Manual Therapy

BACKGROUND: Physiotherapists increasingly manage shoulder referrals in place of orthopaedic doctors. Better understanding the agreement between these professionals will help inform the safety, quality and potential costs of these care models. OBJECTIVE: To establish the level of agreement between a physiotherapist and an orthopaedic surgeon regarding diagnosis, management and corticosteroid injection, in a representative sample of orthopaedic shoulder referrals...

BACKGROUND: There is preliminary evidence of cervical musculoskeletal impairment in some temporomandibular disorder (TMD) pain states. OBJECTIVES: To determine whether people with TMD, classified as either mild or moderate/severe TMD, have more cervical signs of dysfunction than healthy subjects. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey. METHOD: Based on the Conti Amnestic Questionnaire and examination of the temporomandibular joint (Axis I classification of the Research Diagnostic Criteria for TMD), of 144 people examined 59 were classified to a mild TMD group, 40 to a moderate/severe TMD group and 45 to an asymptomatic control group without TMD...

BACKGROUND: Physiotherapists use musculo-skeletal classification systems for patient assessment. Since its early development, the McKenzie lumbar spine assessment (MK) has been incorporated into examination algorithms and combined with a series of patho-anatomical diagnostic tests. No previous studies have used a MK and a combined examination (MK-C) to provide a detailed profile of patients, report and compare the classification characteristics of a chronic low back pain (CLBP) population...

BACKGROUND: Research to date has focused on dignity within the hospital rather than outpatient settings which is likely to raise different issues from the patients' perspective. PURPOSE: To investigate patients' views relating to draping and dignity and their choice of dressing options in the physiotherapy outpatient setting. METHOD: A custom-designed questionnaire was developed including feedback from a focus group of 10 individuals attending a physiotherapy outpatient clinic...

BACKGROUND: Patient perceptions may influence the effectiveness and utilization of healthcare interventions, particularly for complex health conditions such as sciatica or back-related leg pain (BRLP). OBJECTIVES: To explore BRLP patients' perceptions of spinal manipulative therapy (SMT) and home exercise with advice (HEA). DESIGN: Qualitative study in a controlled clinical trial. METHOD: Semi-structured interviews conducted after 12 weeks of treatment asked participants about satisfaction with care and whether treatment was worthwhile...

Clinicians often rely on physical examination tests to guide them in the diagnostic process of knee disorders. However, reliability of these tests is often overlooked and may influence the consistency of results and overall diagnostic validity. Therefore, the objective of this study was to systematically review evidence on the reliability of physical examination tests for the diagnosis of knee disorders. A structured literature search was conducted in databases up to January 2016. Included studies needed to report reliability measures of at least one physical test for any knee disorder...

BACKGROUND: Patterns of scapular dyskinesis have unique scapular kinematics and associated muscular activation. The characteristics of unique dyskinesis patterns may be associated with functional disability. OBJECTIVES: To investigate whether the shoulder function level and primary dysfunction items were different in unique dyskinesis pattern. The factors associated with shoulder dysfunction in different dyskinesis patterns were identified. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study...

STUDY DESIGN: Descriptive comparison study. OBJECTIVE: To assess the accuracy of two needle angle approaches for dry needling of the lumbar multifidus. BACKGROUND: Low back pain is a leading cause of disability around the world; the lumbar multifidus plays a vital role in low back health. Manual therapy such as dry needling can improve pain mediation and motor control activation of the lumbar multifidus. Clinicians practicing dry needling at the lumbar multifidus typically use an inferomedial approach considered non-controversial...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Alterations in central somatosensory function (e.g. cortical reorganisation) occurs secondary to chronic knee pain. The reorganization can be quantified using a clinical signatory measure, the two-point discrimination threshold (TPDT). In order to differentiate normal variability of TPDT against abnormal thresholds for clinical practice, development of body region specific reference values are required and the factors that determine the TPDT have to be established...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

BACKGROUND: Recurrent ankle sprains often involve residual symptoms for which subjects often perform proprioceptive or/and strengthening exercises. However, the effectiveness of mobilization to influence important nerve structures due to its anatomical distribution like tibial and peroneal nerves is unclear. OBJETIVES: To analyze the effects of proprioceptive/strengthening exercises versus the same exercises and manual therapy including mobilizations to influence joint and nerve structures in the management of recurrent ankle sprains...

AIM: To investigate the effect of combining pain education, specific exercises and graded physical activity training (exercise) compared with pain education alone (control) on physical health-related quality of life (HR-QoL) in chronic neck pain patients. METHODS: A multicentre randomised controlled trial of 200 neck pain patients receiving pain education. The exercise group received additional exercises for neck/shoulder, balance and oculomotor function, plus graded physical activity training...

BACKGROUND: Tinnitus can be related to many different aetiologies such as hearing loss or a noise trauma, but it can also be related to the somatosensory system of the cervical spine, called cervicogenic somatic tinnitus (CST). Case studies suggest a positive effect of cervical spine treatment on tinnitus complaints in patients with CST, but no experimental studies are available. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of a multimodal cervical physical therapy treatment on tinnitus complaints in patients with CST...

BACKGROUND: The methods to standardize the test items used for classification of patients with knee pain based on the movement system impairment (MSI) approach have been established. To our knowledge, no study has concentrated on establishing reliability for proposed classification for knee pain problems. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to assess intra- and intertester reliability of the knee MSI classification in patients with knee pain. DESIGN: A cross-sectional methodological study...

BACKGROUND: Ultrasonography is an economical and non-invasive method for measuring real-time joint movements. Although physiotherapists are increasingly using ultrasound imaging for rotator cuff disorders, there is a lack of evidence on their reliability in using ultrasonography to measure glenohumeral translation. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the reliability of a physiotherapist in measuring anterior and posterior glenohumeral joint translation with ultrasound...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

BACKGROUND: A valid functional test, evaluating dynamic balance control, might be valuable clinic tool for evaluation of treatment outcome on patients with femoral acetabular impingement (FAI). OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate criterion and divergent validity of the Star Excursion Balance Test (SEBT) on patients with bilateral FAI- changes, with unilateral clinical symptoms. METHOD: In this cross sectional correlational and comparative study fifteen patients with bilateral FAI with unilateral symptoms and 15 controls participated...

BACKGROUND: Scapular orientation and movements can affect the function of the shoulder. However, evidence is limited on whether symptomatic subjects can actively maintain the scapula in a neutral position through conscious control. OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether symptomatic subjects with scapular dyskinesis can achieve optimal scapular movements and associated muscle activities through conscious control. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.