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Background and Purpose: The comprehensive treatment for an athlete who sustains a complete posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) injury remains unclear. The purpose of this case report is to describe the effects of an isokinetic exercise program on muscle performance and physical function in a professional soccer player with a PCL injury. Study Design: Case Report Case Description: A 23-year-old male professional soccer player injured his right knee (non-dominant) during a soccer match, with magnetic resonance imaging confirming a complete PCL rupture. The athlete completed 23 sessions of isokinetic treatment over nine weeks to improve physical function and muscle performance. The concentric mode was used to evaluate quadriceps and hamstrings performance isokinetically at angular velocities of 60 °/s, 120 °/s, and 300 °/s. The LEFS questionnaire was used to evaluate physical function. The assessment occurred before starting the treatment and at the end of nine weeks. An athlete with similar anthropometric characteristics was invited to participate and serve as a control, in order to better understand the athlete's assessment results. Outcomes: After nine weeks, peak torque normalized to body mass (PT/BM) improved to 4.0 N.m/kg for knee extensors (control: 3.6 Nm/kg) and 2.3 N.m/kg for knee flexors (control: 1.9 Nm/kg) at 60 °/s. This increase in PT was reflected in the hamstrings-to-quadriceps (H:Q) ratio post-treatment (57 %). At the end of treatment, the athlete returned to sports activities with 98.7 % restored physical function as measured by the LEFS (Score: 79 points). Discussion: The results demonstrated that the isokinetic treatment improved knee functional capacity, with increased PT/BM for knee extensors and flexors and enhanced torque-holding capacity, indicating improved muscle performance. Level of evidence: 5 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Background: Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is characterised as a chronic inflammatory disease of the axial skeleton. The force platform is an option for performing the postural assessment of these individuals., Objectives: To review and evaluate the behaviour of the centre of pressure (CoP) variables during the postural control examination in patients with AS compared to a control group., Method: A systematic review, registered in PROSPERO, that followed the PRISMA Statement. A search was carried out in the following databases: Medline, Web of Science, Embase, Scopus, and Scielo, from 1945 to 2023. Studies were selected that aimed to understand the use of the force platform for the assessment of postural control. The risk of bias assessment was performed using the AXIS tool., Results: Five studies were included, with a total of 247 participants. The assessment of risk of bias presented high scores in the AXIS tool. Patients with a diagnosis of AS presented increased thoracic kyphosis in most of the studies, as well as large displacements in the anteroposterior (AP) and mediolateral (ML) directions, and altered total mean velocity (TMV) and frequency, indicating worse postural stability. Regarding the functional status, the most used questionnaires were the Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Functional Index (BASFI), Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Metrology Index (BASMI) and Bath Ankylosing Disease Activity Index (BASDAI)., Conclusion: Patients with ankylosing spondylitis present postural instability, verified by means of higher values of centre of posture variables., Clinical Implications: Individuals with ankylosing spondylitis presented postural instability and balance deficit. Therefore, exercises for balance training and postural control are essential in the clinical management of these patients., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interest exists., (© 2024. The Authors.)

Background: No cure for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is known at present, so treatment often focuses on management of symptoms such as pain, stiffness and mobility. Treatment options include pharmacological interventions, physical therapy treatments and balneotherapy. Balneotherapy is defined as bathing in natural mineral or thermal waters (e.g. mineral baths, sulphur baths, Dead Sea baths), using mudpacks or doing both. Despite its popularity, reported scientific evidence for the effectiveness or efficacy of balneotherapy is sparse. This review, which evaluates the effects of balneotherapy in patients with RA, is an update of a Cochrane review first published in 2003 and updated in 2008., Objectives: To perform a systematic review on the benefits and harms of balneotherapy in patients with RA in terms of pain, improvement, disability, tender joints, swollen joints and adverse events., Search Methods: We searched the Cochrane 'Rehabilitation and Related Therapies' Field Register (to December 2014), the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (2014, Issue 1), MEDLIINE (1950 to December 2014), EMBASE (1988 to December 2014), the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) (1982 to December 2014), the Allied and Complementary Medicine Database (AMED) (1985 to December 2014), PsycINFO (1806 to December 2014) and the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro). We applied no language restrictions; however, studies not reported in English, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, German or French are awaiting assessment. We also searched the World Health Organization (WHO) International Clinical Trials Registry Platform for ongoing and recently completed trials., Selection Criteria: Studies were eligible if they were randomised controlled trials (RCTs) consisting of participants with definitive or classical RA as defined by the American Rheumatism Association (ARA) criteria of 1958, the ARA/American College of Rheumatology (ACR) criteria of 1988 or the ACR/European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) criteria of 2010, or by studies using the criteria of Steinbrocker.Balneotherapy had to be the intervention under study, and had to be compared with another intervention or with no intervention.The World Health Organization (WHO) and the International League Against Rheumatism (ILAR) determined in 1992 a core set of eight endpoints in clinical trials concerning patients with RA. We considered pain, improvement, disability, tender joints, swollen joints and adverse events among the main outcome measures. We excluded studies when only laboratory variables were reported as outcome measures., Data Collection and Analysis: Two review authors independently selected trials, performed data extraction and assessed risk of bias. We resolved disagreements by consensus and, if necessary, by third party adjudication., Main Results: This review includes two new studies and a total of nine studies involving 579 participants. Unfortunately, most studies showed an unclear risk of bias in most domains. Four out of nine studies did not contribute to the analysis, as they presented no data.One study involving 45 participants with hand RA compared mudpacks versus placebo. We found no statistically significant differences in terms of pain on a 0 to 100-mm visual analogue scale (VAS) (mean difference (MD) 0.50, 95% confidence interval (CI) -0.84 to 1.84), improvement (risk ratio (RR) 0.96, 95% CI 0.54 to 1.70) or number of swollen joints on a scale from 0 to 28 (MD 0.60, 95% CI -0.90 to 2.10) (very low level of evidence). We found a very low level of evidence of reduction in the number of tender joints on a scale from 0 to 28 (MD -4.60, 95% CI -8.72 to -0.48; 16% absolute difference). We reported no physical disability and presented no data on withdrawals due to adverse events or on serious adverse events.Two studies involving 194 participants with RA evaluated the effectiveness of additional radon in carbon dioxide baths. We found no statistically significant differences between groups for all outcomes at three-month follow-up (low to moderate level of evidence). We noted some benefit of additional radon at six months in terms of pain frequency (RR 0.6, 95% CI 0.4 to 0.9; 31% reduction; improvement in one or more points (categories) on a 4-point scale; moderate level of evidence) and 9.6% reduction in pain intensity on a 0 to 100-mm VAS (MD 9.6 mm, 95% CI 1.6 to 17.6; moderate level of evidence). We also observed some benefit in one study including 60 participants in terms of improvement in one or more categories based on a 4-point scale (RR 2.3, 95% CI 1.1 to 4.7; 30% absolute difference; low level of evidence). Study authors did not report physical disability, tender joints, swollen joints, withdrawals due to adverse events or serious adverse events.One study involving 148 participants with RA compared balneotherapy (seated immersion) versus hydrotherapy (exercises in water), land exercises or relaxation therapy. We found no statistically significant differences in pain on the McGill Questionnaire or in physical disability (very low level of evidence) between balneotherapy and the other interventions. No data on improvement, tender joints, swollen joints, withdrawals due to adverse events or serious adverse events were presented.One study involving 57 participants with RA evaluated the effectiveness of mineral baths (balneotherapy) versus Cyclosporin A. We found no statistically significant differences in pain intensity on a 0 to 100-mm VAS (MD 9.64, 95% CI -1.66 to 20.94; low level of evidence) at 8 weeks (absolute difference 10%). We found some benefit of balneotherapy in overall improvement on a 5-point scale at eight weeks of 54% (RR 2.35, 95% CI 1.44 to 3.83). We found no statistically significant differences (low level of evidence) in the number of swollen joints, but some benefit of Cyclosporin A in the number of tender joints (MD 8.9, 95% CI 3.8 to 14; very low level of evidence). Physical disability, withdrawals due to adverse events and serious adverse events were not reported., Authors' Conclusions: Overall evidence is insufficient to show that balneotherapy is more effective than no treatment, that one type of bath is more effective than another or that one type of bath is more effective than mudpacks, exercise or relaxation therapy.

Background: Incentive spirometry (IS) is a treatment technique that uses a mechanical device to reduce pulmonary complications during postoperative care. This is an update of a Cochrane review first published in 2007., Objectives: Update the previously published systematic review to compare the effects of IS for preventing postoperative pulmonary complications in adults undergoing coronary artery bypass graft (CABG)., Search Methods: We searched CENTRAL and DARE on The Cochrane Library (Issue 2 of 4 2011), MEDLINE OVID (1948 to May 2011), EMBASE (1980 to Week 20 2011), LILACS (1982 to July 2011) , the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) (1980 to July 2011), Allied & Complementary Medicine (AMED) (1985 to May 2011), CINAHL (1982 to May 2011)., Selection Criteria: Randomised controlled trials comparing IS with any type of prophylactic physiotherapy for prevention of postoperative pulmonary complications in adults undergoing CABG., Data Collection and Analysis: Two reviewers independently evaluated trial quality using the guidelines of the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews and extracted data from included trials. For continuous outcomes, we used the generic inverse variance method for meta-analysis and for dichotomous data we used the Peto Odds Ratio., Main Results: This update included 592 participants from seven studies (two new and one that had been excluded in the previous review in 2007. There was no evidence of a difference between groups in the incidence of any pulmonary complications and functional capacity between treatment with IS and treatment with physical therapy, positive pressure breathing techniques (including continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), bilevel positive airway pressure (BiPAP) and intermittent positive pressure breathing (IPPB), active cycle of breathing techniques (ACBT) or preoperative patient education. Patients treated with IS had worse pulmonary function and arterial oxygenation compared with positive pressure breathing. Based on these studies there was no improvement in the muscle strength between groups who received IS demonstrated by maximal inspiratory pressure and maximal expiratory pressure ., Authors' Conclusions: Our update review suggests there is no evidence of benefit from IS in reducing pulmonary complications and in decreasing the negative effects on pulmonary function in patients undergoing CABG. In view of the modest number of patients studied, methodological shortcomings and poor reporting of the included trials, these results should still be interpreted cautiously. An appropriately powered trial of high methodological rigour is needed to determine if there are patients who may derive benefit from IS following CABG.

Background: Obesity is linked to high blood pressure (HBP) in childhood. However, the role of fat as a predictor of HBP in adolescents remains unknown., Objective: To investigate the association between general and abdominal obesity with HBP and to identify the sensitivity and specificity of these indicators to detect HBP in adolescents., Methods: The sample was composed of 1,021 adolescents aged 10-17 years. Subjects were classified as normal, overweight/obese, according to BMI measurements, and as non-obese and with abdominal obesity, according to waist circumference (WC) measurements. Systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressure were assessed using an oscillometric device. Logistic regression and ROC curves were used in the statistical analysis., Results: The overall prevalence of HBP was 11.8% (13.4% in boys and 10.2% in girls). The prevalence of HBP among general overweight/obese boys and girls was 10% and 11.1%, respectively. The prevalence of HBP among boys with abdominal obesity was 28.6%. For both genders, the odds ratio (OR) for HBP was higher in abdominal obesity than in general overweight/obesity (4.09 [OR(95%CI) = 2.57-6.51]) versus 1.83 [OR(95%CI) = 1.83-4.30]). The OR for HBP was higher when general overweight/obesity and abdominal obesity were clustered (OR = 4.35 [OR(95%CI) = 2.68-7.05]), than when identified by either general overweight/obesity or abdominal obesity alone (OR = 1.32 [OR(95%CI) = 0.65-2.68]). However, both types of obesity had low predictive power in HBP detection., Conclusion: General and abdominal obesity were associated to HBP, however, the sensitivity and specificity of these variables to detect HBP are low in Brazilian adolescents.

Background: Temporomandibular disorders (TMDs) are considered a collection of disorders involving many organic, psychological and psychosocial factors. They can involve the masticatory muscles or the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) and associated structures, or both. It is estimated that 40% to 75% of the population displays at least one sign of the disease and 33% of the population reports at least one symptom. Arthroscopy has been used to reduce signs and symptoms of patients with TMD but the effectiveness has still not been totally explained., Objectives: To assess the effectiveness of arthroscopy for the management of signs and symptoms in patients with TMDs., Search Strategy: The Cochrane Oral Health Group Trials Register (to 23 December 2010), the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) (The Cochrane Library, Issue 4, 2010), MEDLINE via OVID (1950 to 23 December 2010), EMBASE via OVID (1980 to 23 December 2010), LILACS via BIREME Virtual Health Library (1982 to 23 December 2010), Allied and Complementary Medicine Database (AMED) via OVID (1985 to 23 December 2010), CINAHL via EBSCO (1980 to 23 December 2010). There were no restrictions regarding the language or date of publication., Selection Criteria: Randomized controlled clinical trials of arthroscopy for treating TMDs were included., Data Collection and Analysis: Two review authors independently extracted data, and three review authors independently assessed the risk of bias of included trials. The authors of the selected articles were contacted for additional information., Main Results: Seven randomized controlled trials (n = 349) met the inclusion criteria. All studies were either at high or unclear risk of bias. The outcome pain was evaluated after 6 months in two studies. No statistically significant differences were found between the arthroscopy versus nonsurgical groups (standardized mean difference (SMD) = 0.004; 95% confidence interval (CI) -0.46 to 0.55, P = 0.81). Two studies, analyzed pain 12 months after surgery (arthroscopy and arthrocentesis) in 81 patients. No statistically significant differences were found (mean difference (MD) = 0.10; 95% CI -1.46 to 1.66, P = 0.90). Three studies analyzed the same outcome in patients who had been submitted to arthroscopic surgery or to open surgery and a statistically significant difference was found after 12 months (SMD = 0.45; 95% CI 0.01 to 0.89, P = 0.05) in favor of open surgery. The two studies compared the maximum interincisal opening in six different clinical outcomes (interincisal opening over 35 mm; maximum protrusion over 5 mm; click; crepitation; tenderness on palpation in the TMJ and the jaw muscles 12 months after arthroscopy and open surgery). The outcome measures did not present statistically significant differences (odds ratio (OR) = 1.00; 95% CI 0.45 to 2.21, P = 1.00). Two studies compared the maximum interincisal opening after 12 months of postsurgical follow-up. A statistically significant difference in favor of the arthroscopy group was observed (MD = 5.28; 95% CI 3.46 to 7.10, P < 0.0001). The two studies compared the mandibular function after 12 months of follow-up with 40 patients evaluated. The outcome measure was mandibular functionality (MFIQ). This difference was not statistically significant (MD = 1.58; 95% CI -0.78 to 3.94, P = 0.19).  , Authors' Conclusions: Both arthroscopy and nonsurgical treatments reduced pain after 6 months. When compared with arthroscopy, open surgery was more effective at reducing pain after 12 months. Nevertheless, there were no differences in mandibular functionality or in other outcomes in clinical evaluations. Arthroscopy led to greater improvement in maximum interincisal opening after 12 months than arthrocentesis; however, there was no difference in pain.