Motor function and activities of daily living capacity of patients with fractures sustained during the Wenchuan earthquake / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>On the afternoon of May 12, 2008, a 8.0-magnitude earthquake hit Sichuan Province, a mountainous region in Western China, killing about 70 000 people and leaving over 18 000 missing. What about the survivors motor functions and activities of daily living (ADL) capacity, especially for fractures? We need the data to guide the rehabilitation for the seismic wounded and it's important to collect the data for the future. We study the survivors to understand the motor functions and ADL capacity of patients with fractures sustained in the Wenchuan earthquake, to provide a basis for rehabilitation and treatment.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>We used the Manual Muscle Testing method to evaluate muscle strength, the joint angle scale to measure joint range of motion (ROM), and the Barthel index to evaluate the activities of daily living status. SPSS 13.0 software was used to analyze the data and the results were tested using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA).</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The number of seismic wounded amounted to 487; 81.1% of patients had fractures. Most of the injured had fractures in multiple regions (53.9% of all fracture patients), followed by fractures of the upper limb (34.0% of patients); cranial fractures were rare (2.3%). Totally 82.0% had restricted range of motion, 23.5% had decreased muscle force, and 72.2% of the patients had restricted activities of daily living capacities. With time the activities of daily living capacity of female increased (P < 0.05), compared with the male fracture patients who did not show any relative improvement (P > 0.05). The difference between the patients' ages and ADL capacities did not reach statistical significance (P > 0.05), nor was there a significant difference between their ages and the numbers of days in hospital (P > 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Fractures were the main issue in the seismic wounded, many of them had reductions in the ROM, muscle force and ADL capacities. The physicians involved in rehabilitation should pay greater attention to muscle force exercises, joint mobilization, and occupational therapy during the early phases post disaster.</p>

Clinical update of pulsed electromagnetic fields on osteoporosis / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To understand the effects of low-frequency pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMFs) on chronic bony pain, bone mineral density (BMD), bone strength and biochemical markers of bone metabolism in the patients of osteoporosis.</p><p><b>DATA SOURCES</b>Using the key words "pulsed electromagnetic fields" and "osteoporosis", we searched the PubMed for related studies published in English from January 1996 to December 2007. We also searched the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) for studies published in Chinese from January 1996 to December 2007.</p><p><b></b>STUDY SELECTION</p><p><b>INCLUSION CRITERIA</b>(1) all articles which referred to the effects of low-frequency pulsed magnetic fields on osteoporosis either in primary osteoporosis or secondary osteoporosis; (2) either observational studies or randomized controlled studies.</p><p><b>EXCLUSION CRITERIA</b>(1) articles on experimental studies about osteoporosis; (2) repetitive studies; (3) case reports; (4) meta analysis.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Totally 111 related articles were collected, 101 of them were published in Chinese, 10 were in English. Thirty-four were included and the remaining 84 were excluded.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Low-frequency PEMFs relieves the pain of primary osteoporosis quickly and efficiently, enhances bone formation and increases BMD of secondary osteoporosis. But the effects of PEMFs on bone mineral density of primary osteoporosis and bone resorption were controversial.</p>