Effects of Adjustments to Wheelchair Seat to Back Support Angle on Head, Neck, and Shoulder Postures

Background: People spend a long time in the sitting position may have poor alignment that leads to neck and back pain. A wheelchair represents mobility for people with cerebral palsy, who are unable to walk. They spend long periods of time sitting in their wheelchair. Opining the seat to back support angle of the wheelchair enable realignment body segments and improves posture. Objective: 1) assessed the validity/reliability of Coach’s Eye (CE) smart device application, 2) examined the effect of seat to back support angle adjustments on head, neck, and shoulder posture in the sitting position, and 3) compared changes in cervical rotation at each seat to back support angle. Methods: Thirty-four subjects between the ages of 18 and 45 years abled subjects and subjects with cerebral palsy. All subjects sat in a research wheelchair with seat to back support angle at (90°, 100°, and 110°). Photographs were taken and analyzed by ImageJ and cache’s Eye (CE) software. Three body posture angles were used: sagittal head angle (SHA), cervical angle (CVA), and shoulder angle (SA). Results: There were highly significant differences on abled subjects for CVA and SA (p \u3c 0.001) among the three seat to back support angles. CE had high validity for all angles (r = 0.99, 0.98, 0.99 respectively, p \u3c 0.001). Inter-rater reliability for SHA, CVA, and SA among the three seat to back support angles was high (ICC ranged from 0.95 to 0.99). There were highly significant differences on abled subjects for CVA and SA (p \u3c 0.001). There were highly significant differences on subjects with cerebral palsy for SHA and CVA (p \u3c 0.001) among the three seat to back support angles. Conclusion: Head (CVA) and shoulder (SA) alignment was closest to neutral posture for abled subjects with seat to back support angles set at 110° and 90°, respectively. Head (SHA) and (CVA) alignment was closest to neutral posture for subjects with CP with seat to back support angles set at 110°

Weight reduction improves immune system and inflammatory cytokines in obese asthmatic patients

Background: Activation of immunological and systemic inflammation markers are common in obesity and asthma. Objective: The target of this study was to assess impact of weight reduction on immunological and systemic inflammation markers in obese asthma patients. Material and methods: Eighty asthmatic patients of both sex; their age and body mass index (BMI) mean were 38.72 \ub1 7.14 year and 32.65 \ub1 3.18 Kg/m2 respectively. Exclusion criteria included smokers, infections, vaccinations, cancer, surgery, immune system disorders and medications that may influence immune system function as anti-inflammatory medications, analgesics and anti-depressant. All subjects were randomly enrolled in weight reduction group (group A) or control group (group B). Results: The main findings in the present study indicated that weight reducing program in group (A) was associated with significant reduction in the mean values of IL6, TNF-\u3b1, and IL8 in addition to significant increase in the mean values of CD4 and CD8 cell count . However, findings of group (B) showed no significant changes. Moreover, Comparison between both groups at the end of the study revealed significant differences. Conclusion: Weight reduction improved immunological and systemic inflammation markers in obese asthma patients

Effect of stretching, strengthening exercises and walking on the management of restless legs syndrome: A cross sectional study

Background: Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS) is one of the most common causes of sleep disorders that cause functional disability in the lower limb. Due to it is self-limiting, it forces the person to seek treatment. Unfortunately, most of the times, it is misdiagnosed by the doctors and even if it is diagnosed, till date there is no guide program or treatment in the physical therapy. There is huge dearth of knowledge regarding benefits of physical therapy in RLS. Objective: The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of stretching, strengthening exercises as well as walking on RLS symptoms. Also, to find out the impact of muscle strength and flexibility in relation to the severity of RLS symptoms. Methods: An inquiry of 418 questionnaires randomly distributed was done. A total of 20 participants diagnosed with Restless Leg Syndrome were included in the current study. Pre-post assessment was done for range of motion (by goniometer), functional testing of the foot and ankle, RLS rating scale and RLS ordinal scale. Six participants received physical therapy program for a total of 4 weeks. Twenty patients who had one visit to have the measurement were studied for the correlation study. Results: There was a significant correlation between leg muscles flexibility, strength and the severity of the symptoms. Also, there was a highly significant alleviation of symptoms in the other 6 patients. Conclusion: It can be concluded that physical therapy is effective in relieving symptoms of RLS

Impact of foot reflexology combined with dietary modification on premenstrual syndrome: A randomized controlled trial

Article accepted.The article will be published here soon.Pending final quality checks