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Background and Aim: The effect of rocker soles on improvement of foot plantar pressure distribution is well documented. Rockers are commonly prescribed for diabetic patients with neuropathy in order to offloading the particular area of the foot sole thereby decreasing the chance of the foot ulcers. On the other hand, these patients may experience balance problems because of the somatosensory defects due to peripheral neuropathy. There is an evidence of postural destabilizing effect of rocker soles in healthy adults. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the postural responses to the rocker sole in diabetic patients with neuropathy. Materials and Methods: Seventeen diabetic patients with neuropathy participated in this study. Canvas shoes were modified by addition of toe only rocker soles made of EVA (Ethyl Vinyl Acetate). The motor control test was conducted by the use of Neurocom system to evaluate postural stability with and without rocker sole. The Center of force displacement, response latency and response strength were measured. Results: No significant difference was observed between the toe only rocker sole and without it in center of force displacement and response latency of the patients (P>0.05). The results also indicated a significant increase in the response strength of patients by the rocker shoe, only in medium perturbations (P<0.05). Conclusion: The results of this study demonstrated that the postural stability of diabetic patients with neuropathy in response to the toe only rocker shoe is the same as the shoe without any rocker profiles. However, rocker shoes increase the need for generating active force during the automatic postural response of these patients which may indicate a training effect on diabetic patients with neuropathy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aim: Work related injury (WRI) can cause problems such as change or loss in job, fatigue and burnout. Injury prevalence has increased from 10.2% to 13.5% in the U.S. therapists since 2004 to 2006. At least 3,700 physiotherapists and 900 occupational therapists membership in Iranian Medical Council and developments of occupational therapy and physical therapy domains are involved in our country and the growing trend of student admissions in these fields and also limited researches in work-related problems of therapists, there would be a challenge in research studies. The overall goal of this systematic review was to survey the prevalence of work-related problems, predisposing factors and causes of these problems among therapists and finally predict problems of Iranian occupational therapy and physiotherapy population. Materials and Methods: By performing the five stages of an evidence based systematic review with regard to the selection criteria obtained from related articles, looking for articles were done through using internet databases, reference books and Citation review. At first, 50 articles were obtained. Finally, this study reviewed 25 articles in the last two decades in different parts of Iran and the world (1990-2010). Conclusion: It was clarified that muscular injuries were of the most common types of damages caused by these works. Injuries were seen in most particularly in public, orthopedic and acute settings. Low back pain was remarkably reported. Age under30 years, inexperience and heavy work were some of the risk factors. Improper handling was determined as the main cause of injuries in therapists. Besides musculoskeletal injuries, common psychosocial problems were depression, anger and job frustration. Finally, considering culture and job characteristics of the Iranian therapists, the data and results were compared and discussed to predict different aspects of WRI in Iranian therapists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Flexible flat foot is a congenital common deformity in lower extremity associated with ligamentus laxity. This deformity may cause hammer toe, heel spur, inflammation of achille tendon, early muscle fatigue during sport, foot imbalance and pain in leg, knee and hip. The use of insole with medial arch support considered as one of the common treatments for patients. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of a composite insole, Ethyl Vinyl Acetate (EVA) with Poron layer on ground reaction force on subjects with flexible flat foot in comparison with common EVA insole. Materials and Methods: Fifty two subjects (14 Male and 38 female) between 18-40 years of age with flexible flat foot participated in this study. Twenty six subjects received Poron insole (EVA with Poron layer) and 26 subjects received common EVA insole. After assessment each subject asked to walk with normal speed across two force plate in two conditions, walking with insole and shoe and walking without insole. Then each subject asked to use insole for forty hours during two weeks. Vertical ground reaction force in the first session and after two weeks was assessed. Results: Impact force and first peak of vertical ground reaction force (F1) with Poron insole in comparison with shoe significantly increased in second session (P<0.05). The second peak (F3) with common insole in comparison with shoe significantly increased in second session (P<0.05). Significant reduction was noted in first peak (F1) with common insole in second session in comparison with first session (P<0.05). There was no observable significant difference in two groups before and after intervention. Conclusion: The results of this preliminary study show that both insoles change vertical ground reaction force in comparison with shoe alone. But using a composite Poron Layer on EVA insole has not demonstrated a significant difference with common arch support insoles. Therefore application of Poron Silicon layer on EVA insole by itself can not show a significant reduction of ground reaction force. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and aim: One of the common problems in elderly people is falling. The effort to identify environmental risk factors at home and their modifications may control falls and injury in the elderly. Home FAST as a valid and reliable screening tool is used to identify elderly at risk of falling at home and in society. Materials and methods: International quality of life assessment (IQOLA) was used for validity and reliability of Home fast. After forward and backward translation, the questionnaire was evaluated for content validity by 5 occupational therapists. Sixty participants aged over 65 were randomly selected through five geographical regions of Tehran. Inter-rater and test-retest with one week interval were conducted by two occupational therapists. Results: Agreement among experts about the validity of screening tool of Home FAST (χ² = 25.008) were more than 96%. The correlations of test-retest with relative and absolute coefficients were high (ICC = 0.72 and SEM = 0.89). Also, the correlation coefficients between the raters with absolute and relative (ICC = 0.88 and SEM = 0.54) were significant, indicating the high reliability of this test. Conclusion: This study shows the reliability and validity of the test are high. Since, test items are conformable to fall prevention goals, these results can be expected. The tool can be used by professionals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and aim: Assessment of hip strength needs a reliable method. Handheld 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aim: Muscular fatigue is common problem that an athlete faces repeatedly during sport competition or therapeutic exercise. Undoubtedly, fatigue affects the precision of subjects' performance and limits the range of physical and sport activities. Muscle fatigue advantages and disadvantages have been reviewed in many previous studies. To challenge this controversy fatigue evaluation requires reliable, stable and precise methods of analysis itself. Researches on muscle strength and subject's perception of fatigue have been done in many studies. Therefore; researchers in this study focus on temporal stability of both subjective perception of fatigue and produced muscle torque after fatigue. Materials and methods: Fifteen healthy female between 20-30 years of age, who at least had some non- professional light sporting activities once a week, volunteered in this research. Each of volunteers was evaluated in 3 different sessions. The first session was to familiarize the volunteers with the Isokinetic tests. For the main test, each of the volunteers was evaluated once and then after one week interval. At each session after warm up, perceived fatigue was measured using Visual Analog Scale. Then Average peak torque and average power maximal concentric Isokinetic of quadriceps were measured at the velocity of 60 degrees per second. To perform the fatigue protocol, subjects were asked to perform successive maximal quadriceps contractions until the three subsequent quadriceps torque output drop below 50 percent of maximal torque output. Afterwards, for re-measurement average peak torque, average power and perceived fatigue were evaluated similarly. Results: The interaclass correlation coefficient (ICC) of average peak torque, average power and visual analog scale before performing fatigue protocol were calculated %81.6, %87.4 and %47.9 respectively. The repeated ICC after fatigue has estimated %59.9, %64.4 and %96.6 respectively. Conclusion: This research demonstrated that Isokinetic temporal stability parameters were high before fatigue. In other words, both torque and power are reliable in two repetition times in a session, as well after one week interval between. After fatigue; the stability rate of torque and power recorded by Isokinetic were repeatable and this repeatability has been moderate to high. However; VAS showed a completely opposite results, in which before fatigue the stability of imagined local fatigue perception has been very low and was not significant, although after fatigue the VAS showed high repeatability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and aim: This study was aimed to examine the reliability of a developed device measuring "arch height ratio" index. Materials and Methods: 40 feet (the right and left foot of 20 subjects) were measured. Foot length was measured from posterior aspect of calcaneus to the tip of longest toe and dorsum height was measured at the midpoint of total foot length. All measurements were assessed in three weight bearing conditions of 10, 50 and 90 percent of total body weight on three occasions (10 minutes and five days after the first measurement) by a single rater. Finally the arch height ratio index was calculated. Results: The ICC values in different conditions of 10, 50 and 90 percent of total body weight in 10 minutes after the first measurement were calculated 0.96, 0.97 and 0.92 and in five days after the first measurement were calculated 0.97, 0.97 and 0.91. Minimal detectable change values of arch height ratio index in all conditions of measurement were 0.01. Conclusion: Simplicity of usage, low cost and high reliability of this device is highly recommended for clinical and research use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]