Journal of Modern Rehabilitation

Differences in Limb Muscle Strength Affecting Vertical Jump Heights in Soccer Players after Chronic Ankle Injury

Anggara Dwi Samudra — 2024-11-20

Introduction: Muscle strength strongly affects soccer players’ activities, but chronic ankle injuries can reduce the ability of athletes to achieve their best performance. No report exists in the literature about the role of certain muscles in affecting the vertical jump height of soccer players. Therefore, this study aimed to analyze the differences in leg muscle strength that affect the vertical jump height of soccer players after chronic ankle injury.
Materials and Methods: To achieve the aim of this study, a cross-sectional design was employed by involving one team consisting of 25 Surabaya Football Association (PERSEBAYA) players. They were divided into injury and noninjury groups, according to the questionnaire. The participants were determined based on their normal body mass index (BMI), age (17-40 years), male gender, and PERSEBAYA players. The collected data included vertical jump, ankle muscle construction, and hamstring muscle data. The data were statistically analyzed using the t test and Pearson correlation (P<0.05).
Results: There was no significant difference in leg muscle strength between the injured and uninjured players. Only the hamstring muscle significantly affected soccer players’ vertical jump after chronic ankle injury (r=0.422, P=0.035 with moderate influence) and was not affected by the gastrocnemius, plantar, adductor, and abductor muscles.
Conclusion: There was a correlation between eccentric contraction of the hamstring muscle and vertical jump height in soccer players after a chronic ankle injury. These findings benefit soccer practitioners and medical teams in designing injury management and recovery strategies for players with ankle injuries.

Sensory Diet Program Through In-Person and Tele-Occupationa Therapy in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Single-Blind Randomized Controlled Trial

Simin Dehghani — 2024-11-20

Introduction: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a sensory processing, social communication, and occupational performance disorder. Sensory diets can have positive effects on these fields. Current research compared the effectiveness of the sensory diet program with and without teleoccupational therapy on sensory processing patterns, social competency and occupational performance in children with ASD.
Materials and Methods: The study sample comprised 32 children with ASD 4-10 years old. They were placed in the control and intervention groups. The number of sessions for both groups was 20 30-minute sessions administered over 8 weeks. Through photos, videos, and explanations, sensory problems were described in both groups, the mother presented and implemented activities and environmental adaptations, and the therapist supervised the implementation. This study used three tools—sensory profile 2, social responsive scale 2 and Canadian occupational performance measure.
Results: According to the sensory profile 2, social responsiveness scale, and Canadian occupational performance measure, processing in the areas of auditory, visual, touch, movement, body position, oral, conduct, social-emotional, attentional, sensory seeking, sensory avoiding, sensory sensitive, low registration, social awareness, social cognition, social communication, social motivation, limited interests, repetitive behaviors, and occupational performance in both groups have a significant difference (P<0.05).
Conclusion: It seems that providing a sensory diet program through teleoccupational therapy on sensory processing patterns, social competency, and occupational performance is applicable, as well as face-to-face occupational therapy in children with ASD.

Effect of Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization Exercises on Activity of External Oblique Muscle in Low Back Pain

Hediyeh Hosseini — 2024-11-20

Introduction: Dynamic neuromuscular stabilization (DNS) or core stabilization exercises have been used to improve core stability, but their effect on nonspecific low back pain (NSLBP) is still not fully understood. This study aimed to investigate the effect of DNS exercises on the electromyography (EMG) activity of the external oblique muscle in people with NSLBP.
Materials and Methods: In a randomized clinical trial, 44 people with chronic NSLBP were randomly assigned to the experimental and the control groups, with 22 participants in each group. The control group received standard physical therapy exercises, while the experimental group performed DNS exercises. Each group underwent an 8-week therapeutic exercise program, 5 sessions per week, with each session lasting approximately 60 minutes. Surface EMG was utilized to assess the core muscle activity of the external oblique. The EMG activity of the external oblique was measured in both groups before and after the 8-week intervention.
Results: Nineteen people in the control group and 21 in the DNS group were analyzed. The results showed that after the intervention, patients in the DNS group obtained, on average, an 8.82% (95% CI, 6.53%, 11.10%) higher increase in the EMG activity of the external oblique muscle compared to the patients in the control group (P<0.001, effect size: 0.622).
Conclusion: DNS exercises can be recommended for improving the activation of superficial core muscles like the external oblique in individuals with NSLBP.

The Effects of Ankle Joint Position on Deep Peroneal Nerve Latencies

Mohamed Hussein El-Gendy — 2024-11-20

Introduction: Joint positioning can impact nerve function. Few studies have explored the effects of ankle positions on deep peroneal nerve conduction. This cross-sectional study investigated the influence of different ankle joint positions on the deep peroneal nerve’s distal motor and sensory onset latencies.
Materials and Methods: A total of 31 healthy adults (23.4±3.9 years old) underwent a deep peroneal nerve conduction study. Distal motor and sensory onset latencies were measured at neutral (0°), dorsiflexion (20°) and plantar flexion (40°) ankle positions.
Results: Changing ankle position significantly affected distal motor (P=0.001) and sensory onset latencies (P=0.001). Latencies were shortest in dorsiflexion (motor: 3.8±0.46; sensory: 2.4±0.2 ms), followed by neutral (motor: 4.2±0.5; sensory: 2.6±0.3 ms) and most prolonged in plantar flexion (motor: 5±0.6; sensory: 3.3±0.2 ms).
Conclusion: Ankle position impacts deep peroneal nerve conduction. Dorsiflexion and neutral positions reduced distal motor and sensory latencies compared to plantar flexion. These findings provide preliminary evidence that may help optimize ankle positioning in electrodiagnostic testing. Further blinded research with larger, more diverse samples is warranted.

The Relationship between the Depression and Anxiety Stress Survey Questionnaire, Salivary Cortisol and Heart Rate Variability

Fateme Sangtarash — 2024-11-20

Introduction: Cortisol and heart rate variability (HRV) represent the activity of physiological stress axes. The depression and anxiety stress survey (DASS-42) is widely used to assess stress. This study examines the correlations between the DASS-42 questionnaire and stress markers, salivary cortisol levels and HRV.
Materials and Methods: A total of 195 healthy volunteers (145 males and 50 females) participated in this study. At first, the DASS-42 survey form was completed. The salivary cortisol samples were collected, and the electrocardiograms were recorded. Differences in cortisol levels between baseline and post-trier social stress tests were recorded as changes in cortisol after stress (CCAS). Measurements were made to establish whether the overall DASS and its subscales (stress, anxiety and depression) were correlated with baseline cortisol, CCAS, and HRV indices.
Results: The anxiety-DASS subscale score correlated negatively with the CCAS score in women (r=-0.429, P=0.002). The DASS score was significantly correlated with heart rate (r=0.25, P=0.007) and SD2 of the Poincare plot (r=-0.272, P=0.004) in men. In contrast, women showed significant correlations between total DASS scores with very low-frequency power (r=-0.40, P=0.005) and detrended fluctuation analysis (r=-0.30, P=0.034). The anxiety-DASS subscale correlated with HRV in both genders.
Conclusion: The anxiety-DASS subscale represents the sympathetic-adrenal medulla (SAM) activity. Clinicians can estimate the activity of this stress axis by using the anxiety subscale of the DASS questionnaire. Meanwhile, gender differences should be noted when assessing stress.