Iranian Rehabilitation Journal
Volume:5 Issue: 5, Sep 2007

The global prevalence of lifetime depression is very high among women in the world – approximately 12-25 percent. The global prevalence of disability is also very high and the estimated figure for the end of 2000 was put at around 300million. The child’s disability stresses the mother the most, and this stress shows itself in the form of depression, and causes the mother’s performance or function to drop, and thus has a negative effect on the child’s treatment.
The research is of the analytical kind (cross sectional), and as well as depression other demographic items are reviewed. The sample study volume is one hundred mothers of disabled children who went to one of the rehabilitation centers of the provincial town of Karaj between 2002 and 2006. The tools for this study is the standardised beck depression scale, and the test data was broken down and analysed by (chi square) and the SPSS software.
The results of this study indicated that 73% of mothers, had degrees of depression, and approximately 21% of them suffered from severe depression, and out of all the variables, there was a significant relationship only between the mothers’ depression and the children’s type of disability.
The results of this study indicated that the depression levels among mothers of disabled children were equal to 3-5 of the global range, and in view of the negative effects that the mothers’ depression have on the recuperation process of the children, the necessity to support parents with disabled children – which would to a large extent reduce the stress levels – is felt more than before

In September 2002 University of Social Welfare & Rehabilitation Sciences established a pilot universal newborn hearing screening program in two crowded maternity hospital in Tehran. Our objective was to assess the feasibility of implementing universal newborn hearing screening in IRAN.
Between September 2002 and March 2004 a total of 7718 newborns were screened for hearing loss prior to discharge from the wellborn nursery at Milad and Hedayat Hospitals. The average age of the subjects at the initial Screening test was 24hours. The program employed a three-stage hearing screening protocol using transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAE) screening with referral for diagnostic auditory brainstem response assessment.
The frequency of bilateral congenital hearing loss requiring amplification in this population is shown to be approximately 0.001 newborns. This finding is consistent with previous researches, which have indicated hearing loss to be the most frequently occurring birth defect. Universal newborn hearing screening using TEOAEs proved to be a cost effective and feasible method of identifying congenital hearing loss in IRAN. The existence of many successful screening programs worldwide and the availability of fast, objective, reliable and inexpensive hearing screening procedures mean that universal neonatal hearing screening is becoming one of the standards of care.

In this research we evaluate an individually family-based Dohsa exercise programme of balance in the aged people and its effect on self confidence for performing common daily tasks with less falling could be influenced by training.
From a residential care center, five aged person were participated in this study. They were trained by Dohsa method for six weeks. Two types of Dohsa-hou were used: Relaxation and Tate-kei. Tate-kei was the task which required them to control their body vertically against gravity.
The Dohsa family based rehabilitation program could improve their balance and increase their activity by not falling down. The family based programme can be a useful program for rehabilitation therapists in their therapy with aged people to improve their life skills and well beings.

To compare the outcomes of prone and supine lumbar traction in patients with chronic discogenic low back pain. Design: Prospective, randomized control trial.
Urban Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation clinic. Participants: A total of 124 subjects with chronic low back pain (LBP) and evidence of a degenerative and/or herniated inter-vertebral disk at 1 or more levels of the lumbar spine, who have not our exclusion criteria.
A 4-week course of lumbar traction, prone or supine in case and control groups consecutively, consisting of six 30-minute sessions every other days, followed by four 30-minute sessions every 3 days.
The numeric Visual pain rating scale and the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) were completed at pre-intervention and discharge (within 2 weeks of the last visit). Results: A total of 124 subjects completed the treatment protocol. We noted significant improvements for all post-intervention outcome scores when compared with pre-intervention scores (P<0.01). Also found significant difference between 2 groups in favor of prone traction (P<0.01)
Traction applied in the prone position for 4 weeks was associated with improvements in pain intensity and ODI scores at discharge, in a sample of patients with activity limiting LBP. However, because we lacked a reasonable long time follow-up, we cannot imply a long lasting relationship between the traction and outcome, and a long time follow-up is suggested.

The present research is aimed at surveying the role of (internal and external) religious orientation in the mental health and the extent of depression in elderly people residing in welfare centers and the society.
The study has been conducted through post-event and correlation method by using stochastic and cluster sampling in 230 cases of elderly people at senior citizens` homes, affiliated with the Welfare Organization, and public places (mosques and parks) which are gathering centers for the elderly people of society, both male and female. The cases were initially screened in terms of recognition complications. Then 28-question tests on general health and depression of Beck and Alport`s test on religious approach were completed and the results were analyzed by using Pierson and Manvitni`s dependent statistical tests.
Results showed that there is a significant correlation between the religious orientation and depression of the elderly people. That is, the more the scores of external religious orientation rise, the more the scores of disorder in mental health and depression increase. There is also a meaningful difference between mental health, depression and religious orientation of the elderly people who are residence and non-residence of the society. That is, the elderly people who live in the centers enjoy a more external religious orientation and disorder of mental health and more depression as compared to the group of the elderly people residing in the society.
The external religious belief has a correlation with disorder in the mental health and depression as well as internal religious belief. Moreover, mental disorders and depression among the resident elderly people are higher than non residents, while resident elderly people have a more external religious approach.

Massage therapy is one of the most widely used complementary and alternative medicine therapies for children. This study was conducted to determine the effect of wedish massage on abnormal reflexes in children with spastic cerebral palsy (CP).
This study was a single blind clinical trial conducted on forty children with spastic CP who were recruited from clinics of the University of Social Welfare & Rehabilitation Sciences.
They were randomly assigned to intervention and control groups. The routine occupational therapy (OT) techniques were performed during a 3 month-period in both groups. The intervention group also received Swedish massage for 30 minutes before every OT session. Primary, spinal, brain stem, midbrain, cortical
and automatic reflexes were evaluated at the beginning of the study and 3 months later. The data analysis was done by parametric and nonparametric tests.
0.05).
Adding Swedish massage to traditional OT techniques had no significant effects on abnormalreflexes in children with spastic cerebral palsy. Evidently more research is required in order to completely reject the effects of Swedish massage on abnormal reflexes of children with CP.

Cerebral palsy (CP) is a static encephalopathy with abnormal reflexes that cause motor developmental delay. In addition to conventional methods, complementary medicine like homeopathy has been used in treatment of neuro-developmental disorders. This study has been done to determine the effect of adding homeopathic treatment to rehabilitation on abnormal reflexes of children with spastic cerebral palsy.
In this study by using minimization technique subjects were divided to case and control groups. The routine rehabilitation techniques were done in 4 months in both groups. The control group received placebo and the case group received homeopathy drugs. Primitive, spinal, brain stem, midbrain, cortical reflexes and automatic movement reaction in the beginning and the end of four months were assessed and compared in two groups. Data collected by assessment forms, direct observations and examinations.
The average age in case and control groups was 28, 28.4 months respectively. Primitive reflexes: Palmar Grasp reflex in 14.3% of cases has improved but in control group has no differences (PV=0.681). Plantar Grasp and walking reflex in two groups before and after intervention have no differences (PV=1). Moro reflex in 28.6% of cases and 11.1% of controls improved (PV=0.408).
Regarding to proved effects of homeopathy mentioned in different articles on physical of children with CP as well as executive limitations, it is not possible to reject the effects of homeopathy on reflexes of children with CP.As homeopathy is young in Iran, it is recommended to make researches about effects of homeopathy on neurodevelopmental disorders.

Multiple Sclerosis (M.S) is one of the prevalent diseases of the central nervous system which cause disability in young adults. This appears as neural signs in different parts and various times. The main defect is local deterioration or destruction of myelin tissue in the brain and spinal cord. Profound fatigue is one the most
common symptoms of this disease. Because MS is prevalent in middle ages, so the presence of this symptom affects the life and activity of the patient; In these ages people have high amount of activities and this functional disorder creates many difficulties for daily works in patient. For this reason, fatigue problem in patients, always, have caught the attention of researchers.
Despite numerous studies, still the exact reason for producing fatigue have not been mentioned; But several mechanisms have been discussed, such as: autoimmune mechanism of the disease, Involvement and disorder of endocrine system , involvement of central nervous system and de-synchronization of autonom system.
Among these, autoimmune mechanism is considered as a main role in producing fatigue.
Lack of proper knowledge regarding exact fatigue mechanism several problems in its treatment. Evaluation is the first step for controlling fatigue, which is done through various tests. Clear and proper evaluation can be obtained by these tests.
After evaluation, non-drug and finally drug procedures are helpful. In non-drug treatment the focus is on: sport exercises, suitable diet program, identification and improvement of the patient psychotic disorders,
energy conservation methods. Finally, the use of drugs such as Amantadine, Pemoline and Modafini is recommended for fatigue treatment.