Soft tissue techniques based on MTrP therapy and stretching were helpful for improving certain aspects of migraine, such as the impact and disability caused by the headache, and the frequency and intensity of headache; however, when combined with suboccipital soft tissue inhibition, the treatment effect was larger.
Background: Isolated manual therapy techniques (MT) have shown beneficial effects in patients with temporomandibular disorders (TMD) but the effect of the combination of such techniques, together with the well-stablished splint therapy (ST) remains to be elucidated. Objective: This study was conducted to ascertain whether a combined program of MT techniques, including intraoral treatment, plus traditional ST improves pain and clinical dysfunction in subjects with TMD. Methods: A preliminary trial was conducted. 16 participants were assigned to either the MT plus ST-Experimental Group (EG, n = 8) or the ST alone—Control Group (CG, n = 8). Forty-five minute sessions of combined MT techniques were performed, once a week for four weeks. Three evaluations were conducted: baseline, post-treatment, and one-month follow-up. Outcome measures were pain perception, pain pressure threshold (PPT), TMD dysfunction, and perception of change after treatment. Results: EG showed significant reduction on pain, higher PPT, significant improvement of dysfunction and significantly positive perception of change after treatment (p < 0.05 all). Additionally, such positive effects were maintained at follow-up with a high treatment effect (R2 explaining 26.6–33.2% of all variables). Conclusion: MT plus ST showed reduction on perceived pain (3 points decrease), higher PPT (of at least 1.0 kg/cm2), improvement of disability caused by pain (4.4 points decrease), and positive perception of change (EG: 50% felt “much improvement”), compared to ST alone.
Based on the data obtained, classical physiotherapy proposals show ineffectiveness in the treatment of chronic non-specific low back pain. More multidimensional studies are needed in order to achieve a better treatment of this condition, including the biopsychosocial paradigm.
Background
Understanding the functional status of people with Alzheimer Disease (AD), both in a single (ST) and cognitive dual task (DT) activities is essential for identifying signs of early-stage neurodegeneration. This study aims to compare the performance quality of several tasks using sensors embedded in an Android device, among people at different stages of Alzheimer and people without dementia. The secondary aim is to analyze the effect of cognitive task performance on mobility tasks.
Methods
This is a cross-sectional study including 22 participants in the control group (CG), 18 in the group with mild AD and 22 in the group with moderate AD. They performed two mobility tests
,
under ST and DT conditions, which were registered using an Android device. Postural control was measured by medial-lateral and anterior-posterior displacements of the COM (
MLDisp
and
APDisp
, respectively) and gait, with the vertical and medial-lateral range of the COM (
Vrange
and
MLrange
). Further, the sit-to-stand (
PStand
) and turning and sit power (
PTurnSit
), the total time required to complete the test and the reaction time were measured.
Results
There were no differences between the two AD stages either for ST or DT in any of the variables (
p
> 0.05). Nevertheless, people at both stages showed significantly lower values of
PStand
and
PTurnSit
and larger
Total time
and
Reaction time
compared to CG (
p
< 0.05). Further,
Vrange
is also lower in CDR1G than in CG (
p
< 0.05). The DT had a significant deleterious effect on
MLDisp
in all groups (
p
< 0.05) and on
APDisp
only in moderate AD for DT.
Conclusions
Our findings indicate that AD patients present impairments in some key functional abilities, such as gait, turning and sitting, sit to stand, and reaction time, both in mild and moderate AD. Nevertheless, an exclusively cognitive task only influences the postural control in people with AD.
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