Investigation of the levels of low back pain, depression, and burnout of the personnel providing formal care for children with disability and elderly individuals.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study was to investigate and compare the low-back pain, depression, and burnout levels among formal caregivers of elderly individuals and children with disability. METHODS: This descriptive and cross-sectional study included 29 caregivers of children with disabilities (Group 1) and 26 caregivers of elderly individuals (Group 2). The sociodemographic characteristics of the participants were questioned. The part of low back pain in the Standardized Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire was used to estimate of low back pain. Beck Depression Inventory and Maslach Burnout Inventory were used to evaluate the levels of depression and burnout, respectively. In analysis, percentage values, mean, standard deviation, frequency, and t-test for comparative statistics and Chi-square and Fisher Exact test for categorical variables were used. RESULTS: There was a significant difference between the two groups only for the frequency of pain (p=0.039). There was a significant difference in depression levels between the groups (p=0.001) and no difference in the burnout level of the among groups (emotional exhaustion p=0.21; depersonalization p=0.95; and personal achievement p=0.066). CONCLUSION: It was observed that the disabled and elderly care personnel included in this study similarly experienced moderate burnout, and they also had similar complaints in terms of low back pain, except for the frequency of pain. It was found that the depression levels of the disabled child caregivers were higher than the elderly caregivers. As a result, it has been seen that care work can cause both physical and psychosocial problems in both groups.

The effect of upper limb lymphedema in posture of patients after breast cancer surgery.

BACKGROUND: Upper limb lymphedema is one of the complications following breast cancer-related surgery. It is a fact that there are alterations in posture of the trunk following surgery, however, there is not much data on whether upper limb lymphedema has any effect on body posture. OBJECTIVES: The main purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of upper limb lymphedema in the trunk posture and spine mobility of patients following breast cancer surgery. METHODS: Twenty-seven women with lymphedema and 29 women without lymphedema with mastectomy or breast-conserving surgery participated in the study. Posture was evaluated by the New York Posture Rating Chart and spinal stability and thoracic mobility were evaluated by the Spinal Mouse device. RESULTS: Posture and spine posture scores were significantly higher in the without lymphedema group (p= 0.004; 0.041; respectively). There was a significant difference between the groups in terms of lateral (p< 0.001) and posterior (p< 0.001) view of shoulders, spine (p= 0.027), upper (p< 0.001) and lower back (p= 0.009), and trunk postures (p= 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Body posture and spine are more affected due to upper limb lymphedema following breast cancer surgery. Alterations of posture mainly occur on shoulders, spine, upper and lower back, and trunk, but not on head and neck postures.

The use of extracorporeal magnetic innervation for the treatment of stress urinary incontinence in older women: a pilot study.

PURPOSE: Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) is a major health problem that has substantial and important effects on health-related quality of life. In recent years, extracorporeal magnetic innervation (ExMI) has become a preferred method of treatment in urinary incontinence. This study presents the effects of ExMI treatment on pelvic floor muscle strength, urinary symptoms, incontinence conditions and quality of life of older women with SUI. METHODS: A total of 13 patients between the ages of 61 and 69 (mean 65.23 ± 2.8 years) were treated for SUI with ExMI. The following parameters were investigated: urinary symptoms, pelvic floor electromyographic (EMG) activity, 1-h pad test, incontinence conditions utilizing visual analog scale (VAS) and quality of life using Turkish version of the Urogenital Distress Inventory (UDI-6) and the Incontinence Quality of Life Instrument (I-QoL). All assessments were conducted at baseline and at the end of the study. Treatment lasted for 20 min, twice a week and for a total of 6 weeks. RESULTS: The urinary symptoms and incontinence conditions decreased after the ExMI treatment sessions. The pad test results indicated a reduction in urine loss (p = 0.016). EMG values were improved (p = 0.005). Scores of I-QoL, UDI-6 and VAS were reduced after the treatment, respectively (p = 0.002), (p = 0.002) and (p = 0.006). CONCLUSION: Extracorporeal magnetic innervation can be considered as it is an alternative, non-invasive and painless treatment method with good compliance for treatment of SUI in older patients.