BACKGROUND: Pressure pain threshold (PPT) is decreased in several musculoskeletal disorders, giving indirect evidence regarding pain status. Despite the fact that PPT has been already proven to be reliable in patients with acute conditions, there is great variability of methods and results observed within studies, and only a few evidences confirming its reliability in chronic conditions. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to determine the test-retest reliability of PPT in the neck and low back regions to discriminate individuals with neck or low back pain from healthy individuals. Additionally, one secondary aim was to establish the minimum detectable change (MDC) and the standard error of measurement for future clinical studies and interventions. METHODS: In this reliability study, 74 individuals (15 individuals from the neck pain and 17 from the neck control group; 21 individuals from the low back pain and 21 from the low back control group). PPT was measured in the neck region (suboccipital, trapezius and supraspinal muscles) and in the lower back region (paraspinal muscles in the levels of L1, L3 and L5). Intrarater reliability was assessed using intraclass correlation coeficient and Bland-Altman. RESULTS: Excellent intra-rater reliability was observed for both (ICC of 0.874 for the neck pain versus ICC of 0.895 in neck control group; ICC of 0.932 for the low back pain group versus ICC of 0.839 for the control group). A small bias was observed for all groups (-0.08 for the neck pain group versus 0.10 in the control group; and 0.32 in low back pain group versus 0.44 in the control group). Minimum detectable change of 0.63 kgf of neck pain and 1.21 kgf of low back pain was calculated. It was found difference in PPT between pain and control groups (p< 0.05). CONCLUSION: It may be suggested that the protocol with PPT is reliable and able to discriminate individuals with and without neck and low back pain with a minor measurement error. Therefore, this method may be used to detect possible progress after interventions in patients with neck or low back pain.
ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) in different frequencies on the quadriceps femoris. A randomized, controlled, blind cross-sectional study.MethodsThirty subjects (12 men and 18 women), with an average age of 24.67 years, weight of 65.62 kg and height of 1.69 m were evaluated. Three random test conditions were applied: maximum voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC), maximum voluntary isometric contraction with medium frequency current (MVIC-MF) and maximum voluntary isometric contraction with low frequency current (MVIC-LF). Four MVICs were applied in each situation. The time between different isometric contraction types was 90 seconds while the time between the same conditions of contraction was 10 seconds.ResultsTwo-way ANOVA test showed that MVIC-MF had higher values for peak torque than MVIC-LF (p=0.02). Significant statistical results were found when comparing MVIC-MF and MVIC (p=0.03), but not for MVIC and MVIC-LF (p=0.52).ConclusionMaximum voluntary isometric contraction associated with medium-frequency electrical stimulation was more effective than other NMES conditions. Level of Evidence II, Therapeutic Studies - Investigation of treatment results.
Objective: to analyze the prevalence of psychological disorders (anxiety, depression, stress) and the relationship of these factors with functional disability in patients with chronic low back pain. Study design: cross-sectional descriptive and observational study. Setting: the physiotherapy outpatient clinic of the Northen University of Paraná, Londrina, Paraná, Brazil. Methods: 84 individuals were recruited, being 43 elderly (20 with low back pain and 23 control subjects) and 41 adults (21 with low back pain and 20 control subjects). In order to assess the psychological aspects, Beck Inventories of Depression and anxiety as well as Lipp Stress Inventory were used. To evaluate the funcionality, Roland Morris Questionnaire was chosen. The evaluation of the pressure pain threshold was performed using algometer emg systems®. To analyse was considered a significance level of 5% (p<0.05). Results: It was observed that people with low back pain have higher scores of depression, anxiety, stress and functional disability compared to the control group (p<0.05). Among adults, an inverse relationship between anxiety and disability (p<0.05) was observed. In subjects with low back pain positive correlation was observed between anxiety and functional disability and, between the depression and functional disability (p<0.05). In addition, no association was found between stress and functional disability in patients with low back pain (p<0.05). Conclusion: suggest that in patients with low back pain worsening of functionality is anxiety and stress and elderly people with low back pain has higher levels of stress, depression, anxiety and function disability.
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