ABSTRACT
Objectives: The purposes of this study were: [1] to show the impact of chronic low back pain [CLBP] on physical performance, fear avoidance behavior and depressive symptoms in older adults; [2] to describe the relationships between outcome measurements obtained in this study
Methodology: Ninety-one participants with or without chronic low back pain were included in this study. Only four tests in the Back Performance Scale were used to assess the physical performance of the participants. A Fear Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire related to physical activity and the Geriatric Depression Scale were also used to examine each subject
Results: The level of performance shown by elderly adults with low back pain was worse than elders without low back pain in the sock test and the pick-up test [p < 0.05]. Little correlation between the finger-to-floor test and fear avoidance behaviour related to physical activity was found [p < 0.05]. There was little/poor correlation between all performance tests and depressive symptoms [p < 0.05]
Conclusions: The findings indicate that CLBP decreases physical performance, but increases fear avoidance behavior and depressive symptoms in elderly adults. At the same time, it was determined that performance level of elderly adults with back pain was related especially with depressive symptoms
ABSTRACT
The study was conducted to investigate the effects of epilepsy surgery on physical functioning, emotional status and health-related quality of life in patients with epilepsy. Thirty four participants were evaluated in this study. Group I consisted of 17 consecutive patients who underwent epilepsy surgery. Group II included 17 healthy controls. While each patient was evaluated three times: before surgery, after surgery [6th month], and at the end of the first year after surgery, the controls were evaluated just one time. The Nottingham Health Profile [NHP] was used to assess quality of life. Beck Depression Inventory [BDI] was applied to detect depressive symptoms. A 12- meter Walking Test [mobility] and the Barthel Index [Daily Living Activities] were used to evaluate physical functions. The results showed that the patients' quality of life and their mobility improved after surgery [p<0.05]. Most of the patients reported decreased depressive symptoms after surgery [p<0.001]. No significant differences in terms of daily living activities were found. The results of this study also showed that the BDI scores were highly correlated with NHP scores [p<0.05]. At 6th month after surgery, although the patients' scores in terms of all outcomes measurements were worst compared to the controls, the scores of the two groups were more or less similar after one year [p>0.05]. Epilepsy surgery is an effective treatment improving physical functioning and QOL, and supporting emotional status of the patients with epilepsy, positively
ABSTRACT
The diversity of physical and cognitive impairments seen in Multiple Sclerosis [MS], make it difficult to make the definition and classification of physical and cognitive disabilities and to identify the factors that influence neurorehabilitation programs and outcomes. In the view of the complexities of both Multiple Sclerosis [MS] and the rehabilitation process, this preliminary study's aim was to determine the cognitive dysfunctions by conducting on early term relapsing-remitting MS [RRMS] patients. Cognitive performances of 27 early term RRMS patients and 27 individually s ex-age matched volunteer healthy controls [HC] were compared. Each patient underwent a complete clinical assessment, including depression, disability and comprehensive cognitive function [attention: Stroop tests, memory and perception: Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised [WMS-R] subtests]. There were statistically significant differences between groups for all subtests of Stroop [p<0.05], WMS-Digit Span [p<0.05], WMS-Logical Memory [p<0.001] and WMS-Visual Reproduction [p<0.001]. The significance remained while the depression's effect was controlled. There was a statistically significant difference between visual reproduction of immediate [WMS-VRI] and delayed [WMS-VRD] memory in RRMS patient group [p<0.05]. In the light of results it was recorded that, deficient cognitive performance is predominantly apparent in early term RRMS patients. Cognitive assessment and rehabilitation must be in the context of multidisciplinary rehabilitation of RRMS patients from the early terms