Acute effects of walking with Nordic poles in persons with mild to moderate low-back pain.

Regular walking with or without Nordic poles is effective over time at reducing discomfort in individuals with chronic low back pain (LBP). Nordic pole use increases balance and stability, distributes weight through the arms and torso, and decreases loading of the spine and lower limbs. The purpose of this study was to determine if Nordic poles would reduce perceived acute discomfort while self-paced walking in individuals with LBP.

In vivo ultrasound measurement of posterior femoral glide during hip joint mobilization in healthy college students.

Study Design: Descriptive study.

Objectives: To measure femoral translational glide in vivo during posterior hip joint mobilization and to interpret data in the context of the normal arthrokinematic glide necessary for hip flexion.

Background: Joint play, or translational glide available at a joint, is largely influenced by the geometry of the articular surfaces.

Alternative pop-up for surfers with low back pain.

Surfing is enjoyed by many people around the world. A common problem in surfers is back pain during the "take-off," specifically the "pop-up." This article describes each part of the "take-off, and introduces an alternative to the "prone pop up" - called the "knee pop-up.

Proximity of collateral ligament origin to the axis of rotation of the proximal interphalangeal joint of the finger.

Study Design: Descriptive anatomical study.

Objective: To determine the proximity of proximal interphalangeal (PIP) joint collateral ligament origin to the axis of rotation (AOR) of the joint.

Background: Normal function of the PIP joints of the hands requires competent collateral ligaments.

Reducing postural sway by manipulating the difficulty levels of a cognitive task and a balance task.

Postural sway decreases when participants perform a balance task concurrently with a cognitive task. The present study examined whether this is based on the difficulty of the cognitive task, the difficulty of the balance task, or a combination of both. Participants completed easy and difficult Brooks' spatial and nonsense memory tasks in sitting and standing.

Improving balance by performing a secondary cognitive task.

Contrary to general findings in the attention and memory literature, some studies have shown that performing a secondary cognitive task produces an improvement in balance performance. The purpose of the present experiment was to investigate under what condition such an improvement would occur. Young and older adults were asked to hold as still as possible on a platform that measured sway while performing or not performing the encoding phase of the Brooks' (1967) spatial or non-spatial memory task.

Treatment of fabella syndrome with manual therapy: a case report.

Study Design: Clinical case report.

Objectives: To educate clinicians about fabella syndrome as a possible cause for posterolateral knee pain and dysfunction. Also to describe a physical therapy intervention strategy for posterolateral knee pain secondary to hypomobility or malposition of a fabella.