Purpose: The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of whole-body vibration (WBV) with balance training on strength and functional ability in patients with diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN). Materials and Methods: Forty (19 males and 21 females) patients with DPN participated in the study. The patients were randomly allocated to experimental group (age = 57.3 ± 7.3) and control group (age = 57.1 ± 6.5). The experimental group performed WBV with balance training, whereas the control group performed only balance exercises for three weeks (five days/week). Outcome measures included neuropathy disability score (NDS), numeric pain rating scale (NPRS), timed up and go test (TUGT), Tinetti performance-oriented mobility assessment (Tinetti POMA) scale, strength of quadriceps, and tibialis anterior and reaction time. Results: Demographic characteristics and outcome measures at baseline were found to be nonsignificant between the groups. NDS, Tinetti POMA, quadriceps, and tibialis anterior strength showed significant time effect ( P ≤ 0.016) and time × group interaction ( P ≤ 0.008) whereas group effect was found to be nonsignificant. TUGT only showed significant time effect ( P < 0.001). NPRS and reaction time showed significant time × group interaction ( P ≤ 0.002). Conclusion: The WBV with balance exercise showed improvement in the NDS, functional balance, functional mobility, and strength of the lower limb muscles when compared with balance exercises only.
There is diverse results on the association between physical activity and sleep. So this study investigated association of level and type of physical activity with short term insomnia among college students.A cross sectional study was conducted among college students in India. The sample was 662 students with 359 males and 303 females. The predictor variables were type and level of physical activity and predicted variables were sleep complaints.Physical activity components were aseesesed through international physical activity questionnaire and sleep complaints using Pitsburg sleep questionnaire. The binary logistic regression models were used for data analysis. Level of significance was set at p ≤ 0.05 for all the analysis.The age (mean + SD) of the participants were 23.2 ± 3.5 years. The self reported symptoms of short trem insomnia such as global sleep quality (adjusted odds ratio(AOR) = 15.58), subjective sleep quality (AOR = 6.01), sleep latency (AOR = 5.09), sleep duration (AOR = 0.13), sleep disturbances (AOR = 4.88), day time sleep dysfunction (AOR = 5.59) had shown association with level of physical activity. There was no association of type of physical activity with any other predicted variables.The findings of the present study supports that level of physical activity is a key predictor of short term insomnia symptoms among college students. There should be Interventions to maintain and improve the level of physical activity among students.
Introduction: This study aims to evaluate the effect of modified hold-relax stretching combined with moist heat therapy on hamstring muscle flexibility, EMG activity and strength in college students with hamstring tightness. Materials and Methods: Thirty-eight college students with hamstring tightness were recruited and were divided into two groups. Group 1 received modified hold-relax stretching plus moist heat therapy and Group 2 received moist heat therapy alone, three days a week for four weeks. The knee range of motion (ROM), muscle strength and Electromyography (EMG) activity before and after the treatment protocol were measured. Results: There was no significant difference between the two groups in demographic characteristics. The knee ROM was significantly different between groups in terms of time (P=0.001) and group (P=0.005) effects, but the strength and EMG activity were not significantly different. Conclusion: The modified hold-relax technique combined with moist heat therapy is effective in increasing hamstring flexibility, but has no significant effect on the muscle EMG activity and strength.
Objective: To determine whether there is any difference between virtual reality game-based balance training and real-world task-specific balance training in improving sitting balance and functional performance in individuals with paraplegia. Methods: The study was a pre test-post test experimental design. There were 30 participants (28 males, 2 females) with traumatic spinal cord injury randomly assigned to 2 groups (group A and B). The levels of spinal injury of the participants were between T6 and T12. The virtual reality game-based balance training and real-world task-specific balance training were used as interventions in groups A and B, respectively. The total duration of the intervention was 4 weeks, with a frequency of 5 times a week; each training session lasted 45 minutes. The outcome measures were modified Functional Reach Test (mFRT), t-shirt test, and the self-care component of the Spinal Cord Independence Measure-III (SCIM-III). Results: There was a significant difference for time (p = .001) and Time × Group effect (p = .001) in mFRT scores, group effect (p = .05) in t-shirt test scores, and time effect (p = .001) in the self-care component of SCIM-III. Conclusions: Virtual reality game-based training is better in improving balance and functional performance in individuals with paraplegia than real-world task-specific balance training.
Abstract Background Stroke is a devastating condition, which not only affects patients’ activity, but also is a primary reason for the psychosocial impact on them, their caregivers, and the healthcare system. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) modulates cortical activity, encouraging neuro-modulation and motor recovery in stroke rehabilitation. Robotic therapy (RT) provides repetitive, high-intensity, interactive, task-specific intervention and can measure changes while providing feedback to people with stroke. Objectives This study aimed to evaluate and summarize the scientific literature systematically to investigate the combined effect of tDCS and RT in patients with stroke. Methods Four databases (MEDLINE, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, & PEDro) were searched for clinical trials investigating the effect of RT and tDCS in stroke patients with upper limb impairment. PEDro scale was used for the quality assessment of included studies. Results The search yielded 208 articles. A total of 213 patients with stroke who had upper limb impairment were studied. In the majority of the trials, RT combined with tDCS lead to positive improvement in various measures of upper limb function and spasticity. Conclusions RT along with tDCS is an effective mode of rehabilitation, although no additional effects of tDCS plus RT in comparison with RT alone were reported. Large, robust studies are needed, so that health care providers and researchers can make better decisions about merging tDCS and RT in stroke rehabilitation settings in the future.