Heart rate turbulence analysis in female patients with fibromyalgia

OBJECTIVE: Fibromyalgia is characterized by diffuse musculoskeletal pain and discomfort. There are several reports regarding autonomic nervous system dysfunction in patients with fibromyalgia. Heart rate turbulence is expressed as ventriculophasic sinus arrhythmia and has been considered to reflect cardiac autonomic activity. Heart rate turbulence has been shown to be an independent and powerful predictor of sudden cardiac death in various cardiac abnormalities. The aim of this study is to determine whether heart rate turbulence is changed in female patients with fibromyalgia compared with healthy controls. METHODS: Thirty-seven female patients (mean age, 40±11 years) with fibromyalgia, and 35 age- and sex-matched healthy female control subjects (mean age, 42±9 years) were included. Twenty-four hours of ambulatory electrocardiography recordings were collected for all subjects, and turbulence onset and turbulence slope values were automatically calculated. RESULTS: The baseline clinical characteristics of the two groups were similar. There were no significant differences in turbulence onset and turbulence slope measures between patients and control subjects (turbulence onset: −1.648±1.568% vs. −1.582±1.436%, p ϝ 0.853; turbulence slope: 12.933±5.693 ms/RR vs. 13.639±2.505 ms/RR, p ϝ 0.508). Although body mass index was negatively correlated with turbulence slope (r ϝ −0.258, p ϝ 0.046), no significant correlation was found between body mass index and turbulence onset (r ϝ 0.228, p ϝ 0.054). CONCLUSION: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate heart rate turbulence in patients with fibromyalgia. It appears that heart rate turbulence parameters reflecting cardiac autonomic activity are not changed in female patients with fibromyalgia

Continuous passive motion provides good pain control in patients with adhesive capsulitis

Painful stiffening of the shoulder, 'frozen shoulder' is a common cause of shoulder pain and disability. Continuous passive motion (CPM) is an established method of preventing joint stiffness and of overcoming it. A randomized, comparative prospective clinical trial was planned to compare the early response with different rehabilitation methods ECPM vs. conventional physiotherapy treatment (CPT) protocol] for adhesive capsulitis taking into consideration the clinical efficacy. A total of 57 patients with frozen shoulder were included in this study. Patients were assigned randomly to receive daily CPM treatments or CPT protocol. Parameters were measured at baseline, and at weeks 4 and 12. All patients were evaluated with respect to pain (visual anologue scale) at rest, pain at movement, pain at night, measurement of range of motion (shoulder flexion, abduction, internal-external rotation were assessed), constant functional shoulder score and the shoulder pain and disability index. The first group (n =29) (CPM group) received CPM treatments for 1 h once a day for 20 days during a period of 4 weeks. The second group (n = 28) (CPT group) had a daily physiotherapy treatment protocol including active stretching and pendulum exercises for 1 h once a day for 20 days during a period of 4 weeks. All patients in both groups were also instructed in a standardized home exercise programme consisting of passive range of motion and pendulum exercises to be performed every day. In both groups, statistically significant improvements were detected in all outcome measures compared with baseline. Pain reduction, however, evaluated with respect to pain at rest, at movement and at night was better in CPM group. In addition the CPM group showed better shoulder pain index scores than the CPT group. CPM treatment provides better response in pain reduction than the conventional physiotherapy treatment protocol in the early phase of treatment in adhesive capsulitis

Water-Based versus Land-Based Exercise Program for the Management of Shoulder Impingement Syndrome

Objective: In this study, we aimed to compare the clinical effect of land-based and water-based exercise programs in patients with subacromial impingement syndrome

FPL tendon thickness, tremor and hand functions in Parkinson’s disease

In Parkinson’s disease (PD), a resting tremor of the thumb may affect the flexor pollicis longus (FPL) and influence hand functions. We investigated the relationship between FPL tendon thickness and hand function in PD patients and compared these characteristics with those in healthy controls

Evaluation of the Efficacy of Spa Therapy on Pain and Quality of Life in Patients With Chronic Mechanical Neck Pain

Objectives: This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of spa therapy on pain and the quality of life in patients with chronic mechanical neck pain

Prevalence Of Temporomandibular Disorders In Pregnancy

Aim : To determine if the prevalence of systemic joint hypermobil-ity and temporomandibular disorders (TMD) is higher during preg-nancy or not and also to confirm a correlation between systemic joint hypermobility and TMD. Methods : 70 pregnant and 40 age-matched non pregnant women were enrolled in the study. 30% of the pregnant women were in the first trimester of gestation, 34.3% of them were in the second,and 35.7% of them were in the third trimester. All of the sub-jects completed a self-administered questionnaire, and underwent a standardized clinical examination using the Research Diagnostic Criteria for TMD (RDC/TMD). Hypermobility was determined ac-cording to the criteria of Beighton et al. Results : 7.1% of the pregnant women and 7.5% of the non-preg-nant women received an RDC/TMD Axis I diagnosis (p> 0.05). 31.4% of the pregnant women and 40% of the non-pregnant women had systemic joint hypermobility (p> 0.05). Among all subjects who received a RDC/TMD Axis I diagnosis, 35.3% had systemic joint hypermobility and among all subjects who did not meet criteria to receive a RDC/TMD Axis I diagnosis, 25% had systemic joint hypermobility (p> 0.05). Conclusion : The prevalence of TMD and systemic joint hypermo-bility were not high among pregnant women compared to age matched non-pregnant women. And we were not able to confirm a correlation between systemic joint hypermobility and TMD

Serologic and Molecular Diagnosis of Human Parvovirus B19 in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients

Objective: To investigate Human Parvovirus (HPV) B19 IgG and IgM antibody levels and B19 viral DNA using PCR method in the serum of Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients to determine the role of B19 in the ethiopathogenesis of RA

Comparison of Water-Based and Land-Based Exercise Programs on Postmenopausal Women with Osteoporosis

Objectives: To compare the effects of water exercise and land exercise on balance, quality of life and depression in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis