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Background and aim: Cerebral palsy (CP) is a common disorder in human society with many somatosensory problems that affects on functional capability. Dexterity affects activity of daily activity. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of Progressive resistive exercises on strength and dexterity of cerebral palsy persons.

Materials and methods: Twelve CP persons between 8 to 16 years old (10 boys and 2 girls) with mean age of 11.9 years old participated in this study.

Progressive resistive exercises (PRE) protocols were done on upper extremity of  study group 3 times a week for 6 weeks.  Strength of shoulder abductors and extensors were evaluated by MMT NICHOLAS apparatus. Grip strength and dexterity were evaluated by Jammar Dynammometer and Purdue peg board respectively.

Results: Shoulder abductors and extensors strength increased %29.4 (p=0.0001) and %30.1 (p=0.014). Grip strength and dexterity improved %9.8 (p=0.048) and dexterity %23 (p= 0.016) respectively.

Conclusion: PRE increase muscle strength of upper extremity and may improve dexterity in children with cerebral palsy.

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Background and aim: Asymmetric motions of trunk, external forces and other occupational factors such as frequent bending and twisting, lifting and forceful movement contribute to low back disorders. However, the dynamic and three-Dimensional motions of trunk at varying exertion levels were not addressed in literature. Hence, the aim of this study was to investigate the movement pattern and motor output during resisted trunk three-dimensional motion. 

Materials and Methods: Thirty healthy male subjects randomly performed dynamic asymmetric trunk motion at four resistance levels (nominal resistance, 25%, 50%, and 75% maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) torque) while positioned in standing with the L5-S1 interspinous space aligned with the flexion / extension axis of isostation B200. Under each resistance condition, movement patterns (range of motion), motor output (maximum torque) of the trunk were measured.

Results: In general, with increasing resistance from nominal to 75% MVC torque, the maximum torque of trunk in different directions of motion (flexion, extension, right & left lateral flexion, right & left rotation) increased significantly (p= 0.000). With increasing resistance from nominal to 50%  MVC torque, the range of motion of the trunk decreased significant (p<0.0083), but no significant change was found in this variable between resistance conditions of 50% and 75% MVC torque (p>0.0083).

Conclusion: When the resistance level is increased , the created external forces  must be balanced by internal forces generated by trunk muscles. Because the muscles have short lever arms compared with the external forces, they must generate large amounts of forces, placing compressive and shear loads on the structures of the spine. Under these conditions, spine injuries may be enhanced.

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Background and aim: Belts and back supports are frequently used to prevent low back pain. Despite many studies, there are not sufficient evidence and conclusive consensus about the effects of these supports. The purpose of the present study was to determine the effect of lumbosacral supports on motor control pattern during combined trunk motion.

Materials and Methods: 30 healthy young men were selected for the study. Temporal parameters of motor control and activity level of three pairs of trunk muscles were measured during combined trunk motion against minimum resistance and resistance equal to 50% of maximal isometric strength, under with and without back support conditions.

Results: By application of a lumbosacral support, movement response time was significantly decreased under minimum resistance (P=0/004). Application of support decreased reaction time and motor time under two resistance conditions significantly (P<0/05). No significant changes were found in trunk muscle activity levels following wearing a back support (P>0/05).

 Conclusion: By application of a lumbosacral support, individual reaction time was decreased. Although back support did not change the trunk muscle activity level, but the erector spinae muscle efficiency was increased to initiate desired movement.

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 Background and Aim: Cerebral palsy is characterized by non-progressive abnormalities in the developing brain that creates a cascade of motor deficits and finally affects functional activities. Limited hand function is a characteristic of the movement disorders in children with cerebral palsy which leads to disability in performing activities of daily living, work and play. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of wrist Kinesio Taping on hand function of children with spastic diplegic cerebral palsy.

 Materials and Methods : In this randomized clinical trial and single-blind study, 26 children (3-6 years old) with spastic diplegic cerebral palsy were selected by convenient and simple sampling and randomly divided into two intervention and control groups. During the study for 12 days ,control group received only common occupational therapy treatment or Neuro-Developmental Treatment (NDT). Intervention group received both NDT and wrist Kinesio Taping for 24 hours a day on both wrists. Assessment tool was QUEST for evaluating quality of upper extremity skills and Modified Ashworth Scale for assessing spasticity of wrist before and after intervention in both groups. Data were analyzed by independent t-test and Wilcoxon rank sum.

 Results : The results showed significance increase of total QUEST score (P=0.029) and significance difference in domains of dissociated movements (P=0.003) and grasp (P=0.008) in Kinesio Taping group. However, there were no significant differences in weight bearing (P=0.46) and protective extension (P=0.89) domains. The data showed that wrist Kinesio Taping was effective in reducing spasticity of right wrist(P=0.004) but no significant difference for left wrist(P=0.06).

 Conclusion: Wrist Kinesio Taping technique revealed to be effective in increasing quality of upper extremity skills of spastic diplegic cerebral palsy children in domains of dissociated movements and grasp. Moreover, it was concluded that this technique can be effective in reducing spasticity of right hand due to more active use of dominant hand.

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Background and Aim: Diabetes has world wide prevalence and it is estimated that up to ten years later, more than 300 million people would suffer from it. The disease has serious secondary complications. Physical activity can decrease the complications by altering the blood profiles. Patients with diabetes are unwilling to do physical exercise. Whole Body Vibration (WBV) might be a proper substitution for exercise. The effects of WBV on patients with diabetes have not been studied enough, so the aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of WBV on the blood profiles in patients with diabetes type 2.

Materials and Methods: Twenty patients with diabetes were assigned using matched assignment either into control (n=10) or intervention (n=10) group. Intervention group received the WBV with frequency of 30 Hz and amplitude of 2.5 mm for six weeks twice a week. The control group did not receive any intervention during this period. Blood profiles were measured in both groups at the baseline and the end of the study.

Results: FBS and HbA1C decreased in intervention group in comparison with the control group but the differences were not statistically significant (P=0.44).  There were not significant statistical differences in Cholesterol, HDL, LDL and TG before and after the treatment between the two groups.

Conclusion: The application of WBV with the above parameters might reduce FBS and HbA1C in patients with diabetes type 2. Increase in the amount of Glucose Transporter protein 4 (GLUT-4) is one of the contributing factors that these changes can be ascribed to.

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Background and Aim: With regard to importance of the role of balance in performance of daily activity especially in exercise activity and necessary to identify the factors that influence the balance, the purpose of this study was to survey the effect of lower limb muscle fatigue on balance in elite young athletes.
Materials and Methods: For this purpose, 15 young elite swimmers with a mean age and body mass index 17±0.7 and 21.62±0.5 during the two test phase, were studied. All participants performed the postural Stability and limit of stability tests in six for each test (three repetitions before and three repetitions after fatigue protocol by Wingate test)on the balance Biodex system. Values obtained by the system of the total , anterior - posterior, medial - lateral, anterior, anterior - right, anterior- left, posterior, posterior - right and posterior left index, were analyzed using paired sample t-test(P0.05).
Results: Results showed that fatigue caused a significantly influence the anterior - posterior, medial - lateral, posterior, left and posterior –left index.
Conclusion: With considering the specificity of training principle, the results can be helpful in the design of exercises involving the lower limb muscles in the specific direction. Keyword: Balance, Limit of stability, Fatigue, Athlete.

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Background and Aim: Reading disorder is a neurodevelopmental disorder with deficits in cognition and motor skills. According to available studies, the brain structure in thesechildren is intact, but the brain function is abnormal. So, neurofeedback as a new treatment, can improve brain function in this disorder through regulating abnormalities of electroencephalogram (EEG). The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of neurofeedback balance protocol (to inhibit 4-7 Hz while reinforcing 15-18 Hz at electrode sites O1 and O2) on EEG and balance performance in children with reading disorder.

Materials and Methods: The study was conducted in a single subject design in 20 sessions. Participants were 4 children (1girl and 3 boys) aged between 8-12 years old who completed twelve 30-min neurofeedback sessions. Repeated measurements were performed during the baseline, treatment and follow-up by means of 2nd subtest of BOTMP for balance performance and EEG for brain waves changes.

Results: The results showed that the effect of treatment on balance performance was high (Cohen’d > 0.8) in all subjects but there were no significant changes in absolute power of brain waves.

Conclusion: The results of this study indicated that neurofeedback balance protocol can improve balance in children with reading disorder and may be more treatment sessions are needed for significant brain waves changes.

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Background and Aim: Since utilization of different patterns to perform voluntary movements influence human function, the aim of this study was to compare the selected kinematic parameters of active males in voluntary and involuntary gait initiation.

Materials and Methods: In this quazi-experimental study 13 young male subjects with age (23.3±3.1) years, height (1.75±.13) m, weight (68.9±7) kg and body mass index (22.4±1.8) k/m2, performed initiation of gait in 6 trials included three voluntary and three involuntary. Kinematic parameters measured by motion analysis system. K-S test was used to ensure the normal distribution of data and dependent T- test to compare within group variable at P0.05 level.

Result: The results showed that use of perturbation that leads to the initiation of motion, increased distance (p: 0.00) and velocity (p: 0.00) and reduced the time of gait initiation (p: 0.00), swing time (p: 0.00), stance time (p: 0.00) and double support time (p: 0.00), increased the amount of hip (p: 0.00) and knee flexion (p: 0.00) and decreased the amount of ankle dorsiflexion (p: 0.00). In addition, the displacement of the center of mass in the medio-lateral and vertical directions was decreased (p=0.03) and increased (p=0.01) respectively. Conclusion: The results indicate significant changes in most of the spatio-temporal parameters of gait initiation as a result of using Perturbation that leads to the initiation of motion. The results of this study can be recommended to be used in the field of gait initiation studies as well as in clinical cases to diagnose the normal and abnormality.

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Abstract

 Background and Aim: Regard with the importance of balance in daily activities especially in sport activities and understanding the important factor affecting it, the purpose of this study was to compare the role of vision system on dynamic postural stability of young women with men elite athletes.

Materials and Methods: Twenty six young women and men elite swimmer were chosen from the available society. They were divided in two groups according to body mass index. Each subject performed postural stability tests for 6 trials with open and close eyes (3 trials with open and 3 trial with close eyes) that each trial was taken for 30 seconds and with 10 seconds rest between each of them. Balance index in anterior- posterior and medial- lateral directions were calculated and independent t test was used to compare between groups.

Result: Results show that men swimmer are more depended to vision than women swimmer in maintaining retrieval postural stability (p= 0.001), while most impairment in maintaining postural stability in both groups occur in lack of vision status in anterior- posterior direction (p= 0.001).

 Conclusion: The findings of this study can be used to design training programs to prepare athletes.

Key words: balance, vision, athlete, control

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Background and Aim: Memory and learning specially auditory-verbal learning affected on developed and forming the cognitive skills in children. The auditory- verbal learning assessed with several methods. The Rey auditory verbal learning test is a useful tool for the assessment of auditory verbal learning. The Persian version of Rey test is not used for assessment auditory-verbal learning in Persian language children. The aim of the present study was to assess the auditory verbal memory and learning performance of 9 to 11 year old healthy children using the Persian version of rey auditory-verbal learning test and comparing these data with children from other countries.

  

Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was done on 86 healthy children with age ranging from 9 to 11. Different aspects of memory like immediate recall, delayed recall, recognition, forgetting rate, interference and learning were assessed using the Persian version of Rey auditory-verbal learning test.

  

Results: It was observed a significant correlation between the scores on the first trial to fifth trial. The mean scores of the participation increased from 7.34 on the first trial to 13.93 on the fifth trial. The correct answer was more in girls than the boys. There was not significant correlation between immediate and delayed recall. There was significant correlation between delayed recall and recognition. The proactive and retroactive interference and forgetting rate scores were 0.97, 0.87 and 0.37 respectively.

  

Conclusion: The Persian version of Rey test in the clinical setting is a useful tool for assessment of memory and auditory-verbal learning. The scores increased from first trial to fifth trial show learning effect in Persian language children. The auditory verbal memory and learning performance of Persian language children in Persian version of Rey test was compared to the performance of the same population in other countries.

  

Key Words: Memory, Children, Rey auditory verbal learning.

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Background and Aim: Autism-Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are neural connectivity abnormalities at global and local of brain levels. A one-dimensional non-invasive technique that allows a highly accurate measurement of brain function and connectivity is Quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG). This is a systemic review that encompasses the key finding of QEEG application in subjects with ASD, in order to assess the relevance of this approach in characterizing brain function and clustering phenotypes.

Materials and Methods: QEEG studies evaluating both the spontaneous brain activity and brain signals under controlled experimental stimuli were examined. In despite of conflicting results, literature analysis suggests that QEEG features are sensitive to modification in neuronal regulation dysfunctions which characterizes autistic brain but features types are very important.

Results: Therefore QEEG may help in detecting regions of altered brain function and connectivity abnormalities, in linking behavior with brain activity, and subgrouping affected individuals within the wide heterogeneity of ASD. The use of advanced techniques for the increase of the specificity and of spatial localization could allow finding distinctive patterns of QEEG abnormalities in ASD subjects, paving the way for the development of tailored intervention strategies.

Conclusion: Autism is a disorder in which multiple aspects of behavior, emotion, language and cognition are disrupted, among which, autistic individuals appear to have a range of perceptual processing abnormalities, expressed especially entirely by a high level of sensitivity to auditory and tactile stimuli. It seems Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is potentially caused by unbalanced portion of excitation/inhibition, in other words a disproportionate high level of excitation (or disproportionately weak inhibition) in neural circuits that mediate language and social behaviors. Holistic approaches could help us to have better detections

Keywords: Diagnosis autism-spectrum disorder, Quantitative electroencephalography, Coherence, asymmetry, Non-linear techniques

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Background and Aim: Leg stiffness has recognized as a parameter related to sports performance and injury risk. The aim of the present study was to compare of leg stiffness during hopping test between female and male athletes.

 

Materials and Methods: Thirteen females and 12 males of the best Iranian racket-players participated in this study and<span style="font-family:;" dir="RTL" new="" b="" fa;="" mitra";="" roman";="" "times="" roman";"="" 12pt;=""> performed the bilateral hopping test at a frequency of 2.2 Hz. The subjects' leg stiffness was measured and was normalized through dividing by their body weights. Independent samples t-test was used to compare the mean of research variables between the female and male groups.

 

Results: Leg stiffness in the females was significantly lower than the males (p< 0.001), however the body mass-normalized leg stiffness was not significantly different between two groups (p = 0.290).

 

Conclusion: The lower leg stiffness observed in the female athletes may be a factor justifying their weakness in speed-based performances during horizontal movements. Furthermore, non-significant difference in normalized leg stiffness between two groups may indicate using a risky strategy by the females in vertical movement to compensate for the less inherent stiffness of their tendinous and muscular structures. Choosing the proper training programs to change the leg stiffness, may be an effective method to enhance the performance and to decrease the injury risk.

 

Keywords: Leg stiffness, Female and male athletes, Sports performance, Injury risk