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Over the course of the physical activity transition, machines have largely replaced skeletal muscle as the source of work for locomotion and other forms of occupational physical activity in industrial environments. To better characterize this transition and its effect on back muscles and the spine, we tested to what extent typical occupational activities of rural subsistence farmers demand higher magnitudes and increased variability of back muscle activity and spinal loading compared to occupational activities of urban office workers in Rwanda, and whether these differences were associated with back muscle endurance, the dominant risk factor for back pain. Using electromyography, inertial measurement units, and OpenSim musculoskeletal modeling, we measured back muscle activity and spinal loading continuously while participants performed occupational activities for one hour. We measured back muscle endurance using electromyography median frequency analysis. During occupational work, subsistence farmers activate their back muscles and load their spines at 390% higher magnitudes and with 193% greater variability than office workers. Partial correlations accounting for body mass show magnitude and variability response variables are positively associated with back muscle endurance (R = 0.39-0.90 [P < 0.001-0.210] and R = 0.54-0.72 [P = 0.007-0.071], respectively). Body mass is negatively correlated with back muscle endurance (R = -0.60, P = 0.031), suggesting higher back muscle endurance may be also partly attributable to having lower body mass. Because higher back muscle endurance is a major factor that prevents back pain, these results reinforce evidence that under-activating back muscles and under-loading spines at work increases vulnerability to back pain and may be an evolutionary mismatch. As sedentary occupations become more common, there is a need to study the extent to which occupational and leisure time physical activities that increase back muscle endurance helps prevent back pain., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Sibson et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Background: Limb loss limits functioning and restricts participation in various environments. Persons with lower limb amputations (PLLA) experience challenges ranging from self-care and independence to psychological disorders that negatively impact their functioning., Objectives: To assess the functioning and the level of disability of PLLA with or without prostheses in Rwanda., Method: A descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted among PLLAs aged 18 years and above in 10 districts of Rwanda. A total of 247 participants were purposively selected to fill the questionnaires. Descriptive and inferential statistics using t -test and binary logistic regression were performed to analyse data using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) (version 21.0)., Results: Out of 247 PLLA, 99 (40.1%) had prostheses and remaining 148 (59.9%) did not. Majority of PLLA without prostheses reported having more difficulties in mobility (s.d. 3.98), participation (s.d. 5.18) and life activities (s.d. 3.87). The majority of PLLA reported mild and moderate functioning in the domains of cognitive (odds ratio [OR] 8.842, 5.384 with 95% confidence interval [CI]) mobility (OR 16.154, 2.485 with 95% CI) and participation (OR 13.299, 15.282 with 95% CI)., Conclusion: Persons without prostheses demonstrated reduced level of functioning and high levels of disability compared to those with prostheses in all domains. However, the mobility, self-activities and the participation domains were the mainly affected., Contribution: The study helps to understand the needs of the PLLA and emphasises that not only having prostheses can improve functioning but also emphasises the psychosocial aspects to reduce disability., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no financial or personal relationship(s) that may have inappropriately influenced them in writing this article., (© 2023. The Authors.)

Background: Amputation is one of the leading causes of disabilities because of reduced mobility. Without assistive devices specifically prostheses, the quality of life of persons with lower limb amputation (PLLA) further deteriorates. Therefore, prostheses are fundamental to improving their quality of life., Objectives: This study aimed to establish the number of PLLA with or without prosthesis and to determine their socio-economic profile in Rwanda., Method: A descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted in all sectors of Rwanda. As a result of coronavirus disease 2019 movement restrictions, data collection was carried out through telephone calls with participants to complete the questionnaires. Descriptive, inferential statistics and chi-square test were performed to analyse data using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) 21.0., Results: Of the 3026 participants identified countrywide, 68.8% were males and 60.3% of them did not have any prosthesis ( p = 0.003). The majority (62.4%) of those who had prosthetic devices needed repair of their prostheses while 14.8% of participants reported that their prosthetic devices were completely broken and/or damaged ( p = 0.604). Among the participants, 63.7% had no source of income and 66.7% had dependents ( p ≤ 0.001)., Conclusion: The majority of the PLLA in Rwanda did not have prosthetic devices and even those with prostheses did not fully function and thus required repair. Therefore, it adversely affects their livelihood., Contribution: The government should collaborate with stakeholders working with persons with disabilities and implement mechanisms and/or strategies to make prosthetic devices accessible and affordable., Competing Interests: The authors declare that there are no financial or personal relationships that may have inappropriately influenced them in writing this article., (© 2022. The Authors.)

Background: Soccer players incur injuries that typically affect their performance. Injuries are caused by intrinsic and extrinsic factors that call for multifactorial preventive interventions. The study examines the impact of the FIFA 11+ warm up programme on the incidence and severity of injuries in second division soccer players in Rwanda., Methods: Twelve teams (309 players) were randomised in the intervention group and 12 teams (317 players) in the control group using a cluster randomized controlled trial with teams as the unit of randomization. Intervention group teams implemented the FIFA 11+ soccer specific warm-up programme during training and matches at least three times a week over seven months of the Rwandan soccer season. Control group teams continued with usual warm up exercises. The primary outcome of this study was the overall incidence of training and match injuries. Injuries, training and match exposure as well as severity categories were recorded per the F-MARC guidelines., Results: A lower proportion of players sustained injuries in the intervention group (52%) compared to the control group (63%) (Odd ratio: 0.7; 95%CI: 0.5-0.9). A significantly lower rate ratio was observed in the intervention group for overall (RR = 0.6; 95%CI: 0.5-0.8) and match (RR = 0.6; 95%CI: 0.5-0.8) injuries. Compliance to the injury prevention programme was 77%. In the intervention group, the incidence of injury was similar across all teams and across the medium and highly compliant teams. There was a statistically significant 55% and 71% reduction of the rate of moderate and severe injuries in the intervention group respectively., Conclusion: The 11+ warm up injury prevention programme resulted in a significant reduction in the odds of sustaining injuries. In addition, injuries sustained were less severe. The programme should be rolled out to all teams in Rwanda and may well result in a decrease in the incidence and severity of injury in similar contexts., Trial Registration: Pan African Clinical Trial Registry (PACTR201505001045388)., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Background: Premature delivery is among the leading causes of perinatal mortality and morbidity in developed societies, which is an important obstetrics problem. Maternal periodontitis is a prevalent condition that has been suspected to be associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes such as premature birth. However, there are still conflicting results about this possible relationship, therefore this study was designed to test the association between maternal periodontitis and premature birth. This study also provides information about a new screening tool recommended for use by nurses and midwives to screen for periodontal diseases during antenatal consultations in order to improve the health of mothers and children., Methods: A retrospective case-control study was conducted at 12 health facilities in the Southern Province of Rwanda from February to August, 2018. A total of 555 women in the postpartum period were enrolled in the study. Cases and controls were enrolled in a ratio of 1:2; each enrolled case of preterm birth was followed by 2 unmatched control subjects that were next on the register and who delivered at term gestation. A total of 185 cases of preterm deliveries and 370 controls of term delivery were enrolled in the study. Multivariate regression analysis was used and the independent variables were hierarchically entered in three groups: The first group involved demographic variables that were put in the regression model as Step 1. The second group was made up of other potential risk factors that were placed in the regression model as the second step. Periodontitis was entered in the final regression step, as it was hypothesized as the main predictor variable., Results: A statistically significant association was found between periodontitis and premature birth. Women who had periodontitis had 6 times the odds of giving birth to premature birth infants compared to women who had no periodontitis (OR: 6.360, 95% CI 3.9, 10.4)., Conclusion: The study results indicate that periodontitis is strongly associated with premature birth. Preventive solutions including the use of a periodontitis screening tool for nurses and midwives during antenatal care consultations, are highly recommended.

Background and Rationale: This paper presents an overview of the activities and outcomes of the Leadership Institute (LI), a short-term leadership development professional development course offered to physiotherapists in a low-resource country. Previous studies have provided examples of the benefits of such programs in medicine and nursing, but this has yet to be documented in the rehabilitation literature. The prototype of leadership development presented may provide guidance for similar trainings in other low-resource countries and offer the rehabilitation community an opportunity to build on the model to construct a research agenda around rehabilitation leadership development., Pedagogy: The course used a constructivist approach to integrate participants' experiences, background, beliefs, and prior knowledge into the content. Transformational leadership development theory was emphasized with the generation of active learning projects, a key component of the training., Outcomes: Positive changes after the course included an increase in the number of community outreach activities completed by participants and increased involvement with their professional organization. Thirteen leadership projects were proposed and presented., Discussion: The LI provided present and future leaders throughout Rwanda with exposure to transformative leadership concepts and offered them the opportunity to work together on projects that enhanced their profession and met the needs of underserved communities., Constraints and Challenges: Challenges included limited funding for physiotherapy positions allocated to hospitals in Rwanda, particularly in the rural areas. Participants experienced difficulties in carrying out leadership projects without additional funding to support them., Lessons Learned: While the emphasis on group projects to foster local advocacy and community education is highly recommended, the projects would benefit from a strong long-term mentorship program and further budgeting considerations., Conclusion: The LI can serve as a model to develop leadership skills and spur professional growth in low-resource settings. Leadership development is necessary to address worldwide inequities in health care. The LI model presents a method to cultivate transformational leadership and work toward improvements in health care and delivery of service.

An important aspect that affects the effectiveness of ergonomic programs is that inefficient mechanical functioning start at an early age and that back pain and posture problems are already evident in children. Children, from a very early age, as well as adults spend an ever increasing amount of their time in front of computer and television screens. The cumulative effect of this sedentary lifestyle leads to improper posture, as well as inefficient and harmful movement patterns and loss of basic physical skills. Physical Education course should deal not only with sports and physical activities, but also with broader aspects of life-skills and physical functionality. It should offer a solution to the modern technology-based society. Keeping this in perspective, Ergonomics content was introduced in Physical Education Teacher's Guide in Rwandan schools with an aim in preventing musculoskeletal disorder in children.

Objective: To estimate the prevalence of epilepsy in Rwanda, as part of a survey of musculoskeletal impairment (MSI)., Methods: Cross-sectional nationally representative survey. Clusters of 105 people were selected with probability proportional to size, using the 2002 national census as the sampling frame. Within each cluster, 80 people were selected through compact segment sampling. Physiotherapists examined all participants using a standard questionnaire to assess the presence of seizures through self-report, as well as aetiology, treatment needs and severity of the seizures. Health-related quality of life was assessed using the EuroQol generic health index (EQ5D)., Results: The response rate was 80.8%, with 6757 individuals screened. The estimated prevalence of epilepsy was 0.7% (95% confidence intervals 0.5-0.9%). A quarter (23%) of cases reported that onset of epilepsy was at birth, for 32% onset was between birth and age 5, 23% between ages 5 and 16, and 21% above the age of 16. In 4.3% of people with epilepsy, an accident during a seizure caused permanent MSI, as identified by a case history and physical examination. The majority of people with epilepsy (59.6%) had never received medical treatment for it. Epilepsy was associated with a significantly reduced quality of life., Conclusions: Epilepsy is a significant and neglected health problem in Rwanda at all ages. Investing in treatment for epilepsy would prevent some disability causing accidents from occurring.