ABSTRACT
Objective@#To determine the effects of lower limb muscle fatigue on spatiotemporal gait parameters and turning difficulty characteristics during the extended Timed Up and Go (extended TUG) test in individuals with different severity stages of Parkinson’s disease (PD). @*Methods@#Forty individuals with PD, classified as Hoehn and Yahr (H&Y) stages 2 and 3 participated in this pre- and post-experimental study design. The participants performed a continuous sit-to-stand task from a chair based on 30 cycles/min set-up to induce lower limb muscle fatigue. They performed extended TUG test immediately before and after completing the fatigue protocol. Spatiotemporal gait parameters and turning difficulty characteristics were recorded using two GoPro® Hero 4 Silver cameras. Data were subjected to a repeated-measure ANOVA. @*Results@#Individuals with PD experience significant changes in spatiotemporal gait parameters, specifically stride velocity and length, under conditions of lower limb muscle fatigue (p=0.001). These changes were more pronounced in individuals with PD in the H&Y stage 3 group. Additionally, both PD groups exhibited difficulty with turning, requiring more than five steps to complete a 180° turn and taking more than 3 seconds to accomplish it. @*Conclusion@#These findings highlight the impact of muscle fatigue on gait performance in PD and suggest that individuals in later stages of the disease may be particularly affected. Further research is needed to explore interventions that can mitigate these gait impairments and improve mobility in individuals with PD.
ABSTRACT
Background: plantar fasciitis [PF] is one of the common musculoskeletal problems worldwide that has been treated using the extracorporeal shock wave therapy [ESWT]. The purpose of this study was to investigate the short-term effectiveness of ESWT in reducing pain and improving function in people with PF
Materials and Methods: a sample of 34 subjects with PF [21 female] was randomly assigned to either the ESWT treatment group [n=15] or the placebo control group [n=19]. Each subject received 3 sessions of ESWT 1 week apart with a clasp on the heel for the placebo control group. Pain and functional level were examined using the Visual Analog Scale [VAS] and the Roles and Maudsley Score [RM] respectively at baseline, end of treatment and 3 weeks after the last intervention session
Results: participants in the ESWT treatment group had significant improvement in both VAS and RM at the end of the treatment and follow up. Whereas participants in the placebo group did not improve significantly at the end of the treatment neither in VAS nor in RM scores while reported significant improvement at the follow up in both outcome measures. When comparing results between groups, pain scores were higher in the placebo group at the end of treatment and follow up. However, no significant differences were observed between groups in outcome measures
Conclusions: the use of ESWT demonstrated successful reduction in pain and improvement in functional level with individuals suffering from PF after a short-term follow up