2020, Vol.15, No.1

Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine 2023 KCI Impact Factor : 0.45

pISSN : 1975-311X / eISSN : 2287-7215
https://journal.kci.go.kr/kspm

PURPOSE: Many patients with stroke have difficulties in walking with foot-drop. Various types of ankle-foot orthoses (AFOs) have been developed, but their weight needs to be reduced with the assistance of the ankle dorsiflexor. Therefore, an elastic AFO (E-AFO) was devised that not only improves the stability and flexibility of the ankle but also assists with ankle dorsiflexion while walking. This study examined the effects of an E-AFO, on the walking patterns of foot-drop patients with stroke. METHODS: Fourteen patients walked with and without an E-AFO, and the gait parameters were assessed using the GAITRite system. The spatiotemporal data on the gait patterns of stroke patients with foot-drop were compared using paired t-tests; the level of statistical significance was set to α<.05. RESULTS: No significant differences were observed in the velocity (p=.066) and affecte+d step length (p=.980), but the affected and less-affected stance (p=.022, p=.002) and swing time (p=.012, p=.005) were significantly different. The E-AFO produced a significant difference in the less-affected step length (p=.032). CONCLUSION: The E-AFO has a significant effect on the walking patterns of individuals with foot-drop and stroke. The E-AFO could be a useful assistive device for gait training in stroke patients.

PURPOSE: This study was to investigate examined the differences in the autonomic nervous functions of elite female judo athletes according to their performance by measuring the heart rate variability (HRV). METHODS: Sixteen elite female judo players participated in this study. The participants were divided into a high performance and low performance group according to the results of their competitions. The HRV (mean heart rate, SDNN, RMSSD, TP, LF, HF, LF/HF ratio) was measured in the resting status. A t-test was used to compare the two groups, and bivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the HRV elements that affect performance. The data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics ver. 24.0 (IBM Co., Armonk, NY, USA). RESULTS: The mean heart rate was higher in the high performance group (72.88) than in the low performance group (64.75) (p=.049). The LF/HF ratio was higher in the high performance group (3.43) than in the low performance group (0.83), and the results were significant (p=.038). No HRV elements having a significant effect on the performance were observed. CONCLUSION: This study showed that the activity of the sympathetic nervous system was dominant in the high performance group in the resting status than in the low performance. The high performance group is believed to be in the overtraining status who experience more stress.

PURPOSE: This paper describes the effects of the myofascial release (MFR) approach in a 20-year-old female patient with neuroforaminal encroachment and regional kyphosis in the cervical area, who also had neck pain. METHODS: A 20-year-old female presented with the chief complaint of neck pain while studying with a level of seven on the rating analogue scale (RAS) and was not taking any drugs or undergoing treatment for the control of neck pain prior to visiting. The cervical radiograph demonstrated neuroforaminal encroachment from C4-5. The patient showed 3.5° kyphosis at C4-5 and 22.9° lordosis at C2-7 according to the Harrison posterior tangent method. The anterior head translation (AHT) was 13.9mm. She reported pain of RAS 5 at the scapular medial border while rotating her neck in the left direction and flexing forward. The patient was treated a total 16 times, three times/week for six weeks using the MFR approach. RESULTS: After the treatment sessions, studying without pain was possible for approximately two hours, but after approximately two hours of studying, she experienced pain of RAS 6 and a stiff feeling in front of the neck. Neuroforaminal encroachment was not detected in the radiographs taken after applying MFR. Improvement of C4-5 kyphosis was noted (from 3.5° kyphosis to 3.8° lordosis). AHT was decreased by 13.6 mm (from 13.9 mm to 0.3 mm). The pain with motion had disappeared. CONCLUSION: The MFR approach in this patient with neuroforaminal encroachment could reduce the pain related to motion and restore the regional cervical lordosis.