Effect of core stability and general exercise on functional activity in non- specific low back pain patients

Background and Objective: Low back pain is a common musculoskeletal disorder. Core stability exercises have been recommended to improve neuromuscular skeletal system function in order to increase the protection of vertebral column and improve functional activities. This study was done to evaluate the effect of core stability and general exercise on functional activity in non- specific low back pain patients

Methods: In this clinical trail study, sixty patients with chronic low back pain were randomly divided into general exercise [n=30] and core stability [n=30] groups. The protocol of intervention included 4 weeks [3 sessions in week] of designed exercise for each group. The functional activities were measured before and after intervention

Results: Functional activity indicators were significantly increased in core stability exercise compared to general exercise [P<0.05]

Conclusion: Core stability exercise is more effective than general exercise to improve functional activities in patients with non-specific low back pain

[Effect of exercises downhill and uphill running on serum adiponectin and glucose in type-2 diabetic patients]

Adiponectin is an adipocyte-secreted hormone. Low levels of Adiponectin may indicate the insulin resistance and development of diabetes. The regular exercise therapy induces insulin resistance to be reduced. Glucose uptake increase in muscles, increased adiponectin levels and decreased of HbA[1]c in diabetic patients. This study was designed to evaluated the effect of down-hill and up-hill running exercises on the adiponectin and serum glucose in type-2 diabetic patients. This clinical trial study was conducted on 28 patients [13 male and 15 female], age 40 to 60 years, with type-2 diabetes, in neuromuscular rehabilitation research center, Semnan, Iran during 2009. Participants were assigned randomly in one of the two experimental groups, eccentric or concentric exercise using treadmill. Before and after control and intervention period, glucose, HbA[1]c and adiponectin serum were measured in both groups. Data were analyzed using SPSS-18, Kolmogorov- Smirnov, Repeated Measures ANOVA, Tukey and independent t tests. Eccentric and concentric exercise significantly decreased glucose, HbA[1]c and also increased adiponectin levels [P<0.05] in type-2 diabetic patients. However, eccentric exercise also significantly reduced glucose and HbA[1]c and increased adiponectin levels compared to the concentric exercise [P<0.05]. This study showed that eccentric exercise are more effective than concentric exercise to reduce and control the blood glucose level and improve serum adiponectin in type-2 diabetes mellitus patients

[Investigation on the effect of stabilizer exercises on the forward head posture correction]

Forward head posture [FHP] is one of the most common faulty postures to be accompanied by the deep neck stabilizer muscle weakness. Physiotherapists usually recommend using the chin-tuck exercises to correct this faulty posture. This study has been designed to examine the effect of added stabilizing exercise to the Chin-tuck exercise on FHP correction. It was a quasi-experimental study. Forty seven university female students who had FHP, were assigned randomly in one of two comparison groups, an experimental group [receiving combined intervention of chin-tuck and stabilization exercises, n=24] or a control group [receiving only the chin-tuck exercise intervention, n=23]. Participants were completed their exercise protocol twice daily for four weeks. The amount of forward head displacement was measured before and immediately after four weeks' intervention and after three months' follow-up too. After intervention, significantly decreased in the FHP was seen in both experimental [mean=2.1 cm, P<0.0001] and control [mean=1 cm, P=0.03] groups. The comparison of the mean changes of forward head displacement between groups indicated the significantly more FHP correction in the experimental group immediately after intervention [mean difference=1.1 cm, P=0.001] and also after a three months follow-up periods [mean difference=1.7 cm, P<0.0001], compared to the control group. Our results showed that the combination of stabilization exercises and chin-tuck exercises provide not only the better correction effect for FHP patients, but could be provided a more effective and stable corrected posture. More study might be needed to investigate the effect of single stabilization exercise protocol on the forward head posture correction

Comparison between the effects of forward and backward running exercises on lower limb function tests

Running is a basic pattern of the movement causing improvement of functional disorders of the lower limbs. The aim of this study was to determine the suitable method in running exercise [forward or backward] for improvement of the lower limb function. In this interventional study, 40 healthy female subjects with the range of 18-24 years old were included. They randomely separated into two groups, forward and backward running groups. The interventional programme included two methods of running undertaken three days per week for a period of six weeks. Four types of the lower limbs functional tests; Modified Romberg, Vertical Jumping, Single Leg Hop Test for Distance, and Single Leg Hop Test for Time were applied to determine the suitable method of running. The measurements were carried out as pre- and post- tests for analysis of data, paired and independent t tests were used. During backward running, there were statistically significant differences [p<0.05] between pre- and post- tests in all four measurement methods, and it improved the lower limb function. However, these findings were observed only in two methods of measurement during forward running [p<0.05]. The results of this study indicated that the effects of backward running exercises on lower limb function tests are significantly more effective than forward running and it may improve dysfunctions of the lower limb

[ effect of inspiratory muscle training method on the vital capacity]

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of special exercises training protocol of the inspiratory muscles on the vital capacity. 62 normal subjects' female students without any respiratory disease history participated in the study. At first, all subjects participated in a familiarization session to learn a correct pattern of ventilation and then the vital capacity was measured by spirometer. The vital capacity [VC] and%80 of maximum voluntary contraction [MVC] force of inspiratory muscles were assessed and monitored by computerized spirometry machine to the subjects .The subjects were randomly assigned in two control [n=30] and experimental [n=32] groups. Subjects in the experimental group were asked to perform a daily inspiratory exercise protocol including 6 inspiration muscle contraction [using%80 of MVC]. Each contraction was separated with a rest time from the next contraction. The first rest time was 60 seconds and second rest time was 45 second and so on 30, 15, 10 seconds. The control group did not performance any other form of exercises. The VC was recorded at the end of each week in both groups and compared to the base line by paired t Test. The results revealed that there are significant increase in the VC at the end of the fifth week [P<0.001] and tenth week [P<0.001] in the experimental group while no significant change was found in the control group. These findings show that the average changes of vital capacity in end of 10 weeks increased significantly in inspiratory muscle training group rather than control group. Inspiratory muscle training is a suitable method to increase the ventilation vital capacity and further study is needed to investigate the stability of the increased VC by this method and also the effect of this inspiratory training method on the patient with respiratory disease