The management of musculoskeletal pain and disfunction from traffic accidents polytrauma

After complex orthopaedic-surgical treatment of car crash polytrauma, we face multilevel patient problems, from algodisfunctional to psychological consequences, which are very difficult to manage. Aim of the study: identifying the optimal ways to approach cases of polytrauma with major functional and psychological implications. Material and Methods: We present the cases of two female patients, 19 and 18-year-old, victims of major road accidents that required car extrication. The accidents resulted in minor craniocerebral trauma, weight bearing bones and pelvis fractures, musculoskeletal and skin avulsion, and neurogenic bladder with catheterization. They underwent repeated orthopedic-surgical interventions and plastic surgery after which they were referred to functional rehabilitation. In the rehabilitation department we were confronted with anxious, uncooperative patients, with a very high level of somatic pain, incapable of actively mobilizing in the bed plan, one of them, within the limits of physical resources, presenting agitation and night aggressiveness. Results: After the complex clinical evaluation we initiated the rehabilitation treatment. The initial rehabilitation results were minimal because of the pain threshold, high levels of anxiety and fatigue due to insomnia. We asked for psychological evaluation and counseling and we organized 6 short daily exercise sessions, then four longer ones, so as not to exceed the patients' momentary resources. The level of difficulty of the kinetic training was progressively increased, being constantly adapted to the daily training gains of the patients. The aggressive outbursts in one of the patients were related to the dread of darkness and loneliness at night, as a consequence of incarceration from the night road accident. In 4 weeks we gained independence for eating, spontaneous urination, bedside independent mobilization, verticalisation and walking with a frame for short distances. Conclusions: Pain, somatic dysfunction and posttraumatic stress management is a complex process that requires a multidisciplinary approach, including the psychological one. The rehabilitation particularity consisted of multiple daytime rehabilitation sessions adapted to the daily resources of the patients

A Novel Wearable Foot and Ankle Monitoring System for the Assessment of Gait Biomechanics

Walking is the most basic form of human activity for achieving mobility. As an essential function of the human body, the examination of walking is directed towards the assessment of body mechanics in posture and during movement. This work proposes a wearable smart system for the monitoring and objective evaluation of foot biomechanics during gait. The proposed solution assumes the cross-correlation of the plantar pressure with lower-limb muscular activity, throughout the stance phase of walking. Plantar pressure is acquired with an array of resistive pressure sensors deployed onto a shoe insole along the center of gravity progression line. Lower-limb muscular activity is determined from the electromyogram of the tibialis anterior and gastrocnemius lower limb muscles respectively. Under this scenario, physiological gait assumes the interdependency of plantar pressure on the heel area with activation of the tibialis anterior, as well as plantar pressure on the metatarsal arch/toe area with activation of the gastrocnemius. As such, assessment of gait physiology is performed by comparison of a gait map, formulated based on the footprint–lower-limb muscle cross-correlation results, to a reference gait template. A laboratory proof of concept validates the proposed solution in a test scenario which assumes a normal walking and two pathological walking patterns

Effects of once-weekly exenatide on cardiovascular outcomes in type 2 diabetes

BACKGROUND: The cardiovascular effects of adding once-weekly treatment with exenatide to usual care in patients with type 2 diabetes are unknown. METHODS: We randomly assigned patients with type 2 diabetes, with or without previous cardiovascular disease, to receive subcutaneous injections of extended-release exenatide at a dose of 2 mg or matching placebo once weekly. The primary composite outcome was the first occurrence of death from cardiovascular causes, nonfatal myocardial infarction, or nonfatal stroke. The coprimary hypotheses were that exenatide, administered once weekly, would be noninferior to placebo with respect to safety and superior to placebo with respect to efficacy. RESULTS: In all, 14,752 patients (of whom 10,782 [73.1%] had previous cardiovascular disease) were followed for a median of 3.2 years (interquartile range, 2.2 to 4.4). A primary composite outcome event occurred in 839 of 7356 patients (11.4%; 3.7 events per 100 person-years) in the exenatide group and in 905 of 7396 patients (12.2%; 4.0 events per 100 person-years) in the placebo group (hazard ratio, 0.91; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.83 to 1.00), with the intention-to-treat analysis indicating that exenatide, administered once weekly, was noninferior to placebo with respect to safety (P<0.001 for noninferiority) but was not superior to placebo with respect to efficacy (P=0.06 for superiority). The rates of death from cardiovascular causes, fatal or nonfatal myocardial infarction, fatal or nonfatal stroke, hospitalization for heart failure, and hospitalization for acute coronary syndrome, and the incidence of acute pancreatitis, pancreatic cancer, medullary thyroid carcinoma, and serious adverse events did not differ significantly between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: Among patients with type 2 diabetes with or without previous cardiovascular disease, the incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events did not differ significantly between patients who received exenatide and those who received placebo