against many oral dysfunctions related to aging. In the absence of a narrative review presented on this trainer, this paper focuses on the components, instructions for use, and oral health indications of the Patakara lip muscle trainer. This trainer could enhance many oral dysfunctions in the elderly as oral breathing, snoring, halitosis, dry mouth, and oral/gastrointestinal dysfunction, but future studies are needed in this field.

Mental exercise uses the same neuronal pathways involved in physical exercise to modify the pattern and function without stress caused by physical exercise. This study investigates the effect of kinesthetic imagery, active, and combined exercises (imagery and active) on the hip hyperextension and the power of selected lumbopelvic muscles in women suffering from lumbar hyperlordosis.

In this quasi-experimental study, 36 women with lumbar hyperlordosis (age range: 30-40 years, non-athlete and without injury and surgery in the lumbar region) were selected and divided into three groups. The groups practiced three sessions per week for six weeks. We assessed the lumbar lordosis by a flexible ruler and the electromyographic (EMG) activity of the lumbopelvic muscles during hip hyperextension in the prone position by surface electromyogram. We also measured the power of the gluteus maximus using a dynamometer during hip hyperextension and the abdominal muscles using a goniometer during the double leg lowering test. All of the measurements were done before and after the intervention. The normality of the data was checked by The Shapiro-Wilk test, and the obtained data were analyzed by repeated-measures ANOVA test at the significant level of 0.05.

The variables of lumbar lordosis were significantly reduced in the active and combined groups in the post-test compared to the pre-test, and the strength of gluteus and abdominal muscles in the active and combined groups in the post-test significantly increased compared to the pre-test. However, the lumbar lordosis and strength of gluteus and abdominal muscles in the post-test were not significantly changed compared to the pre-test. Gluteus maximus and abdominis transverse muscle activity rates in the combined group increased significantly in the post-test compared to the pre-test, and gluteus maximus muscle activity rate in the active group increased significantly in the post-test compared to the pre-test. Gluteus maximus muscle activity in the imagery group increased significantly in the post-test compared to the pre-test. The activity of lumbar erector spinae and rectus femoris muscles decreased significantly in the active and combined groups in the post-test compared to the pre-test. However, the activity of the rectus femoris muscle decreased significantly in the image group in the post-test compared to the pre-test (P≤0.05). The results showed a significant difference between the three methods of kinesthetic imagery, active, and combined (P=0.001). There was a significant difference between the method of the imagery exercise and the active and combined exercise methods but no significant difference between methods of the active and combined exercise.

Imagery exercises effectively modified the EMG of some lumbopelvic muscles (gluteus maximus and rectus femoris muscles). However, it had no significant effect on the strength and degree of lumbar lordosis. The combined exercise was as effective as active exercise in modifying the EMG activity of the lumbopelvic muscles and the strength of the abdominal and gluteus maximus muscles.

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of conventional physiotherapy plus Dry Needling (DN) technique in patients with chronic nonspecific neck pain with Sternocleidomastoid (SCM) and Upper Trapezius (UT) muscles involvement.

This study was designed as a single-blind randomized clinical trial. A total of 39 patients (19 men and 21 women) with chronic non-specific neck pain with a Mean±SD age of 38.13±5.68 years, a Mean±SD height of 168.28±8.34 cm, and a Mean±SD weight of 75.78±9.02 kg participated in this study. They were randomly divided into conventional physiotherapy (control group: n=19) and conventional physiotherapy plus DN (intervention group: n=20). SCM and UT muscle pain, neck disability, and thickness were assessed for all participants in the pre-test, post-test, and follow-up periods. This study was reviewed and approved by the Faculty of Physical Education and Sport Science, University of Kharazmi, Tehran, Iran. Repeated measures analysis of variance and Bonferroni post hoc tests were used for data analysis using SPSS v. 22.

The results of 1-way analysis of variance showed that pain, neck disability, and SCM and UT muscle thickness in the intervention group had a significant decrease compared to the control group in the post-test and follow-up period (P<0.05). Also, according to the results of the corrected Bonferroni post hoc test, the intervention group showed a greater effect size than the control group in the post-test and the follow-up periods in the above variables.

The present study results show that adding DN to conventional physiotherapy for neck pain can increase the effectiveness of intervention in relieving pain, disability, and SCM and UT muscle thickness in people with chronic neck pain.

Frequent and powerful jumps and landings in volleyball exert significant stresses on lower extremities which can be determinant of injury prevalence. This study aimed to investigate the possible correlation between Maximum Jump (MJ) performance and force-time variables of volleyball block landing.

Thirty elite junior volleyball players (Mean±SD of age: 18.140±1.125 y, sports

4.390±0.957 y, and height: 197.100±3.161 cm) performed three block jumps, and best of trials was considered for further analysis. The study data were collected by the KISTLER force platform (1000 Hz). Force-time, velocity-time, and displacement-time were obtained using the Excel program. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Pearson correlation coefficient were used for assessing data normality and possible correlations between variables using SPSS v. 21 (P<0.05).

Peak vertical impact forces were reported in a range of 1.8-3.5 BW (F1, F2) during 27 to 83 ms of peak times (T1, T2). Significant positive correlations were obtained between temporal variables of time of peaks (T1, T2), the time elapsed between peaks (TP), and end of landing time (Tf). A significant negative correlation was found between F2 and T2 and a significant positive correlation between MJ performance with peak vertical forces (F1, F2).

According to the findings, T1 has little impact on shock absorption. Coaches and volleyball players should consider the importance of soft landing through increasing T2, which decreases F2, not only for performance improvement but also for reducing injuries.

Usually, about 25% of the patients treated with corticosteroids after kidney transplantation suffer from the complication of Avascular Necrosis (AVN) of the femoral head.
This study aims to compare the effect of Neuromuscular Electric Stimulation (NMES) and traditional treatment (infrared and decrease weight-bearing) on Harris hip score.

Twenty patients who developed AVN of the femoral head after kidney transplantation were divided into two groups. The first group was treated by NMES and stretching and strengthening exercises 3 sessions a week for 3 months. The second group was treated by Traditional Treatment (TT) and stretching and strengthening exercises 3 sessions a week for 3 months. 

Harris hip score component was measured before the intervention and then three months after the intervention using the t-test. After the intervention, significant differences were found between both groups in pain, support, distance walked, limping, putting on shoes and socks, climbing stairs, sitting, flexion (all P<0.001), external rotation (P=0.014), abduction (P=0.030), adduction (P<0.001), public transportation (P=0.010), and total hip score (P<0.001).

TT exercises accompanied by NMES were more effective than TT alone for AVN of femoral head patients and could stop the progressive worsening of hip joint mobility.

Physicians report balance disorders and fatigue as the symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) disease. The present study compares the effect of transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) and core stability training on the balance and disability of patients with MS.

This is a pre-test, post-test experiment study. The statistical population included all patients with MS who reffered to Rofaydeh Rehabilitation Hospital in Tehran City, Iran, in the winter of 2019. A total of 30 male and female patients aged 27-70 years were selected through available and purposive sampling methods and then randomly divided into experimental and control groups (each group 15 persons). The initial measurements of the participants’ kinetic variables of postural control were carried out by the posturography device, and afterward, Kurtzke Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) was employed to measure disability. The participants’ training included core stability training for 8 weeks (30-40 min, 3 sessions per week) with 20 min online cerebellar transcranial direct current stimulation, 2 sessions per week (The first and third sessions). Then, the research variables were measured again. 

The results demonstrated the significant influence of cerebellar tDCS on the variables of postural control equilibrium in the second sensory condition (P<0.001), third sensory condition (P<0.001), fourth sensory condition (P<0.001), fifth sensory condition (P=0.034), and combine equilibrium (P<0.001). Besides, the cerebellar current stimulation enhanced the sensory performance of the experimental group in using the vestibular system input data (P<0.001) and vision (P<0.001), but it had no significant effect on the ability to use somatosensory input (P=0.203) and vision preference (P=0.343). This research also revealed that the cerebellar current stimulation decreased EDSS in MS patients (P=0.026).

The cerebellar tDCS has a beneficial effect on balance, EDSS, and modified fatigue impact scale in MS patients. The study findings also indicate that the cerebellum, vestibular system, and visual system are related, and they have an impact on balance, and cerebellar stimulation can facilitate learning motor skills.

Anterior cruciate ligament injury is one of the most severe knee injuries that often has a non-contact mechanism and follows an incorrect knee joint alignment. The present study aimed to compare the effect of predictable and unpredictable cutting direction on knee joint kinematics in ball and racket athletes. 

The present study was quasi-experimental, and the subjects included 48 female adolescent athletes from badminton (n=12), table tennis (n=12), basketball (n=12), and handball (n=12). After the initial evaluations, the cutting maneuver was performed in predictable and unpredictable ways and recorded by a three-dimension motion analysis. Also, 1-way ANOVA and post hoc tests were used to compare the kinematic parameters of the knee between the ball and racket athletes.

The results of the statistical test showed a significant difference in the kinematic parameters of knee flexion (P=0.003), knee valgus (P=0.001), and tibia rotation (P=0.001) between the ball (basketball and handball) and racket athletes (badminton and table tennis) in the predictable cutting. But in the unpredictable cutting, there were no significant differences in the kinematic parameters of the knee flexion (P=0.86), knee valgus (P=0.56), and tibia rotation (P=0.18).

The results indicated that ball athletes showed an increased kinematic risk factor such as decreased knee flexion, increased knee valgus, and tibia rotation more than rocket athletes. Therefore, injury prevention programs are more critical in ball athletes.