Prevalence of secondary health conditions and mental status in persons with long-term spinal cord injury in South Africa: Comparison between public and private healthcare sectors.

BACKGROUND: Spinal cord injuries typically result in a range of negative health outcomes and health states, which impacts overall functioning, health and well-being. It remains important to establish the prevalence (burden) of health outcomes to help with the development of optimal treatment strategies. OBJECTIVES: To determine the prevalence and treatment rates of secondary health conditions (SHCs) and mental health states in persons with long-term spinal cord injury (SCI) receiving public compared with private healthcare services in South Africa. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey included 200 community-dwelling persons with long-term SCI, 60% with paraplegia, 53% with complete injuries and 156 from the public and 44 from private healthcare sectors. The following modules of the International Spinal Cord Injury (InSCI) community survey were used: (i) demographic and injury characteristics; (ii) SHCs and treatment rates; and (iii) vitality and emotional well-being. All statistical analyses were stratified according to healthcare sector. RESULTS: Pain (47% v. 57), sexual dysfunction (59% v. 41%) and muscle spasms (54% v. 43%) were the most common SHCs in both cohorts, and the period prevalence was significantly higher for sleeping problems (41% v. 25%), sexual dysfunction (59% v. 41%) and contractures (42% v. 20%) in the public compared with the private cohort. Persons with SCI in the private cohort received treatment more often for sleeping problems (100% v. 45%), autonomic dysreflexia (75% v. 27%) and pain (56% v. 33%) than their counterparts with public insurance. Negative mental health states were prevalent in both groups. CONCLUSION: SHCs and negative mental health were common in persons with SCI in South Africa, while those with public insurance reporter a higher occurrence of sleep problems and contractures, as well as lower treatment rates. Overall, a need exists to better support persons with SCI in the long-term context to facilitate improved functioning and wellbeing.

Investigating the Mini-BESTest's construct validity in elderly with Parkinson's disease.

OBJECTIVES: The Mini-BESTest consists of items relevant to balance deficiencies among people with Parkinson's disease (PwPD). However, the Mini-BESTest's construct validity has been sparsely evaluated in this population. We therefore aimed to investigate the hypotheses that the Mini-BESTest results would be worse among: (i) PwPD compared to healthy controls; (ii) PwPD with moderate compared to mild motor severity; (iii) PwPD with a history of recurrent compared to non-recurrent falls. Moreover, the relationship between the Mini-BESTest and tests of similar and different constructs was expected to be moderate to strong and poor, respectively. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred and five PwPD with mild-to-moderate motor severity and 47 healthy controls were included. PwPD were divided into subgroups based on motor severity and fall history. Main outcome measures were the Mini-BESTest, the timed up and go (TUG), and the original Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale, part II (Activities of Daily Living). Independent t-tests and Spearman's rho were used for the analyses. RESULTS: The Mini-BESTest results were worse among PwPD compared to controls (P<.001), and among people with moderate motor severity compared to those with mild severity (P<.001). However, no differences were found between recurrent and non-recurrent fallers (P=.096). Spearman's rho showed moderate (ρ=-.470) and poor correlations (ρ=-.211) for convergent (TUG) and divergent validity (UPDRS, part II), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, the Mini-BESTest appears to adequately measure dynamic balance among PwPD with mild-to-moderate severity, although it was unable to distinguish between recurrent and non-recurrent fallers.

Ankle-joint mobility and standing squat posture in elite junior cross-country skiers. A pilot study.

AIM: Skating technique in cross-country skiing is a complex multi-joint movement with kinematics comparable to those of the standing squat exercise where any restricted joint mobility in the lower extremity-chain may change the movement pattern. The aim of this pilot study was to investigate the effect of ankle mobility on trunk posture during squat exercise in cross-country skiers. METHODS: Seven elite junior cross-country skiers (age range 17-19 years) performed two different standing squats, one with hands on hips and one with arms extended above the head. The squats were recorded on video and analyzed in selected positions: 90 degrees and maximal knee flexion. Segment angles for shank and trunk were calculated from anatomical references relative to vertical/horizontal orientation in space. Recordings from passive ankle dorsiflexion were correlated with 1) trunk flexion, and 2) angle index (trunk flexion relative to shank angle). RESULTS: Reduced ankle dorsiflexion was moderately associated with increased trunk flexion with hands on hips (r=-0.51 to -0.57), and arms above head (r=-0.61 to -0.64). Further, reduced dorsiflexion was also moderately associated with decreased angle index with hands on hip (r=0.60 to 0.67) but highly associated with decreased angle index with arms above head (r=0.75 to 0.76). CONCLUSION: The results imply that reduced ankle dorsal mobility is related to decreased angle index as well as increased trunk flexion during squat exercise, thus indicating the relevance of good ankle joint mobility for appropriate upper-body posture during squat exercise.