مجله پژوهش در علوم توانبخشی
سال نهم شماره 3 (امرداد و شهریور 1392)

Asymmetric weight bearing is one of the prominent characteristics of impaired postural control in hemi-paresis after stroke. Considering the important effect of load exerted on limbs in correcting postural reflexes، the effect of sole on weight bearing symmetry and also the effect of increased load on paretic limb on the postural responses of lower limb muscles against an internal perturbation were investigated.

27 hemi-paretic post-stroke patients، who were able to stand independently without assistive devices for one minute، participated in this study. Evaluations included measuring symmetry index، the latency and amplitude of postural responses of lower limb muscles that was carried out before and after placing a 10-mm-thick sole under intact lower limb of patients. To measure symmetry index، the patients were asked to stand on force platform for 20 seconds. Electromyographic recordings from medial gastrocnemius، soleus and lateral hamstring muscles of paretic and non-paretic limbs were obtained for evaluating postural responses. Rapid flexion movement of non-paretic upper limb was used as an internal perturbation for exciting postural muscle responses.

The effect of lift on improving symmetry index was significant (P = 0. 001). Increasing load on paretic limb did not exert any effects on the latency and amplitude of postural responses.

Inserting a lift improved symmetry by shifting center of gravity toward midline. The results of the present study show that decreased load on a paretic limb following stroke cannot fully explain the weak and latent responses of postural muscles.

Stuttering is a multidimensional disorder which may be affected by many factors including linguistic aspects. The aim of this study was to investigate the frequency of disfluencies over words and nonwords in children who stutter.

15 children with stuttering، whose age ranged from 4 to 5 years، participated in this descriptive-analytical study. They were asked to repeat words and non-words that they heard while their utterances were recorded. The statistical analysis was conducted in SPSS.

Disfluency frequency was significantly higher on repeating words than on repeating nonwords (P < 0. 05). Common disfluencies were of repetition and block types.

According to the results of the present study، linguistic complexities can increase the occurrence of disfluency frequency.

Return-to-play decisions have remained a matter of controversy for athletes. The aim of the present study was to explore the relationship between functional movement screen (FMS) score with history of injury and identify the predictive value of the FMS for injury.

Statistical population of this study was the physical education students of Kharazmi University aged 18 to 25 years. A hundred subjects (50 females، 50 males) with the mean (± SD) age of 23. 21 (± 2. 12) years old were recruited. All participants read and signed the consent form. The FMS tests include: Deep Squat، Hurdle Step، In-Line Lunge، shoulder mobility، straight leg raise، Trunk Stability Push-Up، Rotary Stability were used to screen all individuals. Data were analyzed by one-way analysis of variances، Pearson correlation coefficient، Kappa، T test (SPSS، version 17 and alpha level set at 0. 05).

Subjects without history of injury had better FMS scores than who has the history of injury. There was a statistical significance between the pre-season FM scores of subjects with ankle and knee injuries history with healthy ones. For all of subjects، a cut-off score of 17 was found that maximized sensitivity and specificity. An odds ratio was calculated at 4. 70، meaning that an athlete has approximately 4. 7 times greater chance of suffering a lower extremity injury during a regular competitive season if they score less than 17 on the FM.

Scores of FMS tests provides the primary injury prevention model for coaches so that they can predict athletics future injury. So، this test can be considered as a basic and key physical examination for all athletes before attending in any training sport. Coach will benefit from this accurate tool to evaluate sport performance level for all team athletes.

The spine serves as the main support of the body. During activities، postural stability depends on the simultaneous function of the muscles، passive elements، and also the neural elements. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between spinal abnormalities and musculoskeletal pains in the areas related to these abnormalities in the students of Hamadan University of Medical Sciences.

241 students (157 females with the mean age of 19. 42 years، SD=1. 1 years; 84maleswith the mean age of 21. 01 years، SD=2. 25 years) voluntarily participated in this study. Spinal alignment was evaluated by posture screen، plumb line and the New York Test of the Lateral Head Deviation to determine the rates of forward head، shoulder asymmetry، kyphosis and lordosis. To determine the location and intensity of pain in the head، the left-and right-neck، the left- and right-shoulder and the low-back regions، a tailor-made questionnaire with visual analog scale was used. Finally، using the correlation coefficient، the data were statistically analyzed.

There was significant relationship between lateral head deviation and both headache and the left-side neck pain (P < 0. 05). Kyphosis was significantly correlated with feeling pain in the right and the left shoulders and also with inters scapular pain (P < 0. 05). Moreover، significant relationship between lordosis and low back pains was observed (P < 0. 05).

The results of this study indicate a signification relationship between the presence of some postural abnormalities and the incidence of musculoskeletal pain.

Postural control is the ability to maintain upper extremities and different parts of body during static and dynamic status in proper biomechanical alignment. Fatigue is one of the factors that can affect the posture. Muscle fatigue can reduce sensory input to the brain and finally decrease the balance. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of erector spine muscles fatigue on balance compensation in kyphotic subjects after postural perturbations in the sagital plane.

Twelve male college student with spinal curvature of more than forthy degrees (mean ± SD age; 23. 25 ± 1. 42 years، mean ± SD height; 174. 92 ± 6. 89 cm، mean ± SD weight; 67. 33 ± 12. 17 kg) and twelve male college student with normal curvature of the dorsal spine (mean ± SD age; 23. 17 ± 1. 53 years، mean ± SD height; 178. 92 ± 6. 16 cm، mean ± SD weight; 71. 75 ± 9. 34 kg) were participated in the study. They agreed and signed the consent form. A flexible ruler was used to measure thoracic kyphosis. To assessment the balance the center of pressure (COP) displacement after sudden perturbation (by releasing a weight equivalent to 10% of the subjects that has been attached to the Foot Scan) in the anterior–posterior direction were measured by Foot Scan. Experimental procedure was measured before and just after the fatigue protocol. ANOVAs and independent t-test were performed to data analyses.

The results indicated no significant differences of the COP displacement in both kyphotic (P = 0. 678) and control (P = 0. 685) groups. Our results showed that erector spine muscles fatigue could not affect the postural.

Possibly compensation of posture after balance perturbation can not affected by erector spine muscles fatigue.