The effects of a long-term care walking program on balance, falls and well-being.

Background: The effects of a regular and graduated walking program as a stand-alone intervention for individuals in long-term care are unclear. Exercise and fall prevention programs typically studied in long-term care settings tend to involve more than one exercise mode, such as a combination of balance, aerobic, strengthening, and flexibility exercises; and, measures do not always include mental health symptoms and behaviors, although these may be of even greater significance than physical outcomes.

Methods/design: We are randomly assigning residents of long-term care facilities into one of three intervention groups: (1) Usual Care Group--individuals receive care as usual within their long-term care unit; (2) Interpersonal Interaction Group--individuals receive a comparable amount of one-on-one stationary interpersonal interaction time with study personnel administering the walking program; and, (3) Walking Program Group--individuals participate in a supervised, progressive walking program five days per week, for up to half an hour per day.

Scoring of the physical therapist clinical performance instrument (PT-CPI): analysis of 7 years of use.

Purpose: The aims of this study were to (1) describe the completion rates of the 24 performance criteria (PCs) from the Physical Therapist Clinical Performance Instrument (PT-CPI) by clinical instructors; (2) evaluate change in PC visual analogue scores (VAS) with students' clinical experience; and (3) evaluate scoring patterns over time.

Methods: Final VAS scores for 208 physiotherapy (PT) students (seven cohorts) from 1,039 clinical placements between 2001 and 2008 were analyzed. Completion rates were calculated for each PC.

An exploratory study of two measures of free-living physical activity for people with multiple sclerosis.

Objective: To examine the ability of two measures of physical activity (tri-axial accelerometer and activity diary) to discriminate among groups of inactive, moderately active and active individuals with multiple sclerosis and to explore the relationship between these two measures.

Design: Exploratory, descriptive study.

Subjects: Thirty individuals with multiple sclerosis and nine controls.

Effectiveness of a community-based Tai Chi program and implications for public health initiatives.

Objectives: To establish whether the reported beneficial physiologic effects of Tai Chi when performed under stringent experimental conditions can be generalized to the community.

Design: Phase 1: pre-post comparison in a group inexperienced in Tai Chi. Phase 2: baseline comparison between inexperienced and experienced Tai Chi groups.

Comparison of balance in older people with and without visual impairment.

Objective: a cross-sectional study was used to compare the balance ability of older people with and without visual impairment.

Setting: Tung Wah Group of Hospitals Jockey Club Rehabilitation Complex and the Pok Oi Hospital Jockey Club care and attention homes for aged individuals.

Subjects: a total of 66 subjects, 65 years of age and older were divided into three groups based on their degree of visual impairment.

Concurrent validity of an electronic descriptive pain scale.

The study objective was to assess the concurrent validity of the Electronic Descriptive Pain Scale (EDPS), a pain scale built into a transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation device. One hundred patients in an outpatient physiotherapy (PT) clinic participated (mean age 41.30 years, SD 13.

Pain and pain-related interference with function in older Canadians: the Canadian Study of Health and Aging.

Purpose: The effect that pain has on everyday physical and psychological functioning in the older population is not well understood. The main objective of this study was to describe the extent of pain and pain-related disability in the Canadian population and examine the relationships between demographic and health-related variables and pain-related interference in physical and psychological functioning.

Method: The data was obtained from the follow up study to The Canadian Study of Health and Ageing.

Pain outcome measures.

Pain is a complex, multi-dimensional experience that is usually associated with local tissue damage or may be referred from a distant site. Classically, pain is viewed as having sensory, affective, and cognitive components. To assess pain, however, the clinician or the researcher must use the most appropriate measure for the given situation.

Pain factors associated with physical disability in a sample of community-dwelling senior citizens.

Background: Little is known about the specific aspects of pain that may contribute to the association between pain and disability. This study investigated whether the presence of a physical disability is associated with specific aspects of musculoskeletal pain.

Methods: Questionnaires sent to a sample of community-dwelling seniors included detailed questions about pain; the topics covered pain intensity, frequency, duration and location, use of pain medication, cause of pain, physical disability, depressive symptoms, chronic conditions, and demographic information.

Empirical evidence of the association between the presence of musculoskeletal pain and physical disability in community-dwelling senior citizens.

The proportion of people 65 years of age and older who report musculoskeletal pain and physical disability is high. The main objective of this study was to determine whether physical disability was associated with the presence of musculoskeletal pain in a sample of senior citizens. Self-administered questionnaires were sent to a sample of 1306 community-dwelling senior citizens in London, Ontario, Canada between August and October 1995.

Sphenopalatine blocks in the treatment of pain in fibromyalgia and myofascial pain syndrome.

Sphenopalatine blocks have been used to treat pain for more than 80 years. Anecdotal support for sphenopalatine ganglion blocks has been very strong in those who believe in the technique, but the research results have been inconclusive. Therefore, a double blind, placebo-controlled study was performed on 61 patients, 42 with fibromyalgia and 19 with myofascial pain syndrome.

The efficacy of cryotherapy following arthroscopic knee surgery.

Cryotherapy has historically been used as a treatment following knee surgery. In the literature, there is little evidence of beneficial effects which support this practice. This study examined the effects of cryotherapy treatments on 45 subjects following minor arthroscopic knee surgery.

The cooling effects of electroacupuncture on the skin temperature of the hand.

Electroacupuncture (EA) has been reported to induce changes in skin temperature; however, it is not clear whether high- and low-frequency EA produce similar effects. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of EA on the skin temperature of the hand and finger in normal subjects. Twenty-one subjects received high-frequency EA (100 Hz) and low-frequency EA (4 Hz) at the Large Intestine 4 and Small Intestine 3 acupuncture points, as well as a no-treatment control condition.

The efficacy of dexamethasone iontophoresis for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritic knees: a pilot study.

Objective: To examine the efficacy of dexamethasone sodium phosphate (DEX) iontophoresis for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) of the knee, and to obtain statistical information for a future randomized controlled trial (RCT).

Methods: Ten subjects with RA, ranging in age from 34-75, were randomly assigned to either the experimental or placebo group. Iontophoresis treatments were given to both groups on days 1, 3, and 5.

The effects of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation on skin temperature in asymptomatic subjects.

Background And Purpose: Several studies have evaluated the effects of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) on skin temperature. The results of these studies, however, remain controversial. This study examined the effects of two modes of TENS, compared with a control condition, on skin temperature of the hand and finger.

The use of topical 4% lidocaine in spheno-palatine ganglion blocks for the treatment of chronic muscle pain syndromes: a randomized, controlled trial.

To assess the efficacy of 4% topical lidocaine in spheno-palatine blocks, a randomized controlled trial was carried out on patients with chronic muscle pain syndromes. Sixty-one patients (42 with fibromyalgia (FM) and 19 with myofascial pain syndrome (MPS)) completed the trial. Outcome measures included pain intensity, a daily pain diary, headache frequency, sensitivity to pressure using a dolorimeter, anxiety, depression, and sleep quality.

Effect of TENS on pain, medications, and pulmonary function following coronary artery bypass graft surgery.

The efficacy of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) as an adjunct to narcotic medications for the management of postoperative pain was assessed in a prospective, randomized, controlled study of patients following coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery with the right or left internal thoracic artery (ITA). Forty-five male patients (mean age, 57 +/- 6 years) were randomly assigned to (1) TENS, (2) placebo TENS, or (3) control treatments (n = 15 each), following extubation and during the 24- to 72-h postoperative period. Two-way analysis of variance tests indicated no significant differences among treatment groups for (1) pain with cough, (2) narcotic medication intake, (3) FVC, (4) FEV1, and (5) PEFR (p > 0.

A comparative study of pain, sleep quality and pain responsiveness in fibrositis and myofascial pain syndrome.

Twenty patients with fibrositis and 19 patients with myofascial pain syndrome were compared with regard to pain levels, sleep quality, general pain threshold and localized pain responsiveness at fibrositic tender points. Patients with fibrositis had significantly lower pain responsiveness (p less than 0.01), lower pain threshold (p less than 0.

Improvements in pain responsiveness in patients with fibrositis after successful treatment with amitriptyline.

Thirty-six patients with fibrositis received low dose amitriptyline and placebo in a randomized double blind crossover study lasting 10 weeks. Amitriptyline was associated with significant changes on the outcome measures of pain, tender point sensitivity and patient assessment of well being. Clinically significant improvements for pain and tender point sensitivity and a statistically significant improvement in generalized pain responsiveness were found between patients who reported subjective improvement on amitriptyline and those who felt no change.

The concept of primary fibromyalgia (fibrositis): clinical value, relation and significance to other chronic musculoskeletal pain syndromes.

PFS, MPS and TMPDS can be identified using positive diagnostic criteria among patients presenting with chronic pain. A directed rather than exhaustive search for organic diseases known to coexist with these syndromes is usually all that is necessary. Criteria are presently empirical but do identify homogeneous populations of patients for study and treatment.

Pain perception and personality measures as discriminators in the classification of fibrositis.

Twenty patients with fibrositis were compared to age and sex matched groups of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and normal controls regarding personality variables measured by the Basic Personality Inventory (BPI) and responsiveness to experimentally induced pain. The group with fibrositis scored significantly higher than the normal group on 4 of the BPI scales and had lower pain threshold and tolerance than the normal group. The group with RA was found to be significantly different from the normal group on hypochondriasis and pain tolerance.