Utility of the 6-Min Walk Test for Assessing Physical Performance in Pediatric Heart Transplant Recipients.

Background: Physical performance capacity (PPC) of pediatric heart transplant (HT) recipients is reportedly low to normal, and longitudinal follow-up of these patients is recommended. However, no recommendation for a follow-up method is available. In this study, the correlation between the 6-min walk test (6MWT), various clinical parameters, and a physical performance test set was evaluated to develop a simple follow-up tool for PPC.

Disability and pain after lumbar surgery-group-based trajectory analysis.

Background And Aims: Previous studies in lumbar spine surgery have mainly studied functioning and pain by comparing average scores from Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) at different time points. Less is known about these changes in different subgroups. It is self-evident that, while most patients may demonstrate trajectories of these changes close to the average one, some groups may follow more or less different trends.

Functioning of post-COVID-19 patients: a cross-sectional study at the outpatient clinic for long-term effects.

Background: After COVID-19 infection, long-term impacts on functioning may occur. We studied the functioning of patients with post-COVID-19 condition (PCC) and compared them to controls without PCC.

Methods: This cross-sectional study consisted of 442 patients with PCC referred to rehabilitation at the Helsinki University Hospital (HUS) Outpatient Clinic for the Long-Term Effects of COVID-19, and 198 controls without PCC.

Physical activity as mediator between back pain and disability.

The objective was to explore the mediating role of leisure-time physical activity on the correlation between back pain and disability. A mediation analysis was conducted among the cross-sectional sample of 1330 patients in outpatient clinic. The average age was 47.

Prognosis of patients with post-Covid-19 condition: Prospective cohort cluster analysis at one year.

Objective: We aimed to identify clinically relevant clusters among patients with post-Covid-19 condition (PCC) and assess prognosis overall and within clusters.

Methods: Prospective cohort study of patients with PCC attending a rehabilitation clinic. We monitored patient reported outcome measures (PROMs): EuroHIS quality of life and symptoms.

Environmental barriers perceived by the Finnish population with spinal cord injury: a cross-sectional survey.

Study Design: Cross-sectional survey of the Finnish population with spinal cord injury (SCI).

Objectives: To explore the frequencies of perceived environmental barriers (EB) that made participation harder for the Finnish population with SCI and to compare the occurrence of perceived EBs by gender, age, time since injury, and injury severity.

Setting: Participants were recruited from the registers of the three SCI outpatient clinics responsible for the lifelong care of people with SCI in Finland.

Sex-related differential item functioning of the Jenkins Sleep Scale: a cross-sectional study among 77 967 employees in the Finnish public sector.

Objectives: To investigate if the Jenkins Sleep Scale (JSS) demonstrates sex-related differential item functioning (DIF).

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: Survey data from the Finnish Public Sector study (2015-2017).

Tetraspanin profiles of serum extracellular vesicles reflect functional limitations and pain perception in knee osteoarthritis.

Background: Emerging evidence suggests that extracellular vesicles (EVs) can play roles in inflammatory processes and joint degradation in primary osteoarthritis (OA), a common age-associated joint disease. EV subpopulations express tetraspanins and platelet markers that may reflect OA pathogenesis. The present study investigated the associations between these EV surface markers and articular cartilage degradation, subjectively and objectively assessed pain, and functional limitations in primary knee OA (KOA).

Facilitators and barriers in the rehabilitation process described by persons with spinal cord injury: a deductive-inductive analysis from the Finnish spinal cord injury study.

Background: This study aimed to determine the factors that promote and facilitate rehabilitation as well as challenges and possible barriers perceived by people with spinal cord injury (SCI).

Materials And Methods: This study was part of a larger, mixed-method Finnish Spinal Cord Injury (FinSCI) study. We interviewed 45 persons with SCI representing participants from the FinSCI study and used a qualitative approach and a deductive-inductive content analysis to analyse the data.

Associations of socioeconomic and lifestyle characteristics, psychological symptoms, multimorbidity, and multisite pain with sciatica - a 15-year longitudinal study.

Background Context: Sciatica is defined as pain radiating from the low back to the leg, usually below the knee. It is a disabling condition that causes a major burden to health care and society. Previous evidence of the multifactorial etiology of sciatica comes mostly from cross-sectional studies.

Reliability and validity of Oswestry Disability Index among patients undergoing lumbar spinal surgery.

Background: The objective of this study was to explore the internal consistency and factor structure of the Oswestry Disability Index among patients undergoing spinal surgery. The sample consisted of 1,515 patients who underwent lumbar spinal surgery at a university hospital between 2018 and 2021.

Methods: The patients responded to the Oswestry Disability Index within 2 months before surgery.

Prognosis of patients with long COVID symptoms: a protocol for a longitudinal cohort study at a primary care referred outpatient clinic in Helsinki, Finland.

Introduction: After COVID-19, many continue to experience persistent debilitating symptoms, that is, long COVID. Its most prevalent symptoms are chest pain, difficulties with breathing, painful muscles, ageusia or anosmia, tingling extremities and general tiredness. This paper describes the protocol of the Long COVID Cohort Study to assess the prognosis and prognostic determinants of patients with long COVID by implementing patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs), patient-reported experience measures (PREMs) and clinical examinations during a 1-year follow-up.

Cardiac output and arteriovenous oxygen difference contribute to lower peak oxygen uptake in patients with fibromyalgia.

Background: Patients with fibromyalgia (FM) exhibit low peak oxygen uptake ([Formula: see text]O). We aimed to detect the contribution of cardiac output to ([Formula: see text]) and arteriovenous oxygen difference [Formula: see text] to [Formula: see text] from rest to peak exercise in patients with FM.

Methods: Thirty-five women with FM, aged 23 to 65 years, and 23 healthy controls performed a step incremental cycle ergometer test until volitional fatigue.

Alterations in the Functional Knee Alignment Are Not an Effective Strategy to Modify the Mediolateral Distribution of Knee Forces During Closed Kinetic Chain Exercises.

Pain felt while performing rehabilitation exercises could be a reason for the low adherence of knee osteoarthritis patients to physical rehabilitation. Reducing compressive forces on the most affected knee regions may help to mitigate the pain. Knee frontal plane positioning with respect to pelvis and foot (functional knee alignment) has been shown to modify the mediolateral distribution of the tibiofemoral joint contact force in walking.

Physical performance capacity after pediatric kidney transplant and clinical parameters associated with physical performance capacity.

Background: History of chronic kidney disease and kidney transplantation is known to influence physical performance capacity. The aim of this study was to compare the physical performance of pediatric kidney transplant recipients to healthy controls and to find possible correlations between clinical parameters and physical performance capacity.

Methods: Twenty-four pediatric kidney transplant recipients (62.

The Current State of Remote Physiotherapy in Finland: Cross-sectional Web-Based Questionnaire Study.

Background: The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has required social, health, and rehabilitation organizations to implement remote physiotherapy (RP) as a part of physiotherapists' daily practice. RP may improve access to physiotherapy as it delivers physiotherapy services to rehabilitees through information and communications technology. Even if RP has already been introduced in this century, physiotherapists' opinion, amount of use, and form in daily practice have not been studied extensively.

Toward Tailored Rehabilitation by Implementation of a Novel Musculoskeletal Finite Element Analysis Pipeline.

Tissue-level mechanics (e.g., stress and strain) are important factors governing tissue remodeling and development of knee osteoarthritis (KOA), and hence, the success of physical rehabilitation.

An EMG-Assisted Muscle-Force Driven Finite Element Analysis Pipeline to Investigate Joint- and Tissue-Level Mechanical Responses in Functional Activities: Towards a Rapid Assessment Toolbox.

Joint tissue mechanics (e.g., stress and strain) are believed to have a major involvement in the onset and progression of musculoskeletal disorders, e.

Health-related factors for work participation in persons with spinal cord injury in Finland.

Objective: To explore work participation and the health-related factors affecting work participation among the Finnish Spinal Cord injury (FinSCI) study population (n = 884).

Methods: A cross-sectional explorative observational study in the FinSCI community survey applying Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS®) forms on Social Health and Global Health. Analyses of socio-demographic and injury-related data were performed.

Persistence of sleep difficulties for over 16 years amongst 66,948 working-aged adults.

The objective was to investigate the persistence of sleep difficulties for over 16 years amongst a population of working age. In this prospective cohort study, a group-based trajectory analysis of repeated surveys amongst 66,948 employees in public sector (mean age 44.7 [SD 9.

Physical health among the Finnish spinal cord injury population according to the Patient Reported Outcome Measurement Information System (PROMIS®).

Objective: The aim of this study is to assess the physical health in the Finnish Spinal cord injury (SCI) population using the Patient Reported Outcome Measurement Information System (PROMIS®) and make a comparison to the general United States (US) population. Furthermore, the aim is to explore the associations between pain interference, pain intensity, sleep disturbance, and fatigue and physical function.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Physical performance after pediatric solid organ transplantation.

Introduction: Low physical activity is a well-recognized problem in pediatric solid organ transplant recipients; however, little is known about the differences between transplant groups. Physical performance testing was performed in a cohort of pediatric kidney, liver, and heart transplant recipients.

Methods: Fifty-one patients (54.

Functional independence in the Finnish spinal cord injury population.

Study Design: A cross-sectional survey of the Finnish population with spinal cord injury (FinSCI database).

Objectives: To describe the functional independence of the population with spinal cord injury (SCI) in Finland and to identify how generic and lesion characteristics affect their functional independence.

Setting: The participants were recruited from the registers of three SCI outpatient clinics responsible for lifelong follow-up and care for people with SCI in Finland.