The model of fear of movement/(re)injury runs clockwise from catastrophizing: evidence from a sample of outpatients with chronic non-specific low back pain.

Objective: To provide evidence that catastrophizing is the primer of the cognitive-behavioural model of fear of movement/(re)injury (FAM).

Design: A cross-sectional analysis of 180 outpatients with chronic non-specific low back pain who completed the Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS), the Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia (TSK), the Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire (RMDQ), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale - Depression (HADS-D), and a pain intensity numerical rating scale (NRS). The intercorrelations of the outcome measures were estimated using Pearson's correlation coefficient (r), and regression analyses were used to examine their predictive values by following the left side of the FAM clockwise from the PCS (p = 0.

What can I do for my low back pain? The Work In Progress questionnaire!

Background: There is growing evidence on Commitment Therapy for people with low back pain (LBP). A self-reported questionnaire is lacking which evaluates commitment by relying on the most recommended actions, the most important core outcome domains, and the most evidenced treatment options.

Aim: To describe the development and psychometric validation of the Work In Progress (WIP) questionnaire.

Reliability, Concurrent Validity, and Clinical Performances of the Shorter Version of the Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire in a Sample of Italian People with Non-Specific Low Back Pain.

Background: Evaluating the psychometric and clinical performances of the RM-18, the shorter version of the Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire (RMQ), in Italian people with non-specific low back pain (NSLBP) as a time-saving and clinically useful method of assessing disability.

Methods: This cross-sectional study included 74 people (52 females and 22 males, 53.03 ± 15.

An integrated approach to the assessment of balance and functional mobility in individuals with history of severe traumatic brain injury.

Individuals who experienced severe Traumatic Brain Injury (sTBI) are often characterized by relevant motor dysfunctions which are likely to negatively affect activities of daily living and quality of life and often persist for years. However, detailed objective information about their magnitude are scarce. The aim of this study was to quantitatively assess the extent of motor deficits in terms of postural control effectiveness under static and dynamic conditions and to investigate the existence of possible correlations between the results of clinical tests and instrumental measures.

The Fremantle Back Awareness Questionnaire: cross-cultural adaptation, reliability, and validity of the Italian version in people with chronic low back pain.

Background And Aim: There is evidence to suggest that assessing back-specific altered self-perception may be useful when seeking to understand and manage low back pain (LBP). The Fremantle Back Awareness Questionnaire (FreBAQ) is a patient-reported measure of back-specific body perception that has never been adapted and psychometrically analysed in Italian. Hence, the objectives of this research were to cross-culturally adapt and validate the Italian version of this outcome measure (namely, the FreBAQ-I), to make it available for use with Italians suffering from chronic LBP.

Cybersickness in People with Multiple Sclerosis Exposed to Immersive Virtual Reality.

Together with the wide range of possible benefits for the rehabilitation/training of people with multiple sclerosis (pwMS) and other neurologic conditions, exposure to immersive virtual reality (VR) has often been associated with unpleasant symptoms, such as transient dizziness, headache, nausea, disorientation and impaired postural control (i.e., cybersickness).

Robot-assisted rehabilitation of people with breast cancer developing upper limb lymphedema: protocol of a randomized controlled trial with a 6-month follow‑up.

Upper limb lymphedema (ULLy) is an external (and/or internal) manifestation of lymphatic system insufficiency and deranged lymph transport for more than 3 months and frequently affects people as a consequence of breast cancer (BC). ULLy is often underestimated despite diminished motor skills, mood, and cognitive-behavioral complaints negatively condition the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of persons. BC can also metastasize to the jawbone, further impacting on the HRQoL.

Motor and cognitive skills implicated in the Motor Observation Questionnaire for Teachers (MOQ-T): A multidisciplinary approach.

This study was designed to determine the relationship between an observational measure of motor skills for teachers (i.e., MOQ-T), age, and some objectively assessed cognitive and motor indices.

An Immersive Virtual Kitchen Training System for People with Multiple Sclerosis: A Development and Validation Study.

Rehabilitation via virtual reality (VR) training tools allows repetitive, intensive, and task-specific practice in a controlled and safe environment. Our goal was to develop and validate a novel immersive VR system based on the practice of real-life activities in a kitchen environment in people with multiple sclerosis (pwMS) with upper-limb dysfunction. The novel immersive VR kitchen application includes several tasks, i.

Smoothness of Gait in Overweight (But Not Obese) Children Aged 6-10.

Excessive body mass represents a serious threat to the optimal psychophysical development of children, and it is known to be able to significantly affect their locomotor capabilities, making them more prone to the development of musculoskeletal disorders. However, despite the relevant number of existing studies, a clear gait pattern of overweight children has not been defined yet, particularly in the case of a mass excess that is relatively small (i.e.

Movement Behavior and Health Outcomes among Sedentary Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: Sedentary behavior, which is highly prevalent among office workers, is associated with multiple health disorders, including those of the musculoskeletal and cardiometabolic systems. Although prior studies looked at postures or physical activity during work or leisure time, few analyzed both posture and movement throughout the entire day.

Objective: This cross-sectional pilot study examined the movement behavior of sedentary office workers during both work and leisure time to explore its association with musculoskeletal discomfort (MSD) and cardiometabolic health indicators.

Sport and non-specific low back pain in athletes: a scoping review.

Background: The contribution of sport in non-specific low back pain (NS-LBP) remains unknown, due to a large heterogeneity in the methods applied in research. The aims of this scoping review (ScR) were to systematically map and summarize findings concerning studies reporting data on NS-LBP among athletes.

Methods: This ScR was developed referring to the 2020 version of the "Joanna Briggs Institute Methodological Guidance" and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses for Scoping Reviews.

Effects of immersive virtual reality on upper limb function in subjects with multiple sclerosis: A cross-over study.

Background: Upper limb dysfunctions are common in people with multiple sclerosis (PwMS) and lead to limitations in activities of daily living. In this study, we investigated the feasibility and effects of an immersive commercial virtual reality system for upper limb bilateral rehabilitation.

Methods: A total of 20 participants were included in a cross over study with two arm sequences: Treatment-Waiting List (T-WL; N = 9) and Waiting List-Treatment (WT-T; N = 11).

A Study on Lower Limb Asymmetries in Parkinson's Disease during Gait Assessed through Kinematic-Derived Parameters.

Unilaterality of motor symptoms is a distinctive feature of Parkinson's Disease (PD) and represents an important co-factor involved in motor deficits and limitations of functional abilities including postural instability and asymmetrical gait. In recent times, an increasing number of studies focused on the characterization of such alterations, which have been associated with increased metabolic cost and risk of falls and may severely compromise their quality of life. Although a large number of studies investigated the gait alterations in people with PD (pwPD), few focused on kinematic parameters and even less investigated interlimb asymmetry under a kinematic point of view.

Postural strategies among office workers during a prolonged sitting bout.

Sedentary behavior has increased steadily over prior decades, primarily due to increased computer use at work and at home. The total sedentary time per day has been associated with increased risk of cardiometabolic diseases; increased sitting time at work has been associated with musculoskeletal discomfort particularly in the low back. Office workers spend many hours sitting, thus efforts to increase movement through changes of posture (sit to stand) or moving while sitting have been proposed as ways to mitigate the negative effects of prolonged sitting.

Responsiveness and Minimal Important Change of the Quebec Back Pain Disability Scale in Italian patients with chronic low back pain undergoing multidisciplinary rehabilitation.

Background: There is still a lack of information concerning Minimal Important Change (MIC) of the Quebec Back Pain Disability Scale (QBPDS), that limits its use for clinical and research purposes.

Aim: Evaluating responsiveness and MIC of the QBPDS in Italians with chronic low back pain (LBP).

Design: This is a methodological research based on an observational study.

Effects of exercise on balance in patients with non-specific low back pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Introduction: Non-specific low back pain (NS-LBP) is one of the most common musculoskeletal conditions related to medical expenses and disability. Evidence suggests that changes in motion patterns could induce trunk instability and impaired postural control. Therefore, this systematic review investigated the effects of exercise on balance in patients with NS-LBP.

Trunk sway changes in professional bus drivers during actual shifts on long-distance routes.

Although professional bus drivers are required to perform their task while adopting a prolonged constrained sitting posture, existence of possible effects in terms of postural strategies has been scarcely investigated under actual working conditions. This study aimed to characterise modifications of trunk sway in 14 professional bus drivers during regular shifts performed on non-urban routes using a pressure-sensitive mat placed on the seat. Centre-of-pressure (COP) time series were extracted from body-seat pressure data to calculate sway parameters (i.

Lower Limb Kinematics in Individuals with Hip Osteoarthritis during Gait: A Focus on Adaptative Strategies and Interlimb Symmetry.

Among the functional limitations associated with hip osteoarthritis (OA), the alteration of gait capabilities represents one of the most invalidating as it may seriously compromise the quality of life of the affected individual. The use of quantitative techniques for human movement analysis has been found valuable in providing accurate and objective measures of kinematics and kinetics of gait in individuals with hip OA, but few studies have reported in-depth analyses of lower limb joint kinematics during gait and, in particular, there is a scarcity of data on interlimb symmetry. Such aspects were investigated in the present study which tested 11 individuals with hip OA (mean age 68.

Does variability in motor output at individual joints predict stride time variability in gait? Influences of age, sex, and plane of motion.

Old age is associated with variability in gait motor output, particularly in females, and is linked to fall risk. However, little is known about how older age and sex affect variability in the outputs of individual joints, and how these variabilities contribute to the collective gait output. Healthy adults aged 18-99 years (N = 102, 57 females) completed six trials of straight walking at self-selected speed.

Age-Related Changes in Smoothness of Gait of Healthy Children and Early Adolescents.

In this study, we acquired and processed trunk accelerations during level walking in 85 children aged 8-13 years to calculate spatio-temporal parameters and Harmonic Ratio (HR), which is a metrics representative of gait smoothness and step-to-step symmetry. The results show that while spatio-temporal parameters remain unchanged once normalized considering individuals' anthropometry, significantly higher values of HR for both the antero-posterior and vertical directions were found in participants aged 12-13 with respect to those of 8-9. This indicates an improvement of gait symmetry, which suggests that the gait maturation process is still ongoing for the age ranges tested here.

A novel summary kinematic index for postural characterization in subjects with Parkinson's disease.

Background: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurological disorder characterized, among other symptoms, by a significant modified posture. Although a detailed assessment of postural abnormalities can be performed using quantitative movement analysis, the output of such procedure might be not suitable for a routine clinical use due to its intrinsic complexity. However, synthetic measures may facilitate the interpretation of kinematic data for physicians and thus make such tools fully exploitable in daily practice.

Sex-independent and dependent effects of older age on cycle-to-cycle variability of muscle activation during gait.

Background: Older age is associated with higher stride time variability in female and male gait, which may have a neuromuscular origin. We sought to determine how older age and sex affect muscle activation variability during gait, and how these patterns relate to stride time variability.

Methods: Ninety-three adults (51 females; aged 20-82 years) completed six gait trials at their self-selected speed.

Similarities and Differences of Gait Patterns in Women and Men With Parkinson Disease With Mild Disability.

Objective: This study aimed to quantitatively investigate the existence of differences in spatiotemporal and kinematic parameters of gait in men and women with Parkinson disease (PD) using computerized 3-dimensional gait analysis.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Setting: Laboratory of Biomechanics.