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BACKGROUND: Although there are several studies of Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) and exercise in myofascial pain syndrome, there are no studies comparing the effectiveness of Kinesio Taping (KT) and TENS in myofascial pain syndrome patients. OBJECTIVE: To compare the early and late effects of TENS and KT on pain, disability and range of motion in myofascial pain syndrome patients. METHODS:Sixty-nine patients were divided into three groups randomly as TENS+Exercise,KT+Exercise and exercise groups. Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), pain threshold, Neck Disability Index and cervical contralateral lateral flexion were employed in the evaluation of the patients performed before treatment, after treatment and 3rd month after treatment. RESULTS: The VAS, pain threshold, Neck Disability Index and contralateral lateral flexion values were improved in all groups both in after treatment and 3rd month after treatment (p < 0.01). In the comparison of after treatment vs. before treatment evaluations, VAS score was decreased in KT group compared to the TENS and control group (p = 0.001), in the TENS group compared to control group (p = 0.011). In the comparison of 3rd month and before treatment evaluations, VAS score was decreased in the TENS group compared to control group (p = 0.001) and in the KT group compared to the control group (p = 0.001). There was no significant difference between TENS and KT groups. All other parameters did not differ between the groups. CONCLUSIONS: TENS and KT added exercises can decrease pain severity and increase pain threshold, function and cervical range of motion in myofascial pain syndrome patients. Addition of TENS or KT to the exercise therapy resulted in more significant improvement compared to exercise therapy alone with a more pronounced improvement in KT group compared to the TENS group in the early period. Because KT was found to be more effective in decreasing the pain and had the advantage of being used in every 3 days, it seems to be beneficial in acute painful periods in myofascial pain syndrome patients. © 2017 IOS Press and the authors. All rights reserved.

BACKGROUND: Clinical and electrophysiological effects of therapeutic ultrasound (US) were researched in many studies on patients with CTS with conflicting results. OBJECTIVE: To assess the effects of continuous and pulsed US treatments by ultrasonographic imaging in addition to clinical and electrophysilogical parameters in patients with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). METHOD: Fifty-four patients with idiopathic CTS were randomly divided into three groups. All patients used night splints for two weeks. In addition to splint therapy, continuous, pulsed or sham US treatments were applied to patients 10 min/session, 5 sessions/week for two weeks. Clinical situation (pain, hand function, strength), electrophysiological studies (motor distal latency, MDL, sensorial distal latency, SDL), and ultrasonographic area measurements of median nerve were evaluated. All evaluations were applied at pretreatment (baseline), posttreatment (2nd week) and in the 6th week. RESULTS: Whereas significant differences were detected for clinical, functional and ultrasonographic imaging findings in each group in the 2nd week and 6th week compared to baseline (p< 0.0167 for both), no electrophysiological improvements were detected in pulsed-US (p> 0.0167) and only improvement for SDL in sham US group in the 2nd week evaluation (p< 0.0167). CONCLUSION: According to the results of this study, continuous, pulsed or sham US treatments combined with splinting had similar effects on clinical, electrophysiological and ultrasonographic imaging improvements. Additionally, ultrasonographic imaging may be a preferable objective evaluation tool to prove the early posttreatment clinical improvements when electrophysiological changes could not be detected. © 2018 - IOS Press and the authors. All rights reserved.

WOS: 000460932900018, PubMed ID: 30040706, BACKGROUND: In treatment of adhesive capsulitis, deep heating agents have been shown to have positive effects on pain and function. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate if addition of ultrasound used in treatment of adhesive capsulitis will provide additional benefits. METHODS: Thirty patients with adhesive capsulitis were included in a prospective, double-blind, randomized controlled trial. Hotpack, TENS (Transcutaneus Electrical Nerve Stimulation), exercise and active ultrasound therapies were applied to the first group (n = 15), whereas sham ultrasound was applied to the second group (n = 15) in addition to hotpack, TENS and exercise. The patients were evaluated using joint range of motion, UCLA shoulder scale and Shoulder Disability Questionnaire scales at baseline and at 6th and 24th weeks post-treatment. RESULTS: When pain and the clinical and functional parameters were compared in both groups, significant improvement was found compared to baseline (p < 0.001). At week 24, no difference was found in terms of pain at rest, but all other parameters were improved compared to week 6. When the groups were compared, no difference was found in any comparison between 6th and 24th week (p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Adding ultrasound treatment to a combination of physical therapy modalities did not provide any additional benefits for the treatment of adhesive capsulitis.

WOS: 000391751500009 BACKGROUND: Shoulder pain is frequently observed in haemodialysis patients. OBJECTIVE: To compare haemodialysis patients with or without shoulder pain in terms of shoulder motion ranges, beta 2 microglobulin levels and magnetic resonance imaging findings. METHODS: Forty-three patients undergoing dialysis were enrolled, of which 23 patients had explicit shoulder pain at night, which appeared during dialysis. Range of joint motion was evaluated. beta 2 microglobulin value was recorded. MRI was used to evaluate rotator cuff tendons for thickness, homogeneity, integrity and presence of effusion. RESULTS: Ranges of motion were significantly lower in the painful shoulder group. Supraspinatus tendon thickness and the number of areas with effusion were higher in the painful group. There was a positive correlation between the beta 2 microglobulin level and supraspinatus (r:0.352 p < 0.05) and subscapular (r:0.454 p < 0.05) tendon thicknesses. While effusion areas and pain (r:0.351 p < 0.05) showed positive correlation, there was a negative correlation between pain and shoulder motion ranges. CONCLUSIONS: Shoulder pain in dialysis patients can be related with tendon thickness and effusion. While the beta 2 microglobulin level affects tendon thickness, it has no relation to pain and movement constraint.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: To investigate the relations between alexithymia, temperament features, depression and anxiety levels and level of benefit from physical therapy. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Fifty-eight patients in a physical therapy program were included in this study. Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS), Temperament Evaluation of the Memphis, Pisa, Paris and San Diego Autoquestionnaire (TEMPS-A), Beck Depression Scale (BDS) and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) were used before the treatment. Response to treatment parameters were as follows: pre-treatment, 10th session and 3rd month resting and activity pain was evaluated using the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS-R, VAS-A), patients' self global evaluation (PSGE), doctors' global patient evaluation (DGPE) and Nottingham Health Profile (NHP). RESULTS: At the end of treatment, significant recovery was obtained in VAS-R, VAS-A, PSGE, DGPE, NHP-pain, NHP-physical mobility and NHP-energy scores. No changes were found in NHP-sleep, NHP-social isolation and NHP-emotional reaction scores (p> 0.05). Except for the recovery percentage of TAS and NSP-energy, no relations between TAS and other parameters were detected (p< 0.05). Only the recovery percentage of the PSGE parameter revealed significant negative correlation with depressive, cyclothymic and anxious temperament means of TEMPS-A (p< 0.05). Other temperament features of TEMPS-A (hyperthymic, irritable) revealed no correlations. Significant negative correlations were found between BDS and PSGE, and VAS-A (p< 0.05). No correlations were found between BDS and other parameters, or between STAI scores and response parameters (p> 0.05). CONCLUSION: Although pain, life quality and doctor evaluation of the patients in the physical treatment program improved greatly after the treatment, no favorable results were obtained for patients who had high depressive, cyclothymic, anxious temperament and depression scores. It was detected that alexithymia and anxiety scores revealed no effect in this evaluation. © 2013 - IOS Press and the authors. All rights reserved.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to develop a Turkish version of the mini Osteoporosis Quality of Life Questionnaire (mini-OQLQ), and assess its reliability and validity., Material and method: Sixty-four women with postmenopausal osteoporosis were included in the study. Patients who were diagnosed with secondary osteoporosis through clinical and laboratory examinations were excluded from the study. After translation process, the Turkish version of the scale was applied to each participant twice with an interval of 2 weeks. For reliability study, internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) of mini-OQLQ total score and test-retest intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) were calculated. Validation study was assessed by correlating the scale with QUALEFFO 41., Results: The mean age at menopause and age of patients were 45.61 +/- 6.04 and 59.91 +/- 8.69 years, respectively. Cronbach's a of the Turkish version of the mini-OQLQ was 0.898. The test-retest reliability (ICC) of the Turkish version of the mini-OQLQ was determined as 0.81 for the total score, and ranged between 0.71 and 0.84 for individual items. In terms of validity, the Turkish version of mini-OQLQ showed significant negative correlation with QUALEFFO 41 (r = -0.756; p < 0.0001)., Conclusion: The Turkish version of the mini-OQLQ was found to be reliable and valid in the evaluation of life quality of patients with postmenopausal osteoporosis.