Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy Journal

Study design: Prospective cohort study of Indian women field hockey players. Background: Ground sport injury is a challenging task for physiotherapists around the world and lack of literature data makes it more difficult. In India it is still in the growing phase. This first case study provides the basic baseline data regarding potential areas of injury, their types, treatments, and outcome of the treatment on subjects and on game results. Case description: This study covers 16 Indian women field hockey players who participated in 15th Asian Games held at Doha from 1st Dec to 15 Dec, 2006 where they played a total of matches, each of 70 minutes. Outcomes: Throughout the tournament, 39.3% total players got injured: at least three body parts were affected by seven different types of injuries and rehabilitated according to symptoms by using physical therapy which is cost effective. Occurrence of muscle related injury was the highest (35%) and cut injury on head and eye were the least (2%). Forwards were at highest risk (43%) while goal keeper at least risk (0%). The effect of treatment was 100% and recovery time ranged from 5 min to 35 mins. Out of 22 total goals scored, forwards scored the maximum (19 goals-86%) followed by midfielder (2 goals-9%) and defender (1 goal-5%). The fact that after rehabilitation, injured players scored significantly (p<0.01) more goals (68%) than the non-injured (32%), shows physiotherapy enhanced the game performance. Discussion: Musc related injuries which were found most were probably due to running or less flexibility in the muscles. Forwards being affected the most may have been due to their quick responses and chasing the ball at both the end goals.

Key words: Field hockey, sports injury, physiotherapy, rehabilitation

Study of blood pressure (BP) changes during pregnancy is essential for understanding the complications of pregnancy like birth defects, gestational diabetes, pre-eclampsia, bleeding disorders etc. Determinants of blood pressure systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP) influenced by the pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) and its values gradually change during all the three trimesters. At present, little is known about the association of BP parameters with different grades of BMI in all the trimesters of pregnancy so our objective of this study was to elucidate the aforesaid relationship. We selected 200 pregnant women from antenatal clinics of obstetrics & gynaecology, J.N. Medical College, A.M.U., Aligarh. Pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) was calculated by using Quetlet’s Index. On the basis of BMI, all participants were divided into three groups: underweight, normal, overweight. Reading of blood pressure of participating women was taken by using a standard mercury sphygmomanometer in each of the three trimesters. Mean values were calculated and compared between different BMI groups in all the trimesters and of pregnancy. The statistical software SPSS (version 16) was used for data analysis and unpaired t- test was applied. SBP, DBP of underweight and overweight pregnant women were not significantly decreased from first to second trimester and were not significantly increased from second to third trimester. In pregnant women of normal weight, there was a significant fall in SBP, DBP in mid pregnancy followed by which further increase up to the third trimester. The no significant fall in BP parameters in underweight and overweight pregnant women in mid pregnancy was related to the increase in the risk of development of preeclampsia. The cause of pre-eclampsia may be explained by the mechanism involved in endothelial dysfunction which will be discussed later on. We found that the level of risk for complications of pregnancy is increased with abnormal BP parameter patterns in pregnant women having different BMI; thus, women with unhealthy weight should be offered preconception counseling, nutritional consultation, exercise program, and careful screening of obstetrics complications during pregnancy.

Key Words: Pregnancy; BP monitoring; Pre-eclampsia; BMI.

Introduction & Purpose of the study: Physiotherapy is concerned with health promotion, prevention of disease or injury, treatment & rehabilitation. Physiotherapy has been in existence in India since five decades but it has been observed in the last five-six years that the number of students pursuing physiotherapy as a career is declining as is the number of physiotherapy students and professionals continuing the profession. Thus, the purpose of this study is to find out the level of awareness about physiotherapy among higher secondary students & perseverance among students & professionals towards physiotherapy. Materials & Method: This was a questionnaire based survey. Subjects included in the study were higher secondary students, B.P.T. final year students, interns, M.P.T. students & physiotherapy professionals. Data was collected by making personal visits to various colleges, hospitals & clinics in Meerut and the questionnaire was distributed to 109 subjects (46 higher secondary students, 51 B.P.T. 4th year students & interns and 12 M.P.T. students & physiotherapy professionals). Results: Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics. 41% of higher secondary students had an idea about physiotherapy, 26% of higher secondary students wanted to pursue physiotherapy as a career, and 10% of BPT 4th yr Students and interns did not want to continue with their profession. On the other hand 100% of MPT students and physiotherapy professionals wanted to continue with their profession. Conclusion: Awareness of physiotherapy is still lacking among higher secondary students and perseverance towards the profession among students and interns is declining.

Key words: Awareness, perseverance, physiotherapy, professionals

Study objectives: To compare the effectiveness of two forms of exercise training in pulmonary rehabilitation for COPD patients. Design: A prospective, randomized Eight-week study. Setting: A hospital-based outpatient pulmonary rehabilitation program. Patients: Thirty patients (15 patients in each group) with COPD who were referred for pulmonary rehabilitation. Interventions: We compared the short-term effectiveness of a high-intensity shuttle-walking-endurance program with a low-intensity, multicomponent calisthenics program for the rehabilitation of patients with COPD. The high-intensity group trained using the shuttle walking. The low-intensity group performed classroom exercises for approximately 30 minutes per session. For both groups, twice-weekly sessions were held for eight weeks. The primary outcome measure was Quality of Life, measured using the Clinical COPD questionnaire and rate of perceived exertion using Borg Scale. Measurements and results: Both groups showed significant post rehabilitation improvement in exertional and overall dyspnea, functional performance, and health status. Patients in the low-intensity group showed greater increase in endurance and greater reduction in exertional dyspnea, whereas those in the high-intensity group showed moderate increase in endurance and exertional dyspnea. Conclusions: It has been concluded that both the high-intensity training and low intensity training showed improvement in quality of life, but low-intensity training showed marked improvement in terms of exertional dyspnea and quality of life as this training is easy to perform and less expensive.

 Key words: COPD; Shuttle walking pulmonary rehabilitation.