فصلنامه علوم پیراپزشکی و توانبخشی
سال دوازدهم شماره 4 (زمستان 1402)

Meniere’s disease is a disorder that reduces the quality of life of individuals affected due to balance problems. This study aimed to explore the role of vestibular rehabilitation in treating patients with unilateral Meniere’s disease.

23 patients with a definite unilateral Meniere’s disease was included in this study. All patients underwent a complete auditory-vestibular test battery. The vestibular rehabilitation program was performed under the supervision of an expert therapist for one month. The effectiveness of this program was monitored using DHI and ABC questionnaires.

The mean and standard deviation of ABC questionnaire before and after rehabilitation were 62.57±11.63 and 70.17±12.48, respectively. These values for the DHI questionnaire were 46.61±8.93 and 38.26±6.21.  The difference between pre- and post-intervention was significant. The difference between before and after the intervention was significant in both questionnaires (p<0.05). In addition, the improvement rate of the patient in these two questionnaires was negatively correlated (p=0.001).

Vestibular rehabilitation in the chronic phase of unilateral Meniere's disease can improve balance, physical and psychological symptoms. Therefore, it is recommended to control the disease in these people.

Differences in foot structure are thought to be associated with differences in foot function during movement. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of foot structure on plantar pressure characteristics in overweight girl children aged 10-13 years during walking.

Thirty-six overweight girls with pes planus, pes cavus and normal feet structures participated in this study. The plantar pressure characteristics of the subjects were measured using the foot-scan system while walking on a 14-meter gait-way at a self-selected speed. Peak plantar pressure, time to reach the peak pressure, percentage of the plantar contact area and impulse were measured. MANOVA and Bonferroni post hoc test were used for statistical analyses at a significance level of 0.05.

The mean peak pressure of the left foot of the pes cavus group under the hallux (12.47) was greater than that of the normal (7.93) and pes planus (7.49) groups (p=0.035). The mean impulse underneath the 2-5 toes zone of the right foot of normal (0.86) group was greater than pes planus (0.49) group (p=0.008). The mean impulse also was greater under the hallux zone of the left foot among pes cavus group (2.61) than those in normal (0.89) and pes planus (0.88) groups (0.045).

Despite the existence of minor differences; in general, the results of this study did not show a significant alteration in plantar pressure characteristics among overweight children with different foot structures during walking.

Cerebral palsy (CP) occurs as a result of damage to the motor areas of the brain, and the patient is unable to control his movement and body position. Upper limb dysfunction is one of the most common movement disorders in children with cerebral palsy, which plays an important role in children's quality of life. Therefore, the aim of this research is to provide a rehabilitation approach to improve the movement capabilities of the hand in hemiparetic cerebral palsy children.

In this study, the ability of motor skills in children with hemiparetic CP in a bimanual computer game rehabilitation method has been investigated. Seven children with partial cerebral palsy participated in fifteen 30-minute rehabilitation sessions three days a week. The Fugl- Meyer upper extremity assessment has been used for motor evaluations.

The Fugl- Meyer upper extremity assessment scores of the upper limb before and after the intervention are (46.10±14.79) and (54.10±43.3), respectively, and there is a significant improvement compared to before the intervention. (p≤0.05).

 It seems that and motor ability of children with hemiparetic cerebral palsy is improved using bimanual methods in the form of computer games. This intervention can be used as a rehabilitation method for upper extremities.

Fatigue of the quadriceps muscle causes pain and decreased knee proprioception. The aim of research was the effect of two PNF stretching programs and lower limb strengthening on pain and knee proprioceptive of the knee joint before and after local fatigue of the quadriceps muscle in male athlete with patellofemoral pain.

This research was semi-experimental and pre & post-test. The statistical population included men aged 20-30 with patella pain in Tehran. 24 people were placed in two groups of PNF stretching exercises (12 people) and strengthening (12 people) in a targeted and random selection. All subjects signed a personal consent form before participating in the study. Each group did their exercises for eight weeks and three 60-minute sessions each week. Before & after the exercises (before and after the test), knee pain and proprioceptive sensation were measured using visual pain measurement (VAS) and biodex isokinetic (model IV Pro made USA), respectively. Data were analysis significant (P<05/0) using the combined repeated measure.

the comparison of the first and third tests (before fatigue) (ES=0.5, p<0.05 and        F (1,22) =4.417) . The comparison of the second & fourth tests after fatigue(ES=0.8, p<0.05 and F (1,22) =148.4), there was a significant difference (ES=0.4, p<0.002 and F (1,22) =52.14). Pain reduction after training was 29% in the stretching group 18% in the strengthening group. The net effect of training on depth sensation improvement was significant (ES=0.6, p<0.005 and F (1,22) =2.404). Regarding the comparison of the first & third test (before fatigue) (ES=0.6, p<0.001 and F (1,22) =108.2). The comparison of the second & fourth test (after fatigue), there was a significant difference (ES=0.5, p<0.002 and F (1,22) =51.1). The improvement in proprioception after training was 15% in the stretching and 11% in the strengthening group. The exercises in the PNF stretching group were more effective on both variables in the post-test and after the training period.

Both exercise programs have been concluded for pain factor and proprioception, but the effect of PNF training to reduce pain and improve proprioception of patients was the amount of consumption.

Diabetes is a common disorder which contributes to a variety of complications such as deficits in central auditory nervous system (CANS). Auditory late latency response (ALLR) is a well-established neurophysiological approach in the assessment of CANS performance. This study was aimed to compare ALLR in insulin dependent (Type I) diabetic patients and normal individuals.

In this descriptive analytical and non-interventional study, ALLR was measured by using tone burst 1000 Hz on 25 Type I diabetic patients and 25 age, education and sex matched healthy controls include 12 males and 13 female in both groups, with mean age 28.76±4.1 year in patients and 29.68±3.6 year in controls. Data were analyzed by t-test and Pearson correlation tests using SPSS 17 software.

The mean ALLRs latency and amplitude of the diabetic patients were significantly different when compared with that of normal controls in both genders (p<0.01). Also, there was a strong correlation between ALLR latency and HbA1c and diabetes duration (p<0.01).

Significant prolongation in latency and significant reduction in amplitude of ALLRs in the diabetic patients shows that cortical auditory information processing is slower than normal individuals.

The purpose of this research was to investigate the effect of eight weeks of cross-training on the intensity of electrical activities and the functional quality of the muscles of athletes with anterior cruciate ligament injury during walking.

This semi-experimental study utilized a pre-test/post-test design. The statistical population included the athletes from Qeshm Island and Bandar Abbas City (football and volleyball), who had at least six months since their anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. In this research, there were 30 participants who were divided into two training groups and a control group. The average age of the training group was 24.15 ± 7.89 and the control group was 24.97 ± 7.18 years. The electrical activity of the muscles was measured by an electromyography device in two phases, 100 milliseconds before (in the swing phase) and 200 milliseconds after the contact of the foot with the ground (in the stance phase). Also, the force plate device was used to measure the functional quality of the muscles. Ground reaction force; GRF and center of pressure; COP fluctuations were measured from the time of foot contact with the ground to 200 milliseconds after contact (in the stance phase), before and after cross training. The data were analyzed using SPSS software, version 25 and Repeated Measures ANOVA.

In the swing phase (100 milliseconds before the heel strike), the electromyography data of the research showed that after a period of cross training, the electrical activity of all the selected muscles increased, but this increase was significant in the tibialis anterior(from 45.18 to 48.31 microvolts) (p=0.009), rectus femoris (from 38.54 to 40.17 microvolts) (p=0.004), and gluteus medius (from 29.18 to 33.50 microvolts) (p=0.005). Also, the results of examining the electrical activity of the muscles in the stance phase (200 milliseconds after the heel strike), showed that the intensity of the electrical activity of all muscles increased after a period of cross training, but this increase was significant,  in the anterior tibial (from 09 44.56 to 49.5 microV) (p=0.001), vastus medialis(from 48.00 to 56.58 microV) (p=0.004), rectus femoris (from 45.18 to 48.31 microV) (p=0.02), biceps femoris (from 40.54 to 48.74 μV) (p=0.007) and gluteus medius (from 34.09 to 39.17 μV) (p=0.01). The results of the data related to moror control, (including the components of the ground reaction force and the fluctuations of the center of pressure from the time of the heel strike to 200 milliseconds later) after a period of cross training, a significant reduction has been shown in the vertical components (from 16 123.75 to 113.75 percent of weight in kilograms) (p=0.001), and the posterior component of the ground reaction force (from 23.12 to 19.15 percent of weight in kilograms) (p=0.002), and also in the fluctuations of the pressure center in the lateral direction (from 1.39 to 1.18 mm/s) (p=0.004) and the anterior direction (from 1.32 to 1.52 mm/s) (p=0.001).

Cross- training has been able to create changes in the injured leg through positive neuroplasticity in the motor cortex of the brain, which not only increases muscle activity, but also improves the quality and control of movement. It is suggested for sports injury and rehabilitation specialists to positively transfer the quality of movement to the injured leg It is suggested for sports injury and rehabilitation specialists to positively transfer the quality of movement to the injured leg. These exercises can be used to prevent anterior cruciate ligament injury and also in the initial time after the injury )when the person is unable to move the injured leg( or even after months of the injury.

It seems that doing sports and physical activity can be considered as an effective intervention to improve motor and cognitive problems of children with autism spectrum. In this regard, the present study aimed to investigate the effect of rhythmic movement exercises on visual-spatial memory, cognitive flexibility, and balance in children with autism spectrum disorder.

The statistical population included children with an autism spectrum disorder in Yazd city, of which 20 people (10 people in the experimental group, ten people in the control group) with the age range of 10 to 12 years were selected and by performing the seat blocks test (visual memory- spatial), Wisconsin card sorting (cognitive flexibility), modified stork test (static balance) and heel-toe walking (dynamic balance) participated in this research. The experimental group received rhythmic movement exercises for ten sessions, two sessions per week, and the control group did their daily activities. Data were analyzed with mixed ANOVA at a significance level of p<0.05.

The results showed that rhythmic movement exercises improved visual-spatial memory (23.1±1.16), cognitive flexibility (18.71±3.12), and dynamic balance (13.21±1.18) in children with autism spectrum disorder (p<0.05), but it had no significant effect on static balance (1.10±0.50; p>0.05).

According to the present study's findings, rhythmic movement exercises can be used as a suitable intervention to improve the movement and cognitive problems of children with autism spectrum

Movement capabilities are potentially important in the daily lives of people with hearing impairments. Therefore, the purpose of this review was to investigate the effect of exercise interventions on movement capabilities in people with hearing impairment.

In this study, a systematic review of the effect of exercise interventions on movement capabilities of people with hearing impairment by searching Google Scholar, PubMed, Science Direct, Web of Science, Scopus, PEDro, and, EMBASE databases with the keywords Exercises, Exercises interventions, Physical activity, Physical readiness, Physical fitness, hearing impairment, Hearing loss, Deaf, Balance, Strength, Endurance. It was also conducted in the Persian databases of Google Scholar, Megapaper, Irandac, Magiran, Sid, MedLib, IranMedex, and Iran Science and Technology Research Institute with the relevant keywords from 2000 to 2022.

In the search of texts, a total of 132 articles were received, and after deleting similar cases, among the articles that were very closely related to the subject under study, 22 articles were selected for the present study. 14 Persian studies and 8 English studies were found. exercise interventions had a significant effect on balance, muscular and cardiovascular endurance, movement skills, coordination, walking speed, and reaction time of people with hearing impairment.

The results of the present review study showed that performing exercise interventions in most studies improves movement capabilities in people with hearing impairment. Most of the exercise protocols used in the studies were of balance and stability type. to improve the balance control disorder of these people. Therefore, on this basis, coaches, sports teachers, physiotherapists, and therapists are recommended to use such exercise programs to improve the movement capabilities of people with hearing impairment. But more and more detailed studies are still needed in this field.