ali e. oskouei

 High power laser therapy (HPLT) seems to be a new modality to possibly manage rotator cuff tendinitis.The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of HPLT on clinical and sonographic findings in people with chronic rotator cuff tendinitis.

 Thirty-two people suffering from rotator cuff tendinitis participated in this study. The patients  were  randomly assigned to the control group (n=16) that received routine physiotherapy including Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), ultrasound, hot pack, exercise consisting range of motion, pendulum, strengthening, and stability exercises, or the treatment group (n=16) that received routine physiotherapy and HPLT in the painful area of the shoulder (12 sessions) Clinical and functional findings including pain, shoulder range of motion, shoulder disability, and sub-acromial liquid were measured using the visual analog scale, goniometry, questionnaire, and sonography, respectively before and after treatment.

 Pain, active and passive range of motion, shoulder disability and sub-acromial fluid accumulation were significantly different in both groups and improved, but no difference was reported in the thickness of the rotator cuff tendon, especially the supraspinatus tendon. The improvement was more significant (pain reduction and sub-acromial liquid, increase in range of motion and level of function) in the treatment group than in the control group (P <0.05).

 HPLT combined with the routine physiotherapy improve the clinical as well as sonography findings including supraspinatus tendon thickness and accumulation of sub-acromial fluid in people with rotator cuff tendinitis compared with those in the control group.

 Shoulder pain felt when performing daily activities is a common complaint at all ages. Shoulder impingement syndrome is one of the most common causes of shoulder pain. Since this disease is relatively prevalent, there is an urgent need to develop a treatment method with fewer complications. Magnet therapy (MT) is one of the therapies that has been recently used to treat various musculoskeletal disorders.

 This study aimed to evaluate the effects of MT on pain and disability in patients with shoulder impingement syndrome.

 In this double-blind clinical trial study, 60 patients diagnosed with shoulder impingement syndrome were randomly assigned to three groups including the "MT 18 Hz" group, the "MT 100 Hz" group, and the "Sham" group. All patients received Magnet therapy three times a week for four weeks in addition to routine treatment. In the sham group, Magnet therapy was used as a placebo. All three groups received routine electrotherapy and exercise therapy. Before and after the treatment, the pain level was evaluated by the NRS scale, the disability level was assessed by the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand Questionnaire (DASH), and the range of motion of the shoulder was measured using a goniometer. The values obtained in the groups and for the groups were compared before and after the treatment.

 The intragroup comparison of the three groups revealed a statistically significant improvement in all variables (including NRS score, DASH, and shoulder range of motion) (P < 0.05). The intergroup comparison, on the other hand, showed no statistically significant difference for any of the variables (P > 0.05).

 It was concluded that routine physiotherapy significantly reduced pain and disability as well as improved shoulder range of motions in patients with shoulder impingement syndrome. Moreover, using magnet therapy with two frequencies of 18 and 100 Hz along with the routine electrotherapy and exercise therapy had no additional positive effect on the recovery process of patients with shoulder impingement syndrome.

Snooker is a kind of cue sport in which skill plays an important role. To reach a professional level, snooker players must acquire many physical and mental skills. Strengthening the core muscles, which provide a foundation for a successful limb function in skill sports such as snooker, can be achieved by performing Pilates exercises.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of core muscle training on skill and balance for snooker players.

In this study, 30 male snooker players were divided into Pilates (n = 15) and control groups (n = 15) by randomization. The Pilates group performed the mat Pilates exercises three sessions per week consisting of 30 minutes of Pilates training in addition to one hour of routine snooker training per session for six weeks. The control group performed one-hour routine snooker training three sessions per week at the same time period. To assess the players' skills, the line-up test was used to measure the break score, and the foul number test was used to calculate the foul number. Players' balance was evaluated by the stork balance test. All tests were performed pre and post 6 weeks of exercise for between and within- group comparisons.

Line-up and stork test scores were significantly increased (P < 0.05) in the Pilates group compared with the control group. However, there was no significant difference in the foul numbers between groups after Six weeks of Pilates exercises.

Six weeks of mat Pilates exercises improves the snooker players' balance ability and break scores.

 Patient’s rights seem to be accepted theoretically, but often neglected in practice. Respect to patient’s rights by health care providers may optimize health outcomes and quality of life and create a perfect connection between health care services and patients needs as well as their expectations. This study was aimed to identify deficits in respect to patientschr('39') rights and find out if the better respect to patient’s rights is affected by an education-based program.

 This descriptive survey was conducted before and after an educational-based program. A structured interview was used to collect data from 204 participants. The categorized questions were reviewed and classified by using 6MP classification, according to the patient’s rights, and then an education-based program was undertaken. The structured interview was then used to recollect data from the participants. Outcome measures were the percentage of deficits pre and post the education-based program according to the patient’s rights.

 There were high deficiencies in “the right to receive the optimal health services” and “access to optimal and sufficient information” sections. Almost no compliant in the other rights of patient was observed. The results indicated that 187 deficits which was recorded in the pre-test phase were reduced to 57 in the post-test phase, and the number of declared deficits by participants was significantly (P<0.05) reduced in all dimensions of 6MP classification. This means that the identified deficits following the conducted education-based program were dramatically improved (three folds improvement).

 An education-based program plays an important role in promotion of the respect to patient’s rights. This suggests health care systems to have a practical and ethical (not merely legal and official) perspective to patient’s rights which in turn would optimize service quality delivered by health care providers.

Transcranial near-infrared photobiomodulation (NIR-PBM) is a new noninvasive procedure which transcranially applies a near-infrared wavelength to the scalp with a laser or a light-emitting diode (LED) source. Improvement in the neurological or psychological symptoms has been reported following light irradiation. However, to our knowledge, there is no study to investigate the effects of transcranial NIR-PBM on motor performance directly. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the short-term effects of transcranial NIR-PBM on motor performance in healthy human subjects.

In this experimental single-blind randomized clinical trial study, 56 right-handed healthy participants, whose ages ranged from 18 to 30, were randomly assigned to (1) Real transcranial NIR-PBMC3 group (n=14), (2) Sham transcranial NIR-PBMC3 group (n=14), (3) Real transcranial NIR-PBMC4 group (n=14), and (4) Sham transcranial NIR-PBMC4 group (n=14). We applied the 808 nm laser with irradiation energy density of 60 J/cm2 and power density of 200 mw/cm2 to the C3 or C4 points of the scalp. The number of finger taps as an indicator of motor performance was assessed by the finger-tapping test (FTT) before and after irradiation of transcranial NIR-PBM on the corresponding points of the scalp for 5 minutes.

The results showed that the number of finger taps in both right and left hands following the use of transcranial NIR-PBM in the real transcranial NIR-PBMC3 group significantly increased (P < 0.05).

We concluded that using transcranial NIR-PBM with a laser source on C3 point of the motor cortex in right-handed healthy people can increase the number of finger taps in both hands as an indicator of motor performance improvement.

The chair influences the position of the user in relation to his or her devices. Prolonged static sitting is a frequently mentioned risk factor for low back pain. Seat design, thus, plays an important role in the study of human sitting. Quantitative information is needed on what happens to body when one sits in chairs with different seat depth. To determine the myoelectric activity (EMG) of individual lumbar erector spinae muscles after sitting in chairs with different seat pan depth. EMG recordings were taken using surface electrodes placed on the lumbar erector spine muscles of 25 normal, volunteer subjects. EMG recordings for muscle activity were made while the study participants were in a comfortable position and performed the required tasks. The experiments investigated with 3 seat depths according to the 5th, 50th and 95th percentiles of the buttock popliteal length. The recorded EMG data were normalized to the maximal voluntary contraction. The mean EMG recording was calculated for each of the 3 chairs tested. A mixed model was used to assess the differences among the situations. A significant (p<0.05) difference was observed between the mean EMG recordings for the 3 tested seat pan depths. EMG activity was higher in seats with the 5th and 95th percentiles compared with that for the seat with 50th percentile of buttock popliteal length depth. The seat pan depth used during a comfortable position has a significant effect on the level of myoelectric activity in the lumbar erector spinal muscles. The finding of this study may contribute to our understanding of the biomechanics of sitting.