Journal of Rehabilitation Sciences and Research
Volume:1 Issue: 4, Dec 2014

Resilience is a personal trait that can influence the stroke subjects’ attitudes toward future opportunities and facilitate the transitional process and adaptation in them. Assessment of this trait in stroke subjects with a standardized tool would promote the rehabilitation protocols and occupational therapy interventions. Therefore, the objective of this study was to standardize the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) for Persian Iranian people who have had strokes. A descriptive observational study was adopted in order to standardize the CD-RISC in stroke population. The population was comprised of 34 female and 29 male subjects with a mean age of 51.4±10.6 years and the history of ischemic or hemorrhagic cerebrovascular accidents. Subjects were recruited based on inclusion criteria within the period of two months between May and July of 2014. Descriptive statistics were calculated along with the Cronbach''s alpha to determine reliability. Standard multiple regression analyses searched for any correlation between variables and resilience. Statistical parameters revealed a mean of 58.4±15.5 for CD-RISC raw scores. Percentile ranks were also calculated from raw data. Cronbach''s alpha of 0.892 revealed that the CD-RISC had high reliability for the population of this study. Multiple regression analyses showed that the functional status was the only variable that uniquely predicted subjects’ resilience (ß = 0.41; P< 0.01). The findings of this research confirmed applicability of CD-RISC in Iranian people who have had strokes. The standardized CD-RISC was determined to be suitable for use in the clinic and for utilization in research studies in Iranian people status post-stroke.

Rounded shoulder posture is a common abnormal posture in upper quarter. Kinesiotape is a new intervention that recently used in rehabilitation. There are no studies have examined the effect of kinesiotape on rounded shoulder posture. Therefore the purpose of this study was to determine the effect of scapular kinesiotaping and pectoralis minor stretching exercise on forward shoulder angle in female subjects with rounded shoulder posture. Twenty female students aged between 18 to 25 years old with rounded shoulder posture participated in this study. Then, the subjects were randomly and equally assigned to two groups: the stretch group and the stretch plus kinesiotape group. Both groups were trained for doing home exercise to stretch Pectoralis minor bilaterally for two weeks. Kinesiotape group received kinesiotape on scapular area additionally. Forward shoulder angle was measured in four sessions including pre-intervention (first session), immediately after the first intervention (second session), fourth day (third session) and at the end of two weeks (fourth session). Two-way repeated measures ANOVA (4x2) was used for data analysis. kinesiotape group showed significant within-group decrease in forward shoulder angle between first session with three other sessions (P≤0.05).There was no significant within-group difference in stretch group and between groups (P=0.20) forward shoulder angle-by-group interaction in measurement sessions was significantly different (P=0.02) scapular kinesiotaping along with pectoralis minor stretching exercise improved rounded shoulder posture in subjects of the present study. kinesiotape is suggested as a complementary treatment with immediate effects on postural correction of rounded shoulder.

Patellofemoral pain (PFP) is a common affliction and complex clinical entity. Deficit in neuromotor control of the core may be a remote contributing factor to the development of PFPS. Comparative evaluation of core and extensor mechanism muscle activation patterns between healthy group and patients involved by patellofemoral pain syndrome(PFPS) in a stair stepping task is the aim of this study. In this non-randomized interventional study fifteen males with PFPS and fifteen asymptomatic controls participated. Electromyographic(EMG) activity of Vastusmedialisobliquus(VMO),Vastuslateralis(VL), Gluteus medius (GMED),Gluteus Maximus (GMAX),Internal oblique (IO) and Erector spinae (ES) were recorded and EMG onsets were assessed in both stepping up (SU) and down (SD).The time of foot contact determined by a foot switch.During SU:Onset times of all muscles except, VL and ES in the controls were significantly less than PFPS group (P < 0.05). In PFPS group the temporal sequence ofES, VL and VMO were different from control groups.During SD:Onset times of all muscles except, GMAX and ES in the control group were significantly less than PFP group (P < 0.05). The sequence of muscle activity in both healthy and PFP groups were the same. Our findings are in line with previous researches about the effects of core on function and control of lower extremity. Activation patterns of core and vasti muscles are different between control and PFPS group during stair stepping task. Designing exercises to correct inappropriate timing of core muscles may have a role in management of PFPS and it needs more future researches.

One language-related area that has recently received more attention from researchers working in the field of stuttering is phonological working memory. This article aimed to identify phonological skills of working memory in children with stuttering in comparison with normal children, and to obtain the relationship between the increase in the number of syllables in non-words and the mean percentage of error in non-word repetition in both groups, then to compare them with each other. Thirty children participated in the study, 15 children who stutter and 15 normal children which were matched by age, gender and socio-economic status. Cases of this study were recruited by non random convenience sampling. The research data collection was based on non-word repetition test. The test included 40 non-words. Independent t-tests and linear regression were used for data analysis. Results revealed that in all cases the mean percentage of error was higher in children who stutter than normal children, but the difference was not statistically significant (P>.05). Also the mean percentage error did not show a regular increase by increasing the number of syllables in the non-words. So that, in both groups of the study the highest mean percentage of error was related to single-syllable non-words then three-syllable and two-syllable ones. The results of the present research from previous researches support the view that children with stuttering may have some degree of delay and slow in phonological working memory abilities when compared to normal children. It is proposed that in future more researches could be done in more samples, in different age groups of children and adults who stutter.

It is widely recognized that neuromuscular function is temperature sensitive. Changes in muscle temperature may affect muscle force development. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of temperature on wrist flexor muscles endurance. Fifteen healthy subjects (mean age 21.13 ±1.30 years) participated in the present study. The wrist flexor muscles endurance was measured before and after applying ice and hot packs over the forearm for 15 minutes. Paired t tests were used to compare differences between pre and post intervention endurance. The results showed a significant increase in wrist flexor muscles endurance after heating. (P=0.04). We also found that, cooling the forearm muscles leaded to significant decrease of wrist flexor muscles endurance (P=0.01). These results suggest that hand function is temperature sensitive. Therefore, further studies are needed to evaluate the effects of cold on muscular function in people working in workplaces with extreme temperature.