Comparison of the effect of infra red and hot pack on reduction of pain associated with lumbar discopathy

Disk herniation is one of the causes of low back pain that 90% of people experience this pain. There are many pharmacological and non pharmacological methods to alleviate the low back pain, such as physiotherapy techniques [infra red and hot pack, etc]. In this study we investigated the effect of infra red and hot pack on the low back pain associated with disk herniation. In this experimental study, 60 patients with disk herniation were selected and divided randomly into infra red and hot pack groups. Severity of the pain was measured on the basis of a numerical rating scale up to 10. Intervention was performed three times a week for one month. Severity and duration of pain were measured before and after intervention. SPSS soft ware was used for data analysis. The results of this study showed that the mean scores of pain severity and duration in infra red group was 65.67+/-8.33 minutes which decreased to 44.33+/-5.60 minutes after intervention. The respective values for the hot pack group were 81+/-8.6 and 50.33+/-5.60 minutes before and after intervention. Effect of infra red and hot pack on pain reduction was the same after intervention but infra red was more effective in reducing the duration of pain. Considering the effect of infra red, it can be recommended for pain reduction as a safe non pharmacological method. Hot pack is also effective in reducing pain by producing humid heat and patients compliance with this method will be higher

experimental model for studying atherosclerosis

The aim of the present study was to clarify if old N-MRI rat, a strain which is easily available in Iran and cheap to maintain, is a suitable alternative to those previously reported. In this model, we compared three quantifiable parameters between old and young rats: biochemically, involving measurement of differences in the lipid profile. Histologically, the differences of the thickness of the wall of the aorta, the apparent degree of splitting within the aortic media, and the formation of foamy lipid layers on the outermost layer of the aorta. Pharmacologically, in vitro contractile responses/mg wet tissue weight to submaximal concentration of phenylephrine [1 micro M] and the rate of relaxation min-1 mg-1 tissue weight following administration of 0.1 mM of acetycholine. The proposed model was validated using lovastatin as test drug known for its lipid lowering and anti-atherosclerosis actions. The results showed that this model to be reliable, quantifiable and capable of detecting the effect of orally administered lovastatin. We recommend this model as an easy and accessible experimental model for various atheroscleorosis investigations