---

Background and aim: The great amount of load tolerated by the knee joint during daily activities has made this joint the most vulnerable joint to osteoarthritis. Different types of knee orthosis are prescribed for treatment and among them neopran and 3 pressure points orthosis are the most common ones. Although these orthosis are used widely, little is known about their effects on the relief of patient's symptoms. In this study the immediate effects of two "4 spring-loaded neopran" and "3 pressure points corrective" knee orthosis on the pain reduction and functional improvement of the patients suffering from medial compartment knee orthosis were compared.

 Materials and methods: Twenty patients (age 53±12) with medial compartment knee osteoarthritis, with severity of less than grade 4 (based on the Kellgren & Lowrence grading method and diagnosis of an orthopedist) and tibiofemoral angle of above 180º were recruited. The functional performance was assessed by 6 min walking test in the first day without orthosis and in the 2^nd and 3^rd day immediately after wearing one of the orthosis in random order. The intensity of pain was evaluated by 100 mm VAS test in the first day before and after 6 min walking test and in the 2^nd and 3^rd day only after the walking test.

 Results: Both orthosis induced a significant reduction in patient's pain (p<0.01) and improvement in functional capacity (p<0.01). the comparison between the two orthosis regarding the pain reduction after the walking test revealed the dominance of the 3 pressure points corrective orthosis (p<0.007). The difference between the functional improvements of two knee orthosis was statistically not significant (average increase in walking distance of 15 m and 24 meters for neopran and 3 pressure point orthosis).

 Conclusion: The 3 pressure point and neopran knee orthosis can induce significant reduction in pain and improvement in the functional capacity of the patients with medial compartment knee osteoarthritis. The 3 pressure point orthosis seems to dominate the neopran in pain reduction and functional improvement (however not statistically significant).

---

Background and Aim: Developmental dysgraphia is a kind of learning disabilities in school students. Evaluation of the sensory and motor skills in hand  of these persons by appropriate, functional and real tests demonstrates that their fine and complex hand sensory-motor abilities are prerequisites of intervention planning.  Purdue Pegboard and Two-Point Discrimination Tests are used for evaluation of the hand motor and sensory skills respectively. This study was aimed to evaluate the test-retest reliability of these tests in students with developmental dysgraphia.

Materials and Methods: In this descriptive-analytic study hand sensory-motor skills were evaluated in 23 students with developmental dysgraphia (8-11 years) in Tabriz city by Purdue Pegboard and static and moving Two-Point Discrimination tests. Test-retest reliability of mentioned tests was done between and within examiners via intra-class correlation coefficient and independent t-test  was done for the comparison of the skills between girls and boys and right and left-handed students and Pearson correlation coefficient was calculated for the relationship between motor and sensory skills.

Results: Intra-class correlation coefficients of Purdue Pegboard, static and moving two-point discrimination tests for inter-session and intra-session reliability were ranged from 0.77 to 0.94 and 0.69 to 0.92 respectively. There was no significant relationship between motor and sensory skills (p>0.05).

Conclusion: Because of high reliability of these tests, it can be used them for evaluating the sensory-motor skills and intervention planning in students with developmental dysgraphia. Loss of relationship between motor and sensory skills can be related to the pathology of dysgraphia that needs further researches. 

---

  Background and Aim: Hearing impairment in critical period of speech and language development is caused defects in oral and written language. The aim of this study is to use a test for comparing the reading skills of elementary fifth grade hearing and moderately severe hearing loss students in public schools.
Materials and Methods: In this cross sectional study, 10 hearing impaired children selected from the total number of fifth grade moderately severe hearing loss students' community (public schools) based on the inclusion criteria and compared with 10 hearing children that were matched according to grade, as a control group. In order to gather the data, reading and writing tests for school students was used. Data analysis was done through SPSS-16.
Results: The findings indicated that hearing impaired children on auditory discrimination skills (P=0.001), word auditory memory (P=0.034) sentence auditory memory (P<0.001), phonological blending (P=0.034), phonological segmentation (P=0.012) and text reading comprehension (P=0.044) were significantly weaker than the control group, but they had similar function in other skills.
Conclusion: Children with hearing impairment have the same function in tasks based on visual processing to normal children, whereas, in tasks based on auditory and phonological processing are weaker than them. Keywords: Reading skills, Hearing loss children, Public schools

---

Background and Aim: Incorrect backpack carrying with overload causes musculoskeletal pain in adolescents. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of unilateral carriage backpack with load condition on height, postural angels and gait pattern in rural children.

Materials and Methods: For this purpose, 20 healthy boys children (mean age 12.3±1.5 year) were selected randomly. Each of the subjects carried backpacks with 0%, 10%, 15% and 20% body weight with speed of 1.1(m/s) on treadmill for 30 minutes. We recorded with a videotape while children were walking on treadmill. Analyzing of cinematography of movies was done with Dartfish Software (version 7.7).

Results: Based on the results of this study, unilateral backpack carrying caused significant changes in height and trunk forward lean between 0%, 10%, 15% and 20% load conditions(P<0.05). But there were not significant changes between 10%, 15% body weights (P>0.05). Changes in knee lean angle were not significant between different weights (P>0.05).  But in step length between 0%, 10%, body weights were significant. Step frequency between 0%, 10%, and 10%, 15% load conditions were significant (P<0.05).

Conclusion: Analyzing of data showed that carriage backpack with load conditions resulted in decrease in height and increase in trunk forward lean. Also the load conditions increased knee lean angle significantly. Furthermore, the carriage of backpack with load conditions showed a significant increase in step length and step frequency.                                                                                                                

Keywords: Rural student, Unilateral backpack carrying, Posture, gait pattern

---

Background and Aim: The aim of this study was to compare the neck and temporomandibular joint range of motion and muscle endurance in patients with temporomandibular disorders, referring to the dental school of tehran university of medical science and healthy individuals.

Materials and Methods: A total of 30 healthy men as control and 30 patients aged 20-40 years with temporomandibular joint disorders (TMD) were selected as patients. Range of motion in flexion and extension of the head and neck and mouth opening was measured and masticatory muscle endurance as well as the neck extensor muscles was measured and averaged values for each patient group were compared with the control group.

Results: Head and neck flexion range of motion and endurance of neck extensor muscles in patients with temporomandibular joint disorders (TMD) was lower than healthy controls. (P<0.001)

Conclusion: The results of this study showed that disorders of temporomandibular joint can change extensor muscle endurance and range of motion in neck. Pay attention to neck problems can be effective in improving patients with disorders of temporomandibular joint.

 Keywords: Range of motion, Muscular endurance, Temporomandibular disorder