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This article is focus on the possibilities of balance assessment in patients with Parkinson's disease. There is a list of different tests, which can be used without any specific tools; Therefore, it can be used in daily clinical practice. Parts of scales Hoehn and Yahr and MDS-UPDRS (Movement Disorder Society-sponsored revision of the Unified Parkinson's disease rating scale) focusing on balance assessment are described in the introduction of this article. The next part is focused not only on test's description, reference values and minimum detectable changes, but also on advantages and limitations of Pull test, Push and release test, Functional reach test, Berg balance scale, the Five times sit-to-stand test, Parkinson activity scale and 360 Degree turn test. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a chronic neurodegenerative disorder affecting roughly 1% individuals over age of 60 in Europe. Although the exact cause of the disease is not yet known, it is obvious that the food together with a genetic predisposition plays an important role in the development of the disease. The study summarizes results of researches focused on the preventive effect of nutrition in the development of PD. Despite the fact that the findings of studies are not always consistent, research suggests that high consumption of milk and dairy products is associated with an increased risk of developing PD. This relationship appears stronger for men than for women. Inversely, nutritional factor that is as protective high intake of vegetables and fruits, specially berries. Furthermore, it is relatively well established protective effect of caffeine intake. The inverse association of caffeine intake in women is not as straightforward as in men but it is U-shaped. Research findings are less consistent about the Parkinson's preventive benefits of polyunsaturated fatty acids. Studies have demonstrated an association between a Mediterranean diet and Parkinson's risk. The Mediterranean diet should be not be considered as effective only in preventing cardiovascular disease, but also in delaying PD, as two large prospective study demonstrated. Therefore, we can assume that diet rich in fish and vegetable products (vegetables and fruits, nuts, legumes, whole grains, olive oil), and inversely low in animal fats, has proven health benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the possibility of the use of active video games such as Kinect Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii in patients with different types of diagnosis in physical therapy. The text describes the basic features of the game system, its benefits, disadvantages and the risks of its use. Based on the recent knowledge, the paper presents possibilities of its application in physiotherapy. The case study of a neurologic patient with using balance therapy on Nintendo Wii balance board forms a part of this article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The diagnosis and treatment of scoliosis are some of the main issues of orthopaedics and physiotherapy. Scoliosis is a very frequent spine deformity in children. It has a detrimental effect on their development and life style. Therefore doctors and physiotherapists attempt to screen for early signs of deformity. The subsequent therapy can at least slow down the scoliosis progression. The aim of this study was to evaluate the kinesiology analysis in preschool children who had undergone a paediatric check-up at the age of 5 years with normal results in posture. We tried to determine the number of children with the suspicion for scoliosis, scoliotic posture or other posture abnormalities. We found that 25 % of the sample size of 60 children had positive Adam's test results and therefore suspicion for scoliosis. The anamnesis questionnaires also showed that the average time spent sitting at a computer is statistically different between the groups with positive and negative Adam's test results. The results indicate the negative impact of sitting at a computer on the quality of posture in preschool children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The study of physiotherapy is challenging and can affect the students' well-being and quality of life. The aim of this study was to describe and compare factors that could affect well-being among students across Europe., Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study using an online questionnaire survey, students of bachelor's physiotherapy programs from 23 European faculties, from 8 countries, were interviewed on mental health and stress burden, sleep quality, dietary habits, and physical activity., Results: Although 75% of students rated their quality of life positively and 47% were satisfied with their mental health, 65% showed higher levels of stress and 51% described impaired sleep quality. The minimum physical activity of 150 min weekly was described by 79% of students, within which 67% engaged in strengthening twice a week. Students with a higher stress load/worse psychological health also showed worse sleep quality and lower amount of physical activity, women were significantly worse off. In terms of physical activity and sleep quality, students from Finland and Kosovo achieved the best results, while students from Italy, Greece, and Portugal achieved the worst. Students from Italy indicated the greatest dissatisfaction with the organisation of the study system and communication with teachers, while in Kosovo students rated the communication and study organisation the highest. All students had a problem with adhering to nutritional habits. Students from Italy and Spain, with the lowest body mass indexes and weight averages, were closest to the nutrition recommendations., Conclusion: We demonstrated that physiotherapy students are burdened with stress, suffer from sleep disorders, and do not follow the recommendations regarding nutrition nor physical activity. There are significant differences between universities and countries in some aspects., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Schramlová, Řasová, Jonsdottir, Pavlíková, Rambousková, Äijö, Šlachtová, Kobesová, Žiaková, Kahraman, Pavlů, Bermejo-Gil, Bakalidou, Billis, Georgios, Alves-Guerreiro, Strimpakos, Příhoda, Kiviluoma-Ylitalo, Lähteenmäki, Koišová, Berisha, Hagovská, Arca and Cortés-Amaro.)

Sustained pressure stimulation of the body surface has been used in several physiotherapeutic techniques, such as reflex locomotion therapy. Clinical observations of global motor responses and subsequent motor behavioral changes after stimulation in certain sites suggest modulation of central sensorimotor control, however, the neuroanatomical correlates remain undescribed. We hypothesized that different body sites would specifically influence the sensorimotor system during the stimulation. We tested the hypothesis using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in thirty healthy volunteers (mean age 24.2) scanned twice during intermittent manual pressure stimulation, once at the right lateral heel according to reflex locomotion therapy, and once at the right lateral ankle (control site). A flexible modeling approach with finite impulse response basis functions was employed since non-canonical hemodynamic response was expected. Subsequently, a clustering algorithm was used to separate areas with differential timecourses. Stimulation at both sites induced responses throughout the sensorimotor system that could be mostly separated into two anti-correlated subsystems with transient positive or negative signal change and rapid adaptation, although in heel stimulation, insulo-opercular cortices and pons showed sustained activation. In direct voxel-wise comparison, heel stimulation was associated with significantly higher activation levels in the contralateral primary motor cortex and decreased activation in the posterior parietal cortex. Thus, we demonstrate that the manual pressure stimulation affects multiple brain structures involved in motor control and the choice of stimulation site impacts the shape and amplitude of the blood oxygenation level-dependent response. We further discuss the relationship between the affected structures and behavioral changes after reflex locomotion therapy.