BioMed, Volume 4, Issue 2 (June 2024) – 4 articles

Caregivers experience lower back pain due to patient transfer. Foot position is an important and adjustable posture for reducing lumbar loads during patient transfer. Specifically, a suitable foot position provides the use of the lower limbs instead of the lumbar region in patient handling. Thus, we have developed a monitoring and feedback system for foot positioning using wearable sensors to instruct suitable foot positions. However, existing measurement methods require multiple specific wearable sensors. In addition, the existing method has not been evaluated in patient transfer, including twisting and lowering. Thus, the objective of this study was to develop and evaluate a measurement method using only a smartphone-installed inertial sensor for foot position during patient transfer, including twisting and lowering. The smartphone attached to the trunk measures the acceleration, angular velocity, and geomagnetic field. The proposed method recognizes anteroposterior and mediolateral foot positions by machine learning using inertial data. The proposed method was tested using simulated patient transfer motions, including horizontal rotation. The results showed that the proposed method could recognize the two foot positions with more than 90% accuracy. These results indicate that the proposed method can be applied to wearable monitoring and feedback systems to prevent lower back pain caused by patient transfer. Full article

Instrument-assisted soft tissue mobilization (IASTM) techniques use specialized hand-held instruments for applying controlled mechanical forces to the body with the goal of facilitating healing, improving range of motion, and reducing pain. Nevertheless, an optimal range of forces for achieving clinical outcomes has yet to be established. A barrier to advancing research on IASTM force optimization is the lack of commercially available instruments that quantify treatment forces. The aim of the current study was to assess the feasibility of attaching a flexible force sensor to a commercially available IASTM instrument to obtain valid force measurements. The validity of this novel approach was assessed by comparing data between the flexible force sensor and a force plate during a simulated treatment. Intraclass correlation coefficients, linear regression models, and Bland Altman plots all indicated excellent agreement between the force plate and flexible sensor when the instrument was used at 45°, 65°, and 90° treatment angles. Agreement between measures decreased when the instrument was held at 30°. Thus, commercially available instruments with attached sensors could make force measurement more accessible and feasible for a wider range of research settings, facilitating the advancement of IASTM research and ultimately informing clinical decision-making to improve patient care. Full article

Practitioners routinely use the single leg heel raise (SLHR) to quantify calf function in healthy and injured populations. Despite this, approaches vary and the impact of cueing on SLHR performance and results interpretation in athletesis unknown. The primary aim of this study was to quantify the level of agreement of the cued versus non-cued SLHR tests. The secondary aim was to explore test outcomes and the potential impact of intrinsic factors. Cued and non-cued SLHR tests were conducted in fifty-one Australian football players (23 women, 28 men). Metronome pacing (60 bpm) and five key cues were included in the cued condition. The level of agreement (Bland–Altman) between tests was measured for capacity (repetitions to failure) and asymmetry. Data from 100 legs were included. The non-cued and cued SLHR tests demonstrated poor agreement in both capacity and asymmetry. More repetitions to failure were performed in the non-cued SLHR [Mean (SD) = 33.9 (10.3) vs. 21.9 (5.3), p < 0.001)], and men had greater capacity (36.8 (10.4) vs. 30.3 (9.2), p < 0.001). During the cued SLHR, older players (age ≥ 30 years: −5.1 repetitions, p = 0.01) and Indigenous players (−3.4 repetitions, p = 0.002) and had reduced calf muscle function. Cueing the SLHR test significantly changes the result—outcomes are not comparable or interchangeable with the commonly used non-cued SLHR. These findings can guide practitioners quantifying calf capacity. Full article

Objective: This study sought to examine whether the sense of coherence (SoC) and resilience among female fibromyalgia (FM) patients increased after participation in a fibrotherapy intervention program (FTI) and whether SoC and resilience increased among female FM patients (FFMPs) exposed to security threats who changed their coping strategies to problem-oriented coping. Methods: Ninety-six FFMPs aged 19–75 enrolled in the FTI program led by Rabbi Firer in Sderot, Israel. The intervention program is divided into three stages, each comprising a distinct weekly treatment plan. The treatment plans encompass the following modalities: physiotherapy adapted to FM conditions, group therapy, hydrotherapy, horticultural therapy/cooking therapy, Pilates, pottery therapy, and kundalini yoga. Each stage spans a duration of 10 weeks, culminating in a total program duration of 30 weeks. Results: The findings show that after participating in FTI, the problem-orientation level of coping and health indicators, including functional ability and physiological scores (pre- and post-exertion), increased while psychological distress levels decreased. Overall, all the physiological scales measured before and after the FTI showed a significant improvement among the entire sample. FFMPs with problem-oriented strategies reported higher levels of SoC and resilience after participating in the FTI program. Conclusions: The FTI provided FFMPs with tools to understand the meaning of their disease and its management, whereas before they were preoccupied with the presence of the disease and its negative impact on their lives. The participation of FFMPs in the FTI leads to a perceptual change, the adoption of problem-oriented coping strategies, and the increased utilization of coping resources, namely, SoC and resilience. Problem-oriented coping combined with high SoC and resilience led FFMPs to adopt health strategies such as physical activity and other empowering activities that raised their physical and mental health indicators. Full article