Journal of Modern Rehabilitation

Effectiveness of Psychophysical Visual Stimuli-Based Interventions in Amblyopia Treatment: A Systematic Review

Wed, 11 Jun 2025 15:12:24 +0430

Introduction: Active vision therapy, integrating perceptual learning with dichoptic or binocular environments, has shown potential effectiveness in treating amblyopia. However, uncertainties linger regarding the optimal types of stimuli and the best approaches and sequences for their presentation. This systematic review evaluates the effectiveness of psychophysical visual stimuli-based interventions, particularly perceptual learning and dichoptic training, in treating amblyopia.
Materials and Methods: A comprehensive literature search across major databases, such as PubMed and Google Scholar, yielded 26 studies involving 993 amblyopic patients. These studies investigated various visual training methods, including perceptual learning, dichoptic stimulation, and combinations of both, with stimuli such as Gabor patches, letter optotypes, Vernier stimuli, and random-dot stereograms.
Results: The findings indicate that perceptual learning enhances visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, and stereopsis, even in adult patients, by leveraging neural plasticity. Dichoptic training, which engages both eyes simultaneously, shows promise in reducing suppression and improving binocular integration, providing a potential advantage over traditional patching therapy. Gabor patches emerged as particularly effective, stimulating the visual cortex to drive neural efficiency.
Conclusion: Vision therapy can be an effective strategy for treating amblyopia and potentially reduce the overall treatment time when used alongside patching. In addition, it is imperative to modify the stimuli to align with the distinct characteristics of the patient during both monocular and binocular training.

Reliability and Validity of the Lower Extremity Motor Activity Log in Persian People with Ankle Sprain

Amir Seyed Ahmadi, Laleh Lajevardi, Ghorban Taghizadeh, Akram Azad — Tue, 10 Jun 2025 13:13:23 +0430

Background: Ankle sprains are among the most common injuries and affect functional mobility, lower extremity function and health status. Accessing to a reliable measurement tool to assess diverse real-world lower extremity use in patients following ankle sprain seems essential. Researchers have developed number of measurements to determine rehabilitation goals and also measure the effects of therapeutic interventions. This study was conducted to translate the original English Lower Extremity Motor Activity Log (LE-MAL) to Persian and to investigate the psychometric properties of the Persian version.
Material and Methods: The LE-MAL was translated to Persian and adapted to the Persian culture. Then a total of 140 patients with ankle sprain filled out the Persian LE-MAL, Lower Extremity Functional Scale (LEFS) and Life Space Questionnaire (LSQ). The Persian LE-MAL was re-completed by participants with an interval of two weeks and internal consistency, test-retest reliability and construct validity were investigated.
Results: The Persian LE-MAL had good internal consistency (Cronbach's α =0.95) and test-retest reliability (ICC=0.76). The construct validity of the Persian LE-MAL was demonstrated to be acceptable as a result of its significantly strong correlations with LEFS and LSQ (0.74<r<0.77). Standard error of measurement was less than 10% of the total instrument score (SEM=0.43) and minimal detectable change was 1.2. No ceiling and floor effect observed.
Conclusion: Persian version of LE-MAL is a valid and reliable measurement to assess lower extremity function in people with ankle sprain.

Integrating the Effect of Franklin Method along with Pelvic Floor Muscle Training in Pelvic Organ Prolapse

Keerthana Ravi, Senthilkumar Selvakumar, Mohammed Munvar Rizwan Basha — Sat, 07 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0430

Background: Pelvic organ prolapse (POP) is the descent of pelvic organ from its anatomical position which affects the quality of life in women. Traditional pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT) has shown benefits, but adherence and technique execution can be challenging. The Franklin method allows individuals to recognise the body image and enhance neuromuscular control. This study aims to determine the effects of Franklin method with Pelvic Floor Muscle Training for women with POP.
Methods: This study includes a group of women with pelvic organ prolapse stage 1 and 2, age 45-55, no associated neurological defects and no present history of the uro-gynecological disorder. Participants were excluded from the study if they had any of the following: uncontrolled systemic illness, history of malignancy, active infection such as pelvic inflammatory disease, ongoing hormonal therapy, inability to understand or respond accurately to the questionnaire, or if they had undergone pelvic surgery within the past 4 weeks. All the participants (120) underwent Franklin method and PFMT for 6 weeks, the outcome measures included Prolapse Quality of Life questionnaire (P-QoL) and ICIQ-FLUTS tamil measured before and after intervention.
Result: The mean values of P-QoL before and after intervention were 56.74 and 47.06. In ICIQ-FLUTS tamil, the overall mean value was pre-test:36.09 and post-test:20.22. Quality of life and incontinence symptoms showed a significant improvement (p value ≤0.001) after the 6 weeks of intervention.
Conclusion: Franklin method along with PFMT showed significant improvement in symptoms of POP.

Effects of Hamstring Flossing on Balance and Foot Function in Female Patients with Plantar Fasciopathy: A Randomized Controlled Study

Tue, 03 Jun 2025 11:04:20 +0430

Background: A relation between hamstring tightness and Plantar Fasciopathy (PF) has been reported in the literature. Hamstring flossing was reported to improve hamstring flexibility, however its effect on balance and foot function in patients with PF was not clearly investigated. The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of conventional physical therapy treatment protocol plus hamstring flossing with conventional physical therapy treatment protocol alone on balance and foot function in patients with PF.
Materials and Methods: Thirty patients with PF were randomly assigned into study group (A) patients received hamstring flossing in addition to the conventional physical therapy treatment protocol, whereas patients in control group (B) received only the conventional physical therapy treatment protocol. Foot function was evaluated by Foot Function Index (FFI), while Overall Stability Index (OSI) was assessed by the Biodex Balance system. The outcomes were evaluated at the baseline and after three weeks of intervention. The groups were compared using the two-way mixed design MANOVA test.
Results: Results revealed a significant improvement in the post testing mean values of FFI score and OSI compared with the pre testing ones in flossing and control groups (p = 0.001). No significant differences for both variables post-treatment between both groups were found (P>0.05).
Conclusion: The combination of conventional treatment of PF and hamstring flossing had no additive gain compared with conventional treatment only for managing patients with plantar fasciopathy

Logistic Regression Analysis of Functional Constipation Factors in the Elderly

Zeynab Shiravi, Zahra Abdollahzade, Saeed Talebian, Fatemeh Alsadat Mirzadeh — Tue, 03 Jun 2025 10:03:28 +0430

Background: Machine learning software programs are of great interest at the scientific and applied levels in medical sciences today. There are various applications for these software programs in the field of diagnosis and treatment of diseases. Elderly people can benefit significantly from these software programs due to their physical limitations. The aim of this study is to develop and evaluate a supervised machine learning model for predicting functional constipation (FC) in the elderly.
Methods: The specific software in excel was designed as logistic regression supervised machine learning (LR-SML 402). This software development was based on a secondary analysis of source data, exclusive articles, and doctoral dissertations of elderly individuals with FC who underwent colorectal evaluations using advanced laboratory equipment. The correlation between labeled data and the output data of colorectal parameters was measured using 480 datasets from published sources and research labs. Strong correlations were obtained between variables such as age, body mass index, and Wexner's questionnaire with indicators of FC.
Results: To validate the performance of LR-SML 402, the results were compared with those of a neural network in SPSS software. The model designed in Excel software demonstrated strong capability in terms of sensitivity, specificity, and area under the curve (AUC).
Conclusion: The findings show that the supervised machine learning approach using logistic regression may provide meaningful clinical predictions in determining laboratory indicators of FC in the elderly. This approach can reduce the time and cost of diagnosis.