The Effect of Dry Needling of Trigger Points in Forearm’s Extensor Muscles on the Grip Force, Pain and Function of Athletes with Chronic Tennis Elbow

Background: Tennis elbow syndrome (TES) is mainly known by having pain in the external side of the elbow. Physiotherapy plays an effective role in the treatment of this syndrome. Dry needling is a less invasive, novel, and inexpensive method that shows its therapeutic effects in a shorter time in comparison with the other physiotherapy methods. Effect on tough bands, circulation, and environmental and central neurophysiological effects are some mechanisms by which dry needling poses its effects. The aim of this study was to study the effect of adding dry needling to routine physiotherapy methods in order to improve grip strength and function and reduce pain, as well as to decrease costs and treatment duration for treating tennis elbow syndrome. Methods: Forty four athletes aged 18 to 40 years old who had exercise or match for at least 3 sessions per week (for a sum of 6 hours per week), and were detected to have tennis elbow syndrome lasting more than 3 months were recognized and classified into two groups. The first group received physiotherapy including ultrasound, deep friction massage, and muscle stretching and strengthening exercises. The second group received dry needling in addition to physiotherapy treatment. Therapeutic duration was 3 weeks in each group and 3 sessions in each week. The patient rate elbow evaluation questionnaire (PREE) was completed at the beginning of treatment and the beginning of the second and third weeks, as well as at the end of the third week; grip strength was measured at the mentioned times as well. One week after the end of the therapeutic period, patients were reevaluated for the reliability rate of the treatment outcomes. For analysis of data obtained for the study, repeated measure test, Mixed ANOVA, and Paired T-test statistical tests were used. Results: Results showed that all evaluated variables (including pain, function, and grip strength) were improved in the patients of both groups after completion of the therapeutic period (P<0.0001). Comparison of the two groups showed a significant difference in the pain variable at the seventh session with P<0.0001, the ninth session with P=0.006, and one week after the end of treatment with P<0.001, and the performance variable at seventh sessions with P<0.0001, ninth sessions with P=0.006, and one week after the end of treatment with P<0.0001, respectively. The pain reduction and function increase rates were higher in the group that received dry needling in addition to physiotherapy in comparison with the group that received physiotherapy after the seventh session. Regarding grip strength variable, the mean of groups was different, though the effect of these two methods in the enhancement of grip strength was not statistically significant (P=0.09). Moreover, regarding the results obtained for the group that received physiotherapy in addition to dry needling, the pain variable reduced in a shorter time in comparison with the other group. Conclusion: With regard to the results mentioned above, both therapeutic methods resulted in an improvement in the studied variables in a comparison that was performed before and after treatment. Moreover, in comparison with the single physiotherapy, using dry needling in addition to physiotherapy had a more powerful effect in improving the studied variables. Therefore, it could be said that using dry needling in addition to other therapeutic methods results in the facilitation of treatment process in the patients, and can reduce their therapeutic cost

Comparison of the Efficiency of Two Taping Techniques in Reducing Thoracic Kyphosis among Girls Aged 18-30 Years

Background: Kyphosis means an abnormal increase in the curvature of the thoracic region of the vertebral column and refers to a situation where the thoracic kyphosis range is more than forty five degrees. Vertebral column taping seems to be one of the most effective ways of treating kyphosis. The aim of this study was to investigate and compare the effect of two taping techniques in reducing the degree of kyphosis in girls aged 18-30 years. Methods: Thirty-two volunteers were randomly assigned into two groups (n=19 per group) of V–shaped tape and I-shaped tape. Taping techniques were performed as follows by applying 50% tensile force: V–shaped tape: The tape started on both sides of the anterior of acromioclavicular joint and extended to the spinous process of T6 vertebra. I–shaped tape: The patient’s body was kept in a standing and straight state and then a longitudinal tape was applied from T1 to the deepest lumbar lordosis region. The measurements were carried out before, immediately, 24, and 48 hours after taping by a flexible ruler in a similar manner. Data analysis was performed using Friedman Test, Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test, Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test and Mann Whitney Test. Results: The results of this study showed a significant reduction in the degree of kyphosis in the case of the V-shaped tape 48 hours after taping. However, the degree of kyphosis decreased after 24 h (P=0.001) and 48 hours (P< 0001) in the I-shaped tape group. In addition, there was no significant difference between the two interventions in terms of decreasing the degree of kyphosis at any time interval except for 24 hours (P=0.043). Conclusion: Taping reduces the degree of kyphosis by creating mechanical support, creating proprioceptive feedback, affecting the proprioception, improving the function of spinal erectors, and improving the mental image of the body with kyphosis. It appears that the I-shaped tape positioning on the alignment of spinal erectors spine makes it more effective

Revealing the genetic diversity and population structure in Aegilops crassa and Aegilops cylindrica species using molecular markers and physio-chemical traits

In this work, we evaluated genetic diversity and population structure in eighty-eight Aegilops accessions using several physio-chemical traits such as shoot fresh and dry biomasses (SFW and SDW), photosynthetic pigments and activity of several antioxidant enzymes such as catalase, guaiacol peroxidase, peroxidase, and ascorbate peroxidase (APX), as well as 24 simple sequence repeat markers (SSR) under two control and water deficit stress conditions. The results indicated that water deficit stress dramatically affected SFW, SDW and photosynthetic pigments, while activity of all antioxidant enzymes were increased by water deficit stress compared to the control conditions. Statistical analysis of the phenotypic data showed a significant level of variation among the 88 investigated accessions. The results of correlation analysis showed that under both conditions photosynthetic pigments had a significant correlation with each other. The correlation between SDW and the activity of APX was positive and significant. The results of AMOVA using 24 SSR markers revealed that the genetic diversity observed among populations is more than within populations. Multivariate analyses grouped all investigated accessions in the clear groups based on their genomic constitutions. Based on results, 17 and 16 markers showed significant association with the measured traits under control and water deficit stress conditions, respectively. Our findings showed eight MTAs showed sufficiently stable expression across both control and stress conditions. Furthermore, several markers, especially Xgwm-455 associated with multiple traits across both conditions. In conclusion, these results could contribute to completing knowledge of the genetics and breeding for key physio-chemical properties

Comparing the effects of balance training with and without cognitive tasks on the quality of life and balance performance in community-dwelling older adults: a single-blind randomized clinical trial

Background: Aging process can deteriorate the ability to maintain balance, specifically under dual-task conditions. Thus far, different methods of exercises therapy have been applied to improve balance performance of older adults. The present study was designed to compare the effects of two protocols of balance training on the quality of life (QoL) and balance performance in older adults with mild balance impairments. Methods: Twenty-four older adults over 60 years old were allocated randomly into single-task (n=12) and dual-task (n=12) exercise groups. Single-task group received routine balance exercises, over a four-week period and dual-task group was treated by the same exercise program plus a cognitive task. QoL and balance status were assessed by the Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) and Fullerton Advanced Balance scale (FAB) questionnaires, before and after the interventions. Results: After four weeks of training, balance performance and some factors of QoL improved significantly in both groups (P<0.05). However, there were no significant differences in any of the variables between the two groups. Conclusion: Balance exercises, under both single- and dual-task conditions can improve the balance level and some aspects of QoL in older adults with mild balance impairments, with no priority of one group over another

Applicability of start codon targeted (SCoT) and inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers for genetic diversity analysis in durum wheat genotypes

Durum wheat (Triticum turgidum var. durum) is one of the most important cereal crops widely cultivated all over the world with high economic value. In the present study, genetic variation in a mini-core collection of durum wheat germplasm, including 25 breeding lines and 18 landraces, was evaluated using 15 inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) and six start codon targeted (SCoT) markers. High levels of polymorphism were observed; 98.70% (ISSR) and 100% (SCoT), which indicated that these markers are useful tools for detection of genetic variation in the collection. Analysis of molecular variance revealed that the major part of genetic variations (90% and 93% for ISSR and SCoT, respectively) occurred within genotypes set. Comparing the genetic variation of breeding lines and landraces based on genetic parameters showed that effective number of alleles (Ne), Nei's gene diversity (He) and Shannon's Information index (I) in landraces were higher than in breeding lines. Although cluster analysis, based on both markers, separated the genotypes in five groups, the dendrogram obtained from SCoT provided the best clustering pattern. Inter-population differentiation (Gst) estimated on the basis of two marker systems representing that a vast portion of the total genetic diversity refers to variation within two sets of genotypes. In conclusion, the results verified a high level of genetic variation among the durum wheat mini-core collection, particularly among landraces, which can be interesting for future breeding programmes

Molecular and Physiological Variability in Bread Wheat and Its Wild Relative (Aegilops tauschii Coss.) Species under Water-Deficit Stress Conditions

Aegilops and Triticum spp. are two ideal gene pools for the breeding purposes of wheat. In this study, a set of Iranian accessions of Aegilops tauschii Coss. and Triticum aestivum L. species were evaluated in terms of some physiological and biochemical features under control and water-deficit stress conditions. Moreover, several simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers were employed to identify marker loci associated with the measured traits. The results indicated that water-deficit stress significantly affected all measured traits and the highest reductions due to water-deficit were recorded for shoot fresh and dry biomasses (SFB and SDB), stomatal conductance (Gs), leaf relative water content (RWC), and chlorophyll b content (Chl b). In molecular analysis, 25 SSR markers generated 50 fragments, out of which 49 fragments (98%) were polymorphic. Furthermore, the genetic variation observed within species is more than between species. The results of cluster and Bayesian model analysis classified all evaluated accessions into three main clusters. Under control and water-deficit stress conditions, 28 and 27 significant marker-trait associations (MTAs) were identified, respectively. Furthermore, 10 MTAs showed sufficiently stable expression across both growth conditions. Of these, the markers Xgwm-111, Xgwm-44, Xgwm-455, Xgwm-272, and Xgwm-292 were associated with multiple traits. Hence, these markers could serve as useful molecular tools for population characterization, gene tagging, and other molecular breeding studies

Genetic relationships and diversity among wild Salvia accessions revealed by ISSR and SCoT markers

In this study, inter-simple sequence repeats (ISSR) and start codon targeted (SCoT) markers were used for genetic diversity and relationship analysis of nine Salvia species. Twenty-one and twenty selected ISSR and SCoT primers amplified 350 and 329 loci, respectively, of which all were polymorphic. The obtained average polymorphism information content (ISSR, 0.38; SCoT, 0.40), average band informativeness (ISSR, 16.67; SCoT, 16.45) and resolving power (ISSR, 9.75; SCoT, 12.52) revealed high genetic diversity prevailing among Salvia accessions. Considering the ISSR and SCoT data, the species with a basic chromosome number of x = 8 showed higher values of the percentage polymorphism loci (PPL), the number of observed alleles (Na) and Shannon index (I) than the other species. The partition of clusters in the neighbour-joining dendrogram based on ISSR, SCoT and combined data was similar and grouped all individuals into four clusters. However, the dendrogram generated based on SCoT separated the individuals into sub-clusters in accordance with their species and section. The Mantel test revealed a similar polymorphism distribution pattern between ISSR and SCoT techniques, the correlation coefficient (r) was 0.83, and the results showed that both techniques were effective to assess the genetic diversity. Our results indicated that SCoT markers can be used as a reliable and informative technique for evaluation of genetic diversity and relationships among Salvia species