Quantification of rigidity in Parkinson's disease

In this paper, a new method for quantification of rigidity in elbow joint of Parkinsonian patients is introduced. One of the most known syndromes in Parkinson's disease (PD) is increased passive stiffness in muscles, which leads to rigidity in joints. Clinical evaluation of stiffness in wrist and/or elbow, commonly used by clinicians, is based on Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating System (UPDRS). Subjective nature of this method may influence the accuracy and precision of evaluations. Hence, introducing an objective standard method based on quantitative measurements may be helpful. A test rig was designed and fabricated to measure range of motion and viscous and elastic components of passive stiffness in elbow joint. Measurements were done for 41 patients and 11 controls. Measures were extracted using Matlab-R14 software and statistic analyses were done by Spss-13. Relation between each computed measure and the level of illness were analyzed. Results showed a better correlation between viscous component of stiffness and UPDRS score compared to the elastic component. Results of this research may help to introduce a standard objective method for evaluation of PD. © 2007 Biomedical Engineering Society

The effect of temperature on eccentric contraction-induced isometric force loss in isolated perfused rat medial gastrocnemius muscle

"nBackground: The typical features of eccentric exercise-induced muscle damage are delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS) and prolonged loss of muscle strength. It has been shown that passive warmth is effective in reducing muscle injury. Due to the interaction of different systems in vivo, we used isolated perfused medial gastrocnemius skeletal muscle to study the direct effect of temperature on the eccentric contraction-induced force loss. "nMethods: After femoral artery cannulation of a rat, the left medial gastrocnemius muscle was separated and then the entire lower limb was transferred into a prewarmed (35oC) chamber. With the chamber temperature at 31, 35 and 39oC before and during eccentric contraction. Isometric force loss was measured after 15 eccentric contractions (N=7-9). "nResults: Maximum contraction force reduction has been used as an index for eccentric contraction-induced force loss. In this study eccentric contraction caused a significant reduction in maximum isometric tension (p<0.01), but no significant difference was seen in isometric force loss at 31oC and 39oC compared with that at 35oC. "nConclusions: Our results suggest that temperature changes before or during eccentric contractions have no effect on eccentric contraction-induced force loss. "nKeywords: Isolated perfused muscle, skeletal muscle, eccentric contractions, isometric force, gastrocnemius muscle, temperature

The Measurement of Rigidity in Elbow Joint: An Objective Method for the Evaluation of Parkinson's disease

Introduction: One of the most common syndromes in Parkinson's disease (PD) is rigidity. Currently, an index is used to evaluate the level of PD by the clinical measurement of rigidity in the upper extremity. The index uses a subjective method called Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating System (UPDRS). The subjective nature of this method makes the influence of physician in the measurement of rigidity possible. Hence, the development of a new standard method based on objective indices is needed. Materials and Methods: In this research, a new device was fabricated and used to measure the viscous and elastic indices and the range of motion during passive movement of elbow joint. The relation between each index and the level of illness was analyzed. The parameters were measured on 41 patients and 11 controls. The indices were extracted using Matlab-R14 software and the statistical analysis was performed using Spss-13. Results: Although there were significant differences in both the viscous and elastic indices between the pair groups and also among the UPDRS groups, but better correlations of the viscous ones and UPDRS were found.  The range of motion by itself has no good correlation with the level of the disease. Discussion and Conclusion: Based on the obtained results, it can be inferred that using viscous indices of rigidity may have an advantage over the elastic ones for the evaluation of Parkinson’s disease. Upon conducting more trials and also considering the sub indices in different parts of the range of motion, the method used here may become a standard objective method for the evaluation of Parkinson's disease

Effect of Elastic Therapeutic Taping on Abdominal Muscle Endurance in Patients With Chronic Nonspecific Low Back Pain: A Randomized, Controlled, Single-Blind, Crossover Trial

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the immediate effect of elastic therapeutic taping and sham taping of the abdominal musculature on maximum hold time of endurance tests in patients with chronic nonspecific low back pain (CNLBP). Methods: Twenty-six people with CNLBP and 26 asymptomatic individuals were included in this study. The CNLBP participants were allocated to an elastic therapeutic tape group or a sham tape group. Standard adhesive elastic therapeutic tape was utilized for facilitatory application in the elastic therapeutic tape group. The elastic therapeutic tape group received real elastic therapeutic taping on the transversus abdominis and internal obliques, and the sham tape group received sham elastic therapeutic taping application. For the sham group, the elastic therapeutic tape was positioned horizontally above the navel and applied without tension. After a wash-out period, each CNLBP participant was switched to the other group. Outcome measures included maximum hold time of supine isometric chest raise, supine double straight-leg raise, and abdominal drawing in maneuver. Results: The CNLBP participants had lower maximum hold time compared to the asymptomatic individuals (P � .01). Following taping, both groups showed an increase in the maximum hold time (mean difference = 4.43 � 50.69 seconds; P � .02). Although there was no difference between the results of both groups (P � .12), effect sizes were large for the elastic therapeutic tape group (Cohen's d = �1.93 to �1.00). Conclusions: The results suggest that the maximum hold time of endurance tests was decreased in CNLBP patients compared to healthy participants. The application of both elastic therapeutic tape and sham tape to the transversus abdominis and internal obliques produced short-term improvement in abdominal endurance. There was no statistically significant difference between the results of elastic therapeutic tape and sham tape. © 201

Center of rotation profiles of lumbar spine of healthy men in sagittal plane: A preliminary study

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Human joint center of rotation (COR) in two dimensional plans is a cinematic variable that can be used for joint assessment, motion analysis, evaluation of treatment and rehabilitation and recognizing abnormalities. The aim of this study was to study COR profiles of lumbar vertebrae and introduce a new method to quantitative expression of COR. METHODS: A total of 22 healthy volunteer males aged between 21-43 years participated in this descriptive study. Variables contained centre of rotation of full, flexion and extension arcs of lumbar vertebral movement. Three radiographies were taken in neutral, full flexion and full extension positions of lumbar spine. The variables were calculated using CARA software after scanning. The descriptive statistics were utilized to description of variables. FINDINGS: The acquired results of full arc COR were in levels of L1 (x=-113, y=107), L2 (x=-74, y=88), L3 (x=-31, y=65), L4 (x=-1, y=37) and L5 (x=12, y=4). The acquired results of flexion arc COR were in levels of L1 (x=-101, y=119), L2 (x=-65, y=97), L3 (x=-26, y=69), L4 (x=2, y=37) and L5 (x=19, y=11). The acquired results of extension arc COR were in levels of L1 (x=-111, y=133), L2 (x=-83, y=111), L3 (x=-36, y=92), L4 (x=25, y=70) and L5 (x=18, y=5). CONCLUSION: According to the results of this study, analysis of motion profiles can be clinically helpful for differentiating lumbar spine movement disorders. Comparison between COR characteristics would have facilitated by numeric expression

Test-retest reliability of sit-to-stand and stand-to-sit analysis in people with and without chronic non-specific low back pain

Background: Sit-to-stand (STD) and stand-to-sit (SIT) analysis can provide information on functional independence in daily activities in patients with low back pain (LBP). However, in order for measurements to be clinically useful, data on psychometric properties should be available. Objectives: The main purpose was to investigate intra-rater reliability of STD and SIT tasks in participants with and without chronic non-specific LBP (CNLBP). The second purpose was to detect any differences in lumbar spine and hips sagittal plane kinematics and coordination between asymptomatic individuals and CNLBP patients during STD and SIT. Design: Cross-sectional study. Method: Twenty-three CNLBP patients and 23 demographically-matched controls were recruited. Ten markers were placed on specific anatomical landmarks. Participants were asked to perform STD and SIT at a preferred speed. Peak flexion angles, mean angular velocities, lumbar to hip movement ratios, and relative phase angles were measured. The procedure was repeated after 2 h and 6�8 days. Differences between two groups were analyzed using independent t-test. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC 3,k), standard error of measurement (SEM), and limits of agreement (LOAs) were also estimated. Results: The ICC values showed moderate to excellent intra-rater reliability, with relatively low SEM values (�10.17°). The 95 LOAs demonstrated that there were no differences between the measured parameters. Furthermore, CNLBP patients had limited sagittal plane angles, smaller angular velocities, and lumbar-hip dis-coordination compared to asymptomatic participants. Conclusions: The results indicated moderate to excellent test-retest reliability of STD and SIT analysis. Moreover, CNLBP patients had altered kinematics during STD and its reverse. © 2017 Elsevier Lt

Test-retest reliability of sit-to-stand and stand-to-sit analysis in people with and without chronic non-specific low back pain

Background: Sit-to-stand (STD) and stand-to-sit (SIT) analysis can provide information on functional independence in daily activities in patients with low back pain (LBP). However, in order for measurements to be clinically useful, data on psychometric properties should be available. Objectives: The main purpose was to investigate intra-rater reliability of STD and SIT tasks in participants with and without chronic non-specific LBP (CNLBP). The second purpose was to detect any differences in lumbar spine and hips sagittal plane kinematics and coordination between asymptomatic individuals and CNLBP patients during STD and SIT. Design: Cross-sectional study. Method: Twenty-three CNLBP patients and 23 demographically-matched controls were recruited. Ten markers were placed on specific anatomical landmarks. Participants were asked to perform STD and SIT at a preferred speed. Peak flexion angles, mean angular velocities, lumbar to hip movement ratios, and relative phase angles were measured. The procedure was repeated after 2 h and 6�8 days. Differences between two groups were analyzed using independent t-test. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC 3,k), standard error of measurement (SEM), and limits of agreement (LOAs) were also estimated. Results: The ICC values showed moderate to excellent intra-rater reliability, with relatively low SEM values (�10.17°). The 95 LOAs demonstrated that there were no differences between the measured parameters. Furthermore, CNLBP patients had limited sagittal plane angles, smaller angular velocities, and lumbar-hip dis-coordination compared to asymptomatic participants. Conclusions: The results indicated moderate to excellent test-retest reliability of STD and SIT analysis. Moreover, CNLBP patients had altered kinematics during STD and its reverse. © 2017 Elsevier Lt