Background and aim: Virtual Reality is a computer technology with virtual environment and objects, which people manipulate virtual environment through active participation. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of practice in virtual environment on upper limb function of children with spastic hemiparetic cerebral palsy.
Materials and Methods: In this single blinded, randomized, controlled trial, 16 children with hemiparetic cerebral palsy were evaluated in a simple random sampling of Ahvaz city in 2 groups (virtual reality and control). Treatment protocol consisted of one and half hours sessions of practice in virtual environment for 4-week, every other day. Measures were conducted pre, post and 3-month after the treatment period by Pediatrics Motor Activity Log and Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor proficiency. Sample randomization and data analysis by analysis of variance with repeated measures were conducted by SPSS-16 software in alpha level set at 0.05.
Results: Subjects in virtual reality group showed significant improvement (p<0.01) in post-test measures (bruininks-oseretsky test of motor proficiency, speed and dexterity: mean change from 0.25±0.06 to 1.22±0.23). Results were retained for both groups in follow up session.
Conclusion: Virtual reality technology through intensive and repetitive practice in an interactive and motivational environment is a promising method to improve upper limb function of children with hemiparetic cerebral palsy.

Background and Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the structure of passive resistive moment of elbow joint acting against movement and also to apply it in order to create a similar moment mechanism for rehabilitation and practical equipment to perform joint movements according to sports medicine and rehabilitation scopes and notifications.

Materials and Methods: Eight healthy men were recruited in order to establish the subjects group which had no history of neurological or musculo-skeletal pathology. Five cyclic passive elbow flexions were performed by a Cybex isokinetic dynamometer at 15 and 45 deg/s through 0 to 130 degree of range of motion. The experimental data was exported to the MATLAB software for analysis.

Results: Investigation of the structure of the components of the passive resistive moment showed that the most compatibility with passive resistive moment observed in the combined use of weight and pneumatic resistive moments.

Conclusion: Finally it was concluded that the possibility of reaching optimized movement, reduction of damage to the tissues and joints and also reduction of energy dissipation due to inertia were provided by the use of the function of natural resistive moment of the limbs in order to create a resistive mechanism for rehabilitation and practical equipment

Keywords: Elbow joint, Passive resistive moment, Rehabilitation equipment, Viscoelastic

Background and Aim: Fractal dimension (FD) as a measure of system complexity and a chaos and nonlinear dynamics tool has appeared successful in distinguishing subjects with different specifications such as proficiency level. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the capability of FD analysis of postural stability in distinguishing elite Wushu sportsman for dispatching to various competitions.

Materials and Methods: Eight elite and eight non-elite Wushu sportsmen from Talou section participated in this research and performed a difficult balance motion called “backward balance”. Center of pressure (COP) traces were recorded and Higuchi algorithm has been used to obtain fractal dimension of COP displacement time series. Average of FD of two groups were compared with an unpaired t-test.

Results: In both directions of anterio-posterior (AP) and medio-lateral (ML), average values of FD in elite group were significantly more than non-elite group (p<0.05). Subsequently, implementing a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis indicated that FD analysis method performance is very good in AP direction (Area under the curve or AUC=0.938) and good enough in ML direction (AUC=0.668).

Conclusions: Postural control system acts more complex in elite group because of their more proficiency. FD analysis of COP time series could help coaches in choosing elite Wushu sportsman even among a group of skilled Wushu sportsmen. 

Keywords: Wushu, Postural stability, Fractal dimension, Receiver operating characteristic (ROC), Center of pressure (COP)

Background and Aim: Children with cerebral palsy have impaired quality of life for reasons such as sensory-motor impairments. There is no tool in Persian to examine quality of life of children with cerebral palsy based on their specific conditions. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess psychometric properties of the  Persian version of the parent report of the Quality of Life Questionnaire for adolescence with Cerebral Palsy (CP QOL Teen).

Materials and Methods: In this psychometrics measurement study, CP QOL (parent report) was translated to Persian based on the International Quality of Life Assessment Project (International Quality Of Life Assessment Project: IQOLA), and then its face validity, content validity, construct validity, and reliability were assessed. A convenient sample of subjects including 82 parents of adolescence with cerebral palsy (13-18 years old), were recruited.

Results: Face and content validity were obtained by parents and experts respectively. Content Validity Index was 0.62. There was a significant correlation between total score and subscales scores of the questionnaire and also, between total score and GMFCS. The intraclass correlation coefficient for the total score was 0.994. Also, cronbach's coefficient &alpha; for the internal consistency of all of the questions of the questionnaire were 0.996

Conclusion: Persian version of the parent report of CPQOL has acceptable reliability and validity. It is a useful assessment tool for evaluating the quality of life of adolescence with cerebral palsy.

Keywords: Reliability, Validity, Persian version of parent report of the quality of life questionnaire for adolescence with cerebral palsy.