High- compared to low-arched athletes exhibit smaller knee abduction moments in walking and running

High- (HA) and low-arched athletes (LA) experience distinct injury patterns. These injuries are the result of the interaction of structure and biomechanics. A suggested mechanism of patellofemoral pain pertains to frontal plane knee moments which may be exaggerated in LA athletes. We hypothesize that LA athletes will exhibit greater peak knee abduction moments than high-arched athletes.MethodsTwenty healthy female recreational athletes (10 HA and 10 LA) performed five over-ground barefoot walking and five barefoot running trials at a self-selected velocity while three-dimensional kinematics and ground reaction forces were recorded. Peak knee abduction moments and time-to-peak knee abduction moments were calculated using Visual 3D.ResultsHigh-arched athletes had smaller peak knee abduction moments compared to low-arched athletes during walking (KAM1: p = 0.019; KAM2: p = 0.015) and running (p = 0.010). No differences were observed in time-to-peak knee abduction moment during walking (KAM1: p = 0.360; KAM2: p = 0.085) or running (p = 0.359).ConclusionsThese findings demonstrate that foot type is associated with altered frontal plane knee kinetics which may contribute to patellofemoral pain. Future research should address the efficacy of clinical interventions including orthotics and rehabilitation programs in these athletes.     

Brain drawings following traumatic brain injury (TBI) and links to illness perceptions and health outcomes – Findings from a population-based study

Objective: Individuals’ illness perceptions predict health behaviours and influence functional outcomes. This study examined associations between a novel assessment of illness perceptions, in the form of adult’s brain drawings after traumatic brain injury (TBI) and questionnaire measures of illness perceptions, quality of life and post-concussive symptoms.

Design: Population-based, prospective longitudinal study examining 245 adults with predominantly mild TBI with high risk of complications.

Main outcome measures: Participants were asked to draw pictures of what they thought their brain looked like before injury and at baseline and one month post-injury. Drawing characteristics (height, width and percentage damage at one month) were examined in relation to each outcome of interest at six months.

Results: Greater damage at one month was associated with more negative illness perceptions (rs = .23), poorer mental health (rs = ?.21), and more total post-concussive symptoms (rs = .27 to r = .35) at six months. The extent of damage depicted reduced over time (p < .001). No associations were found between the amount of damage drawn and injury severity, nor the height or width of drawings and injury severity or illness perceptions.

Conclusion: Drawings post-TBI offer a simple, cost- and time-effective way to begin discussions and improve understanding of peoples’ illness perceptions.     

Public health consequences of road traffic injuries – Estimation of seriously injured persons based on risk for permanent medical impairment

Despite the fact, that Sweden has one of the safest traffic environments in the world, a large number of people are still injured in road traffic accidents in Sweden. The core concept of the Vision Zero that was adopted by the Swedish parliament in 1997 is to decrease the number of deaths and serious injuries caused by traffic. The vision has been followed-up in terms of decreased mortality, but there was not a consensus on how the concept “seriously injured” should be measured at that time. The aim of this paper is to describe how to develop a measure to estimate the number of seriously injured people in Sweden. The results show that it is possible to estimate the health impact of road traffic accidents based on the definition of medical impairment. According to the results, 8389 people were seriously injured (permanently medical impaired more then 1%) in the road transport area in Sweden in 2013. If the number of people who had slipped or fallen down without any vehicle being involved is excluded, the number of seriously injured was around 4700. The result of the study has been included in the road safety goal for Sweden with the aim to have 25% less seriously injured people in 2020 than the average for the years 2006–2008. The results also showed that 91% of the seriously injured were transported by car, bike or by foot. The relatively high proportion of pedestrian fall accidents happening within the transport system irrespective of whether a vehicle was moving or not raises the question whether these types of accidents should be included in the reporting of formal road traffic accidents.     

The effect of external perturbations on variability in joint coupling and single joint variability

This paper explores the effect of goal-oriented external perturbations created by elastic tubes attached to the hip and ankles on lower limb joint variability and hip–knee and knee–ankle coordination variability during running. Kinematics of ten healthy male runners were analysed prior to and following a 7-week tube running intervention while running with and one without this constraint. The training intervention was based on variable training aspects to increase within-movement variability and adaptability of the running pattern. To analyse the effects of the tubes on the running pattern, the phase plot vector length deviation (i.e., the standard deviation of the phase plot vector length) for the within-joint variability and the continuous relative phase variability for the joint coupling variability were calculated. Results revealed acute increases of variability in both parameters. However, after the intervention, variability of the tube running situation returned to normal for all couplings and joints except the knee. No transfer effects to normal running were observed. This suggests very rapid adaptations to such perturbations. In the long-term, it may ask for more or different variations.     

红斑性肢痛症合并周围神经损害1例诊治分析

红斑性肢痛症是一种罕见的临床综合征,以肢端皮肤间歇性皮温升高、发红、肿胀及烧灼样痛为特点,病变主要累及四肢末端,尤以下肢多见,多呈对称分布,较少见于面部和耳部.其症状常因运动和遇热而加重,休息和遇冷而减轻.临床上常分为原发性和继发性两大类,其中原发性红斑性肢痛症,多认为与编码Nav1.7亚单位的SCN9A基因突变有关.目前该病发病机制尚不明确,治疗上缺乏确切有效的治疗方案,临床易误诊误治.本文报道了红斑性肢痛症合并周围神经损害1例,以期提高对该病的认识.     

红斑性肢痛症合并周围神经损害1例诊治分析

红斑性肢痛症是一种罕见的临床综合征,以肢端皮肤间歇性皮温升高、发红、肿胀及烧灼样痛为特点,病变主要累及四肢末端,尤以下肢多见,多呈对称分布,较少见于面部和耳部.其症状常因运动和遇热而加重,休息和遇冷而减轻.临床上常分为原发性和继发性两大类,其中原发性红斑性肢痛症,多认为与编码Nav1.7亚单位的SCN9A基因突变有关.目前该病发病机制尚不明确,治疗上缺乏确切有效的治疗方案,临床易误诊误治.本文报道了红斑性肢痛症合并周围神经损害1例,以期提高对该病的认识.     

Attentional bias toward emotional stimuli in accidentally injured Chinese patients with different posttraumatic growth levels

Extensive evidence has been obtained that supports an association between an attentional bias (AB) toward negative stimuli and vulnerability to stress-related psychopathology, little is known regarding the characteristics of individual AB in different posttraumatic growth (PTG) levels. The current study used a modified dot-probe task to investigate if individual differences in AB towards either positive or negative emotional stimuli, are related to self-reported PTG. A sample of 202 patients completed the experiment. Patients with low levels of PTG did not exhibit AB toward negative or positive stimuli, patients with medium levels of PTG had difficulty disengaging attention from negative stimuli, patients with high levels of PTG had difficulty disengaging attention from positive stimuli. And the AB towards positive stimuli was only predictive for PTG. An implication of this finding is that there are different characteristics of implicit cognitive processing in patients with different levels of PTG, suggesting the necessity of psychological intervention on the accidentally injured patients.     

Women’s Perspectives Related to Occupational Performance Following Participation in Substance Use Recovery Programs

Very little research has examined how substance abuse programs affect occupational performance. The progression of addiction and its etiology for women are still under-reported. This study aimed to explore perceived effects of substance use and participation in peer-based programs on women’s occupational performance. Qualitative semi-structured interviews were completed with seven women. Four themes were identified: (1) substance use did not markedly inhibit participation in daily life; (2) recovery was supported by replacing substance related occupations with non-substance related occupations; (3) perceived value of shared perspectives and experiences with others; and (4) the embracing of new perspectives as part of recovery.