Impact of physical therapy on muscle strength in patients with degenerative hip changes

Introduction: An increasing number of people suffer from degenerative diseases of the hip joints. Many studies report the long-term outcomes of invasive therapy in the treatment of coxarthrosis. However, results of prolonged conservative treatment are scarce. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of prolonged conservative physical therapy on functional recovery of degenerative hip changes. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 47 patients diagnosed with coxarthrosis according to the American College of Rheumatology criteria. Data on sex and age, duration of physical therapy, the type of physical therapy, the values of manual muscle test (MMT) at admission and discharge, were taken from the medical records of the patients. Results: There were 76.6% female and 23.4% male patients. Half of the patients were 70 or more years old. Majority of patients were treated by kinesiotherapy (74.5%) and had significantly different (p < 0.05) values of MMT at admission and discharge. Duration of treatment was 10-20 days for 23.4% of patients, while 29.8% received treatment for 31-40 days. Conclusion: According to our results, MMT significantly improved at the end of the treatment. Thus, physical therapy had a positive effect on the recovery of muscle strength in patients with coxarthrosis

Effects of early diagnosis of the wrist over-use syndrome on the treatment

Aim To demonstrate the effects of early diagnosis of overuse syndrome in the wrist on healing, pain intensity and quick recovery to daily work and sport activities. Methods This clinical retrospective study included 60 patients of both sexes aged from 22 to 44 years, with pain in the wrist and clinical signs of creeping tenosynovitis. Patients were divided into two groups: the first group - persons doing sports activity, and the second group - patients who did not deal with sports activities. Results Females in 31 (51.7%) cases compared to males with 29 (48.3%) were slightly more represented in the total sample. Patients with injuries due to sports activities had previously reported to the physician and the diagnosis was set at an average of 3.1±0.9 days after the first symptoms (the range of 2-5 days), compared to the patients of the second group whose diagnosis was set at an average of 4.7±1.1 days after the first symptoms (p <0.05). Conclusion Patients involved in sports activities were more motivated for faster recovery, they had earlier doctor’s examination with rapid reduction of subjective symptoms during intensive physical therapy