Psychological well-being and quality of life in visually impaired baseball players: An Italian national survey.

Italian baseball played by visually impaired and blind athletes is an adapted team sport which maintains the peculiar fast-moving features of this popular sport. It is also a mixed team game played together with sighted subjects. Here, we performed a national survey aimed at assessing the differences in psychological well-being (PWB) and quality of life (QoL) between visually impaired baseball players from Italian teams and non-players using a structured online questionnaire.

Longitudinal assessment of the impact of adapted physical activity on upper limb disability and quality of life in breast cancer survivors from an Italian cohort.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a specific adapted physical activity (APA) protocol on upper limb disability and quality of life in breast cancer survivors and to assess longitudinally the possible role of APA on long-term benefits.

Methods: Breast cancer survivors from an Italian cohort were assessed by fitness tests (shoulder-arm mobility, range of motion, and back flexibility) before and after 8-week APA. Quality of life and back and surgical shoulder pain intensity were evaluated by Short Form-12 and numerical rating scale questionnaires, respectively.

Low back pain in healthy postmenopausal women and the effect of physical activity: A secondary analysis in a randomized trial.

Epidemiological studies on the prevalence of musculoskeletal pain have consistently shown that this is a relevant health problem, with non-specific low back pain (LBP) being the most commonly reported in adult females. Conflicting data on the association between LBP symptoms and physical activity (PA) have been reported. Here, we investigated the prevalence of LBP and the effect of a 24-month non-specific PA intervention on changes in LBP prevalence in a series of Italian healthy postmenopausal women.

Evidence for adapted physical activity as an effective intervention for upper limb mobility and quality of life in breast cancer survivors.

Background: Physical activity interventions are known to be effective in improving the physical and psychological complaints of breast cancer survivors.

Purpose: To investigate the impact of a specific exercise training program on upper limb mobility and quality of life in breast cancer survivors.

Methods: The study included 55 women recruited at the Cancer Rehabilitation Centre in Florence after the completion of breast cancer treatment and rehabilitative physiotherapy.

Role of adapted physical activity to prevent the adverse effects of the sarcopenia. A pilot study.

Sarcopenia is the physiological age related decline in muscle mass and strength. It is a main cause of muscle weakness and reduced locomotory ability and its adverse effects contributes to a reduction in physical function and performance with decreased independence and quality of life. In fact, sarcopenia has been associated with disability and morbidity in the elderly population.

Pain syndromes in competitive elite level female artistic gymnasts. Role of specific preventive-compensative activity.

The pain is a serious problem in advanced level female artistic gymnasts because it decreases the performance. The pain is due to the high numbers of hours spent in training sessions and may be associated to injuries that have relatively high incidence and severity in these athletes. We investigated the role of a preventive-compensative physical activity program, implemented in the warm-up and the cool-down session of standard training, in the prevention and reduction of the pain syndromes, evaluated in elite level young female artistic gymnasts.