Validity and Reliability of the Greek Version of Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index in Chronic Non-Specific Low Back Pain Patients.

The purpose of this study was to investigate psychometric properties of the Greek translation of Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (GR-PSQI) in a Greek chronic non-specific low back pain (CNSLBP) sample, thus, providing insight on its clarity and acceptability as a widely used sleep assessment tool in clinical practice. Asymptomatic volunteers (n = 73) and CNSLBP volunteers (n = 47), participated in the study. For the assessment of construct validity, the known-groups method was used. Thus, all the participants (asymptomatic and CNSLBP) completed the GR-PSQI. For the assessment of concurrent validity, the CNSLBP participants additionally completed the following validated questionnaires for depression, insomnia and sleep quality: Beck Depression Inventory Questionnaire (BDI), Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), and Sleep Quality Numeric Rating Scale (SQNRS). For the assessment of test-retest reliability, the CNSLBP participants completed the GR-PSQI a second time, one week after the first time. The results showed excellent test-retest reliability (ICC = 0.969, SEM = 0.90, SDD = 2.49%) and internal consistency (Cronbach α = 0.985), moderate to good concurrent validity (from r = 0.556 to r = 0.860) among PSQI, BDI, SQNRS, and ISI, as well as excellent construct validity (p = 0.000) between the two groups. The Greek translation of PSQI could be a valuable tool for Greek healthcare professionals in both clinical and research environments.

Test-retest reliability of pain extent and pain location using a novel pain drawing analysis software application, on patients with shoulder pain.

OBJECTIVES: A method of pain assessment is the drawing of pain on a specially designed manikin where the patients color the area representing their pain distribution. In recent years, software applications have been developed for the purpose of digital pain drawing data acquisition and processing. Although such specific software applications have already been released, they have been built with obsolete programming tools. The purpose of the study was to investigate the test - retest reliability of a new pain drawing analysis software, in a sample of patients with shoulder pain. METHODS: Data collected from 31 subjects with shoulder pain. Participants were asked twice to color their pain distribution in the painting environment of a tablet software application called 'Pain Distribution.' RESULTS: The reliability of pain extent was found to be good (ICC = 0.80). The Jaccard index for the reliability of pain location was found to be moderate, equal to 42.02 ± 19.13%. CONCLUSION: The results demonstrated good reliability of pain extent and moderate reliability of pain location using the new pain distribution analysis application 'Pain Distribution.' This pain drawing software application could be a reliable, inexpensive, and clinically usable solution for assessing the distribution of pain in patients with shoulder pain.

Association Between Isokinetic Knee Strength Characteristics and Single-Leg Hop Performance In Healthy Young Participants.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which the mean peak moment (MPM) of knee flexors and extensors could predict performance in a group of healthy individuals. Methods: Eighty-four healthy individuals-32 men and 52 women (mean age, 22.1 ± 3 years; range, 18-35 years)-participated in this study. Isokinetic unilateral concentric knee flexor and extensor MPM was assessed isokinetically at angular velocities of 60°/s and 180°/s. Functional performance was assessed using the single hop of distance (SHD). Results: Positive moderate to good statistically significant correlations (r = .636 to r = .673) were found between knee flexor and extensor MPM at 60°/s and 180°/s for the SHD test. Knee flexor and extensor MPMs are strong predictors for the SHD test at 60°/s and 180°/s (R2 = .40 to R2 = .45). Conclusion: Knee flexor and extensor strength was substantially correlated with SHD.

Epidemiological Profile among Greek CrossFit Practitioners.

CrossFit (CF) is a popular and rapidly expanding training program in Greece and worldwide. However, there is a lack of scientific evidence on the risk of musculoskeletal injuries related to CF in the Greek population. A self-administered survey of 1224 Greek CF practitioners aged 18 to 59 was conducted and analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software. The highest percentage of the participants (34%) practiced 5 days per week for 60 min (42.2%) and had 2 days per week of rest (41.7%). A total of 273 individuals (23%) participated in CF competitions and 948 (77%) did not. The results showed that the most common injuries were muscle injuries (51.3%), followed by tendinopathies (49.6%) and joint injuries (26.6%). The shoulders (56.6%; n = 303), knees (31.8%; n = 170), and lumbar spine (33.1%; n = 177) were the most commonly injured locations. The logistic regression model showed that participation in competitions (p = 0.001), rest per week (p = 0.01), duration of training per session (p = 0.001), and frequency of training per week (p = 0.03) were statistically significant factors for injury. Training level was not a statistically significant factor for injury (p = 0.43). As CF continues to gain popularity on a global scale and the number of athletes gradually increases, it is important to monitor the safety of practitioners. Clinicians should consider participation in competitions, rest, training duration, and frequency in order to make CF safer.

Reliability and applicability of a low-cost, camera-based gait evaluation method for clinical use.

BACKGROUND: There is the need for the development of reliable and easy to use in clinical setting gait assessment tools. An open-access video analysis software that administers the calculation of kinematical and spatio-temporal characteristics of human movement is Kinovea® however, its repeatability as a gait analysis tool has not been well addressed. The purpose of the study was to examine the applicability and reliability of an objective, quantitative, low-cost and easy to use in the clinical setting, gait evaluation method, using Kinovea® software. METHODS: Data collected from 44 healthy subjects recording gait in sagittal and frontal plane using two smartphones. Time consumption of the procedure was captured. Kinovea® software was used to calculate kinematical and spatial parameters. RESULTS: Intra- and inter-rater reliability of the video processing as well as intra-rater reliability of the measurement procedure represented good to excellent and there were less random measurement errors. There was no measurement error due to random variation for the most of the calculated parameters, except of the pelvis position. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that excepting low accuracy in calculation of pelvis position, gait evaluation using Kinovea® software is objective, quantitative, low-cost, reliable and easy to use in the clinical setting.

The Concept of Acceleration and Deceleration in Isokinetics and Its Relation to 3 Hop Tests.

CONTEXT: Both isokinetic testing and functional tests are often used during patient rehabilitation programs. Most researchers have assessed the relationship of isokinetic testing and functional tests in parameters such as peak moment, work, or power. However, little information exists regarding the acceleration and deceleration parameters and their relationship to function. DESIGN: The purpose of the study was to investigate the concept of acceleration and deceleration of the knee flexor and extensor muscle groups during isokinetic testing and its relationship to function. METHODS: Twenty-six healthy individuals (14 men and 12 women) participated in the study. Isokinetic bilateral concentric knee flexion and extension muscular performance was assessed isokinetically at the angular velocities of 60°/s, 180°/s, and 300°/s. Functional performance was also assessed using (1) single hop for distance, (2) triple hop for distance, and (3) single timed hop. Functional data were normalized to body weight. A P value <.05 was considered to be significant. RESULTS: Fair and moderate to good correlations (r = .396, P = .045 to r = .705, P = .001) were discovered between flexors' and extensors' acceleration/deceleration variables and the normalized to body weight functional tests. CONCLUSIONS: Appropriate understanding of isokinetic parameters as described in this study, including acceleration/deceleration values, may provide useful information about the functional ability of the lower limb muscular system.

Novel Software for Pain Drawing Analysis.

Introduction Pain drawings (PDs) are an important component of the assessment of a patient with pain. Although analog pain drawings (APDs), such as pen-on-paper drawings, have been extensively used in clinical assessment and clinical research, there is a lack of digital pain drawing (DPD) software that would be able to quantify and analyze the digital pain distribution obtained by the patients. The aim of this work is to describe a method that can quantify the extent and location of pain through novel custom-built software able to analyze data from the digital pain drawings obtained from the patients. Methods The application analysis and software specifications were based on the information gathered from the literature, and the programmers created the custom-built software according to the published needs of the pain scientific community. Results We developed a custom-built software named "Pain Distribution," which, among others, automatically calculates the number of the pixels the patient has chosen and therefore quantifies the pain extent, provides the frequency distribution from a group of images, and has the option to select the threshold over which the patient is considered with central sensitization (CS). Additionally, it delivers results and statistics for both every image and the frequency distribution, providing mean values, standard deviations, and CS indicators, as well as the ability to export them in *.txt file format for further analysis. Conclusion A novel Pain Distribution application was developed, freely available for use in any setting, clinical, research, or academic.