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Background and Aim: As the population of geriatrics increase, this group must be noticed from economical, vocational, therapeutic situations the majority of geriatrics has problems with their hands. These problems influence their activity of daily living, vocation and etc. The main goal of present study is to determine the relation between grip strength and dexterity in 25-45 and 65-85 years people.

Material and method: The grip strength and dexterity were administered to one hundred people aged between 25-45 and 65-85 years with a mean age of 53.61 years old (SD= 20.60). The grip strength and dexterity were evaluated 3 times, and data were analyzed with SPSS (V: 11.5).

Results: Mean of grip strength in group (25-45) year was more than group (65-85) year. In both groups the results of grip strength in men were more than women. We noticed that with increasing age the dexterity decrease and dexterity differences between group 25-45 and 65-85 years were statistically significant. Between men and women dexterity differences was not significant. The correlation between grip strength and dexterity was not statistically significant.

Conclusion: This study showed that dexterity is related with age and functional activities. Grip strength is related with age, occupation, gender. As the age increase these features of the hand decrease. But there isn't a correlation between grip strength and dexterity.

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Background and aim: Cryotherapy has long been introduced as a common method for preventing and reducing edema caused by traumatic injuries. Many studies have been conducted regarding other effects of cold such as its effects on muscle strength which provided controversial results over the past decades. The aim of this study is to investigate whether cold is capable of changing the muscle strength.

Materials and methods: The research was conducted on 30 volunteers with the mean age of 22 years. In a standard situation, the volunteers were asked to make their maximum grip force. Cold was applied over their anterior forearm using an ice pack for 15 minutes. The maximum grip force was measured before and within 1 to 120 minutes after cold application.

Results:The strength of the anterior forearm muscles decreased rapidly after cold application. The maximum reduction of muscle strength, in average 18% was observed after 10 minutes. This was followed by a gradual increase of grip force. After 120 minutes the force was increased to about 5% above the baseline force that was before cold application.

Conclusion: Regarding the slight increase in the muscle strength and its long delay, cryotherapy of muscles cannot be considered as a practical method in rehabilitation of patients. However, this method would be of great importance for athletes.

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Background and aim:One of the common learning disability is dysgraphia that interferes academic progressive and/or activity of daily living in children.The aim of this study was comparative assessment of hand sensory - motor skills in 9 -11 ages
Materials and Methods: 20 dysgraphia and 40 normal children were selected for comparison. Participants were evaluated by Smmes-Weinstein Monofilaments (SWMs), The Minnesota Manual Hand Dexterity Test (MMDT), Power Grip Test with Dynamometer (GS), Pinch Strength with Pinch Guage (thumb to middle-thumb to index test) and Minnesota Hand Writing Test (MHT).They were divided into A (dysgraphia) and B (normal)Groups. In this research, dominant hand was right. All Data were analyzed by T-Test and Chi – square Tests with SPSS version13.
Results:The study showed that sensory-motor skills hand writing in dysgraphia children were significantly lower than normal children. There was a significant relationship between tactile threshold and dysgraphia. (P<0.05).In children with dysgraphia, the tactile threshold was high. Hand dexterity was significantly poorer in A group than B group. (P<0.05). Grip strength and Pinch strength were significantly poorer in A group than B group. (P<0.05 for G.S and P<0.05 for P.S). There was a significant relationship between handwriting skill and dysgraphia. (P<0.05).
Conclusion: Findings of this study, could be created in the mind of experts and therapists that perhaps with determination of suitable sensory-motor evaluations of precise Prpcedure to prevent and treat children who have dysgraphia problem,

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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: The function of deep neck flexor muscles is very important in physiotherapy assessments. The purpose of this study was to examine the reliability of sphygmomanometer device to measure the strength of deep neck  muscles.

Materials and methods: Thirty healthy non-athlete females aged 18-24 years old voluntarily participated in this study. The maximal contraction of deep neck muscles were measured in different times, different days and by two different testers using a sphygmomanometer device. At each session subjects performed three maximum voluntary contractions and the maximum strength was chosen for data analysis. The Interclass Correlation of Coefficient (ICC), Pearson product moment and CV% were used to assess the reliability of different measurements between times, days and two different examiners.

Results: The results of ICC, Pearson product moment and CV% indicated that the strength measurement of cervical stabilizer muscles were highly repeatable between different times, days and testers (ICC ≥ 0.90, CV% ≤ %3.8 and r ≥ 0.91).

Conclusion: The sphygmomanometer and the method which was used in this study appeared to be a reliable and useful method to measure the force of deep neck flexor muscles. It can also be suitable for the assessment of physiotherapy or rehabilitation programs.

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Background and aim: The aim of this study was to verify the relationship between pelvic tilt and lumbar lordosis with muscle tightness, muscle strength, BMI, and age in standing position.

Material and methods: In this study, 75 healthy female subjects participated with age range 20-70 years, mean (SD) = 40.66 (13.69). Pelvic tilt and lumbar lordosis were measured in standing position with pelvic inclinometer and flexible ruler respectively. The length of muscles, including: erector spinae, iliopsoas, rectus femoris, hamstrings, tensor fascia lata & ilio tibial band, and gastrocnemius were assessed by Schober, Thomas, Ely, 90/90 SLR, Ober tests and passive dorsiflexion of foot, respectively. The strength of muscles, including: rectus abdominis, transversus abdominis, left & right obliqus, Gluteus maximums & medius, and quadriceps were evaluated by manual muscle tests.

 Results: The relationship between pelvic tilt and lumbar lordosis with muscle strength, BMI, and age was poor. Muscle tightness and muscle strength had no significant effect on pelvic tilt and lumbar lordosis.

Conclusion: The results of this study indicated that the evaluated variables including: pelvic tilt and lumbar lordosis, have poor correlation with muscle tightness, muscle strength, BMI, and age. 

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Background and aim: Rehabilitation treatments have significant role in reducing the disabilities of Cerebro Vascular Accident (CVA). Due to great role of upper limb in the function of individuals particularly in Activity of Daily Living and the effect of stability of shoulder girdle on hand function, the aim of this study was to study the effects of Progressive Resistive Exercise on shoulder extensor and abductor muscles isometric strengths in adult hemiplegic.                                                                                  

Material and methods: 17 adult hemiplegics patients (50-70yrs., mean =60.52, SD=7.22) with RT side dominancy and 6 months after stroke, participated in this study. All procedures were approved by ethical committee of TUMS and written consents were also taken. Patients were familiarized with the procedure and shoulder extensor and abductor muscles isometric strengths were measured by dynamometer.                                            

Results: According to results of our study, shoulder extensor and abductor muscles isometric strengths showed significant differences between mean scores of pre and post intervention (P<0.05). Progressive Resistive Exercise improved 34% in shoulder extensor muscles isometric strength and 27% shoulder abductor muscle isometric strength.                                 

Conclusion: Results of our research showed that progressive resistive exercise approach is a useful method for increasing the isometric strength of shoulder extensor and abductor muscles. Therefore, it might be concluded that improvement of strength of shoulder muscles could result in stability in shoulder girdle and consequently might affect on hand function in hemiplegic patients.                                                             

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Background and aim: Assessment of hip strength needs a reliable method. Hand-held dynamometers are appropriate alternatives for manual muscle testing and isokinetics. Stabilizing the dynamometer with hand will increase error in measurements. The purpose of this study was to compare the test-retest reliability of hand-held dynamometer fixed by hand and fixed to a new stable frame for measuring hip extension, abduction and external rotation strength in healthy female athletes.
Materials and Methods: Normalized average and peak values of torque of three successive trials for each muscle group were calculated in two sessions one week apart in ten healthy female athletes. Strength was measured with hand-held dynamometer fixed by hand and fixed to the stable frame in each session. Intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC), coefficients of variation (CV) and standard error of measurement (SEM) were calculated to determine the reliability.
Results: For hip extension, abduction, and external rotation strength measured by hand fixation. The ICC ranged from -1.22 to 0.6, the CV ranged from 8% to 33% and the SEM ranged from 0.007 to 0.04. For strength measurements with stable frame, the ICC ranged from .93 to .96, and CV ranged from 5.26% to 7.94%. The range of the SEM was from .004 to .08.
Conclusion: Measurements of hip muscles strength with a dynamometer fixed to a stable frame showed higher reliability than fixation by hand in young female athletes. These findings support the error within hand fixation of dynamometers and the necessity for providing better fixation.

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Background and aim: Grip strength (GS) is an important measure of general health to predict mortality, disability and function of the hand. The purpose of this study was to develop equations to predict grip strength based on several anthropometric measurements using a multiple regression analysis.
Materials and Methods: Four hundred and eleven males and 671 females college students, ages 18-30 years, in good health, participated voluntarily in this study. This sample was randomly assigned to the model-development (n=867) and cross-validation (n=215) groups. Four equations were developed by using data from the model development group, then cross-validated on the second group. A hand-held dynamometer was used to measure grip strengths. All anthropometric measurements such as hand anthropometry, forearm circumference (FC), lean body mass, skeletal muscle mass and arm muscle area were taken according to standard techniques.
Results: It was found that grip strength has a significant correlation with all anthropometric measurements. Forearm length (FL) was correlated to grip (68% explained variance) in a linear relationship, followed by upper limb length and SM. All four equations were confirmed by cross-validation. Because of simplicity and easy-to-measure the following equations were selected for prediction grip: Dominant hand, A) 0.464×Age(yr)+0.392×Height(cm)+0.681×BMI-13.035×Sex(0 for men and 1 for women)-46.160, B) 0.029×FC×FL-8.634×sex+13.872 Non-dominant hand: C) 0.347×Age+0.386× Height+0.657×BMI-13.313×Sex-44.243, D) 0.029×FC×FL-8.752×sex+13.788.
Conclusion: The six easy-to-measure cofactors sex, age, height, BMI, forearm length and forearm circumference provide a highly accurate prediction of normative grip strength.

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Background and Aim: Patellofemoral pain syndrome (PFPS) is a common musculoskeletal condition. Women with patellofemoral pain syndrome would present significant weakness in many of hip muscle groups when compared with the healthy group. The objective of the present study was to compare the strength of hip abductor, extensor and external rotator muscle groups in sedentary women with bilateral patellofemoral pain syndrome to a matched control group of sedentary women without patellofemoral pain syndrome. 

Materials and Methods: Twelve women with bilateral patellofemoral pain syndrome as experimental group and other twelve matched women as control group participated in this study. Maximum isometric strength for three hip muscles including abductor, extensor and external rotator muscle groups was measured bilaterally in all subjects using a dynamometer fixed on a platform and finally averaged between two limbs and compared with the control group.

Results: The hip abductor, extensor and external rotator muscle groups of experimental group were statistically weaker than that of the control group (p< 0.001).

Conclusion:  It seems that lower limb muscles including hip muscles of women with patellofemoral pain syndrome become weaker due to disuse conditions. 

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Background and Aim: Rehabilitation interventions have significant role in reducing the disabilities of Down syndrome. Due to great role of balance in the function of individuals particularly in Activity of Daily Living and the effect of strength on balance, the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of Progressive Resistive Exercise on functional balance in children with Down syndrome.
Material and Methods: Fifteen girls children aged between 8 and 12 years, with Down syndrome participated in this study by available sampling method. The subjects participated three times per week in a six-week progressive strengthening program. During intervention, 3 of them excluded. Balance were measured by Berg Balance Scale and right/left hip abductor and flexor, knee extensor and flexor muscles isometric strengths were measured by Nickolas hand-held dynamometer. Paired-sampled T-Test was used for data analysis.
Results: The results of this study showed that the mean of functional balance and muscles isometric strengths were significantly increased after intervention (P<0.001).
Conclusion: It seems that the results of this study confirm the effect of progressive resistance training on progressing functional balance, and 8-12 years old children with Down syndrome can benefit from these exercises.

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Background and Aim: Some studies indicated that training in elderly persons is very important for decrease of aging changes. Many investigations have reported the increase in muscular strength as a consequence of training performed on the contralateral limb. There are few clinical trials that quantify the effect of cross training in elderly adults .The aim of the study was to evaluate of unilateral biceps brachialis strength training on countralateral peak force in elderly persons
Materials and Methods: A total of 12 elderly females (age = 73.08) with no history of strength training and upper limb movement impairments enrolled in this study. Subjects performed unilateral elbow flexion exercises in dominant upper limb, using progressive resistance training three times a week for six weeks. After determining the maximal isometric force of elbow flexion , the subjects performed 3 sets of 10 repetitions of the 60-70% maximal force. The isometric force of elbow flexion were measured at the start and after 2 weeks by tensiometer. Paired t test was used to analysis the data
Results: The results showed that progressive unilateral elbow flexion training led to an increase in maximal isometric force of biceps brachialis muscles at two sides (P<0.05).
Conclusion: The increased muscle strength observed during training indicates positive effect of training in old adult. The increased muscle strength in untrained limb suggests the capacity of neuromuscular adaptation in old adult that it can be used in cases of limb immobility.

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Background and Aim: Regarding to high prevalence of low back pain (LBP) in athletes and its effect on their athletic function, an accurate evaluation before planning the rehabilitation program seems necessary in athletes with LBP. It should be considered that human movements are like as a kinetic chain. It means that any problems in every parts of this chain can cause dysfunction in the other parts of the chain. Not taking attention to the relationships between different parts of this chain may result in suboptimal rehabilitation. Therefore, focusing treatment on the entire parts of the kinetic chain besides the injured part, may prevent recurrenceof the dysfunction. Since in the kinetic chain hip muscles act as a link between lower extremities and trunk, the purpose of the present study was to evaluate and compare muscles strength of hip joint in female athletes with and without non-specific chronic LBP.

  

Materials and Methods: Fifteen healthy female athletes and 15 female athletes with non-specific chronic LBP participated in this study. Their age was between 18-30 years. Hip extension, abduction and external rotation strength in all participants were measured. A hand-held dynamometer (HHD) was used to measure muscle strength. Since fixing HHD by examiner’s hand is fraught with error, it is fixed by a stable frame.

  

Results: The maximum strength value of hip extension and abduction in female athletes with LBP were significantly lower than these measures in healthy group (P < 0.05). No significant differences were seen in the maximum value of hip external rotation strength between two groups (P > 0.05).

  

Conclusion: The results of the present study show that hip extension and abduction strength in female athletes with LBP were lower than these measures in healthy group. Therefore, hip strength measurements besides the examination of the spinal column seem to be necessary in evaluation and rehabilitation of the patients with LBP.

  

Key Words: Non-Specific Chronic Low Back Pain, Hip Muscles Strength, Athlete

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Background and Aim: According to the further tendency of osteoporotic people to use the hip strategy to maintain stability, in present study, the relationship between hip, ankle and back extensor muscles strength and functional balance in healthy and osteoporotic postmenopausal women were evaluated.

  

Materials and Methods: Forty-five volunteer postmenopausal women were divided into two normal and osteoporosis groups according to their bone mineral density. Maximal isometric strength of hip, ankle, and back extensor muscles were assessed by a hand-held digital dynamometer. Functional balance was assessed by Near Tandem Stand (NTS), Star excursion (SE) and Figure of 8 walking (F8W) tests.

  

Results: In osteoporosis group, all muscle groups were significantly weaker than the normal group (P<0.05), and the time of F8W test was significantly more than normal group (P=0.031). Also, in osteoporosis group, hip adductors and extensors showed a significant correlation with three functional balance tests (P<0.05).

  

Conclusion: Regarding to decrease of muscle strength in osteoporotic women and its relationship to declining of functional balance in ADL, strengthening of hip and ankle muscle groups should be considered in their rehabilitation programs.

 

Keywords: Muscle strength, Functional balance, Postmenopausal women, Osteoporosis.