Validity and reliability of Thai version of the International Knee Documentation Committee Subjective Knee Form.

BACKGROUND: Self-administered questionnaires have become an important aspect for clinical outcome assessment of knee-related surgery. The International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) Subjective Knee Form is a knee-specific questionnaire that is widely used and translated to many languages. The purposes of the present study were: (1) to translate the questionnaire into Thai; and (2) to assess the validity and reliability of the Thai version of the International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) Subjective Knee Form. MATERIAL AND METHOD: The IKDC Subjective Knee Form was translated into Thai using forward-backward translation protocol. Afterward, reliability and validity were tested The responses of 55 consecutive patients on two questionnaires, the Thai IKDC Subjective Knee Form and the Short Form-36, were used. The validity was tested by correlating the scores from both questionnaires. The reliability was adopted by measuring the test-retest reliability and internal consistency. RESULTS: The Thai IKDC Subjective Knee Form showed good correlations with the physical functioning and bodily pain domains of the SF-36 (Pearson's correlation coefficient = 0.75 and 0.76 respectively). The reliability proved excellent with an intra-class correlation coefficient of 0.92 for test-retest. The internal consistency was strong (Cronbach alpha = 0.92). CONCLUSION: The Thai version of IKDC Subjective Knee Form showed good value to retain the characteristic of the original version. In addition, it was a reliable evaluation instrument for patients with knee-related problems.

Variations in abductor pollicis longus and extensor pollicis brevis tendons in the Quervain syndrome: a surgical and anatomical study.

Eighty-two wrists of Thai cadavers and the wrists of 66 patients with de Quervain syndrome were studied, and the variation in the number of tendons and the fibro-osseous tunnel in the first extensor compartment were recorded. The abductor pollicis longus had more than one tendon in 73 of the cadavers (89%) and in 32 of the patients (49%) (p <0.001). The extensor pollicis brevis was a single tendon in 80 (98%) and 62 (94%) of cadavers and patients, respectively. There was division with the septum that made a fibro-osseous tunnel in the first extensor compartment in 30/82 (37%) cadavers and in 38/66 (58%) patients with de Quervain syndrome (p = 0.01). The results indicate that the number of fibro-osseous tunnels and multiple compartments in the first extensor compartment may be associated with a predisposition to de Quervain syndrome.

Difference in isokinetic strength of the muscles around dominant and nondominant shoulders.

BACKGROUND: Muscle training usually plays an important role in the treatment of shoulder disorders. Clinicians traditionally predict the pre-injury strength of an injured shoulder by using the contralateral uninjured side as the baseline data. OBJECTIVE: The primary purpose of the present study was to determine the difference in isokinetic peak torque of dominant and nondominant shoulders. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Both shoulders of 39 healthy subjects (24 men, 15 women) were tested isokinetically by using the CON-TREX MJ dynamometer at two angular velocities (60 and 180 degrees/sec) during abduction, adduction, flexion, extension, internal rotation and external rotation. RESULT: There were statistical differences of contralateral peak torque in almost all directions of shoulder muscle contractions except in shoulder flexion at both speeds. Peak torque of shoulder adduction, extension, and internal rotation were greater in the dominant side. Shoulder abduction and external rotation peak torque were greater in the nondominant side. CONCLUSION: Therefore, clinicians should not directly use the isokinetic strength of the contralateral shoulder as normal baseline data for an injured side without consideration.

A study of footprints in athletes and non-athletic people.

UNLABELLED: Footprint analysis is a simple, cost-effective and readily available method for evaluation of flat feet, to identify a person in forensic content and for shoe manufacturing. OBJECTIVE: To examine the footprints in athletes and non-athletes and to compare their foot print measurements. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Four hundred and ninety-two athletes and four hundred and thirty-one non-athletes were recruited. Their age range was eighteen to thirty five years. The athletes were classified by sport level : national and non-national athletes. Footprint devices, foot impression system, produced by Berkemann Company was used. The right and left foot of each subject were measured separately in a standing position. Descriptive Statistics, ANOVA, chi-square test and simple correlation were used in this study. RESULT: The length between the heel to the first toe was shorter than that of to the second toe in national athletes. This finding was opposite to the non-athletes. The metatarsal distance in national atheletes were significantly wider than the others. The ratio of the length of footprint and body height showed significant difference between athletes and non-athletes. The Flat Index of national athletes was longer than the others. In males, the percentage of the state of contacting the ground of the fifth toe was significantly higher among athletes than non-athletes. CONCLUSION: The footprint parameters were somewhat different between persons who had experience in sport level and general non-athletic people.