Association of low back pain on physical, sociodemographic and lifestyle factors across a general population sample within Greece

All rights reserved. BACKGROUND: Although low back pain (LBP) is a debilitating problem internationally, there is not a lot of research on its impact on physical, psychosocial and lifestyle factors. Especially in mediterranean countries, such as Greece, it is not sufficiently explored whether physical (pain location, activity limitation etc.), sociodemographic (education, smoking etc.) or lifestyle factors (i.e. quality of life or anxiety) are influenced by LBP. OBJECTIVE: To estimate LBP prevalence in the Greek general population and explore its association with particular sociodemographic, physical and lifestyle factors. METHOD: A sample of 3125 people of the Greek adult population was randomly selected by stratified sampling encompassing rural and urban representation within the Greek mainland. An extended survey form was developed entailing three sections; personal (sociodemographic) information, questions on symptomatology and physical factors (i.e. pain characteristics, recurrence, physical disability etc.) and 3 self-administered questionnaires (including mostly lifestyle factors); Hospital Anxiety and Depression (HAD) scale for anxiety and depression, SF-12 for quality of life (QoL) and Roland-Morris for disability. RESULTS: A total of 471 (15%) people reported LBP (210 males, mean age: 47.04 ' 15.03). Amongst them 60% reported sciatica, 76% suffered recurrent LBP and 70% received specialist care. Low disability levels, moderate to high pain intensity, gender differences and good self-reported QoL and psychosocial status were reported. Sociodemographic characteristics (income, smoking, marital status etc.) were not associated with LBP physical factors, apart from age which correlated with physical disability and wellness (r being 0.446 and 0.405, respectively, p < 0.001). Physical factors (particularly pain intensity and location) correlated with lifestyle factors (QoL) and disability (r ranging between 0.396 and 0.543, p < 0.001). Mental wellness, anxiety and depression (as lifestyle factors) were not associated with sociodemographic or physical factors. CONCLUSIONS: Physical parameters were amongst the most prevalent characteristics of the Greek sample, thus offering a direction towards a more targeted treatment and rehabilitation planning. Unlike previous literature, most sociodemographic characteristics were not correlated with any LBP physical or lifestyle factors, thus possibly indicating a different socioeconomic background and aetiology domain to that of the usual non-specific LBP spectrum

The Application of NCaRBS to the Trendelenburg Test and Total Hip Arthroplasty Outcome

This paper compares the frontal plane hip func- tion of subject’s known to have had hip arthroplasty via either the lateral (LA) or posterior (PA) surgical approaches and a group of subjects associated with no pathology (NP). This is investigated through the Trendelenburg test using 3D motion analysis and classification. Here, a recent develop- ment on the Classification and Ranking Belief Simplex (CaRBS) technique, able to undertake n-state classification, so termed NCaRBS is employed. The relationship between post-operative hip function measured during a Trendelen- burg Test using three patient characteristics (pelvic obliquity, frontal plane hip moment and frontal plane hip power) of LA, PA and NP subjects are modelled together. Using these characteristics, the classification accuracy was 93.75% for NP, 57.14% for LA, 38.46% for PA. There was a clear distinction between NP and post-surgical function. 3/6 LA subjects and 6/8 PA subjects were misclassified as having NP function, implying that greater function is restored following the PA to surgery. NCaRBS achieved a higher accuracy (65.116%) than through a linear discriminant analysis (48.837%). A Neural Network with two-nodes achieved the same accuracy (65.116%) and as expected was further improved with three-nodes (69.767%). A valuable benefit to the employment of the NCaRBS technique is the graphical exposition of the contribution of patient characteristics to the classification analysis

The use of artificial neural networks and other approaches to the*classification of common patterns of human movement

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:DX191332 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Effectiveness of a Web-Guided Self-Managed Telerehabilitation Program Enhanced with Outdoor Physical Activity on Physical Function, Physical Activity Levels and Pain in Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Telerehabilitation to guide self-management has been shown to be a feasible care strategy for knee osteoarthritis (KOA). The aim of this study was to explore the effectiveness of a blended web-based rehabilitation program enhanced with outdoor physical activity (BWR-OPA) and consultation versus an OPA (usual care) program in KOA patients. Methods: Forty-four KOA participants were prescribed to follow the programs five times/week for 6 weeks. The primary outcome was self-reported physical function, measured by the Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS). The secondary outcomes were pain, PA, function (timed up-and-go (TUG) test, 30 s chair rise test (30 s CRT)), psychological functioning and QoL. Results: There was a significant difference between the groups' KOOSs for pain and symptom subscales at the 6- and 12-week post-intervention assessments compared to baseline (p < 0.005) favoring the BWR-OPA group. There was a superior improvement in PA in the BWR-OPA training group (p < 0.05). Statistical and clinical improvements were found (p < 0.001) with effect sizes over 2.0 for objective measures of function. Similar improvements were recorded over time (p < 0.005) at 12 weeks for QoL, KOOS subscales for ADL, QoL and sports/recreation and psychological functioning for both groups. Conclusions: A blended web-based self-managed care program with outdoor PA was superior in many respects to usual care in KOA participants

EMG activity of the serratus anterior and trapezius muscles during elevation and PUSH UP exercises

Background: Elevation and push up (Pu) exercises are considered to be beneficial for the rehabilitation of shoulder complex pathology. Despite their clinical utility, there is a lack of evidence comparing scapulothoracic muscles recruitment during these exercises. Objective: To evaluate the EMG activity of upper trapezius (UT), Lower Trapezius (LT), Upper Serratus anterior (USa) and Lower Serratus anterior (LSa) muscles during a variety of elevation and Pu exercises. Methods: Thirteen healthy participants (non, athlete, male, mean ± standard deviation; age: 21.1 ± 1.8 years; height: 1.80 m ± 0.04; weight: 79 ± 12 kg) were assessed. EMG data was collected during Scaption, wall slide and elevation with external rotation (EleEr) with and without load. Pu classic, Pu plus (PuP) on stable/unstable surfaces and Pu with shoulder internal rotation were also assessed. Results: UT had a significant higher activity during ‘Scaption load’ (p <.05) and LT in ‘EleEr load’ and ‘Scaption load’ (p <.05). USa and LSa had a significant higher activity on ‘PuP unstable surface’ and ‘PuP internal rotation’ compared to elevation exercises (p <.05). Scaption had greater activity ratio compared to the other exercises on UT/LT (p <.05). Pu variations had lower results in UT/USa and UT/LSa ratios compared to shoulder elevation exercises (p <.05). Conclusions: Elevation exercises produce significant effects on upper and lower trapezius activation while Pu exercises on Sa muscles. Wall slide exercise notes the lowest activation in all muscles. A descending order of muscle activity during different variations of elevation and Pu exercises is provided in order to guide exercise selection in everyday clinical practice. © 2021 Elsevier Lt

Gait kinetic and kinematic changes in chronic low back pain patients and the effect of manual therapy: A randomized controlled trial

Patients with chronic back pain as a result of degenerated disc disease, besides pain, also present with impaired gait. The purpose of the article was to evaluate kinetic and kinematic characteristics during gait analysis in patients with chronic low back pain as a result of degenerated disc disease, before and after the application of physiotherapy, including manual therapy techniques. Seventy-five patients suffering from chronic low back pain were randomly divided into 3 groups of 25 each. Each group received five sessions (one per week) of interventions with the first group receiving manual therapy treatment, the second a sham treatment and the third, classic physiotherapy (stretching exercises, TENS and massage). The effectiveness of each treatment was evaluated using an optoelectronic system for recording and analysis of gait (kinetic and kinematic data). Patients overall showed an impaired gait pattern with a difference in kinetic and kinematic data between the left and the right side. Following the application of the above-named interventions, only the group that received manual therapy showed a tendency towards symmetry between the right and left side. In patients suffering from chronic low back pain as a result of degenerated disc disease, the application of five manual therapy sessions seems to produce a tendency towards symmetry in gait. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

Cross-cultural validation of the Falls Efficacy Scale International (FES-I) in Greek community-dwelling older adults

Purpose.The cross-cultural adaptation and validation of Falls Efficacy Scale-International (FES-I) in community-dwelling seniors in Greece. Method.For cross-cultural adaptation, the back-translation procedure was utilised by four bi-lingual translators. For validation, 89 community-dwellings (50 males, 39 females) aged 6190 years old (mean: 72.87±6.04) completed four questionnaires adapted into Greek; two instrument specific ones, FES-I and Confidence in Maintaining Balance (CONFbal), and two generic Questionnaires, Short-form Health Survey (SF-36v2) and General Health Questionnaire (GHQ30). Additionally, three functional/balance tests were compared against the FES-I. All questionnaires and measurements were repeated after 710 days to explore repeatability. Results.Content validity was achieved as all participants found the questionnaire appropriate and comprehensible. Validity of the FES-I yielded moderate to strong correlations with CONFbal (r=0.694, p&lt;0.01), three SF-36 subscales (r ranging between 0.560 and 6.55, p&lt;0.01), GHQ30 (r=0.584, p&lt;0.01) and one functional test (r=0.638, p&lt;0.01 for Timed Up and Go test). FES-I&apos;s testretest reliability (ICC:0.951, SEM: 1.79, SDD:20.44%, r=0.950) and internal consistency (Cronbach&apos;s α=0.925) were excellent, and responsiveness across fallers and non-fallers yielded a large effect size (0.89), indicating good discriminant validity. Conclusions.The Greek FES-I was valid, reliable, comprehensible and acceptable for the sample tested and may thus, be used in cross-cultural rehabilitation research and practice. © 2011 Informa UK, Ltd