The long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children with ADHD in terms of participation, support, and barriers at home.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to compare the long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on participation, support, and barriers at home in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and without ADHD. DESIGN AND METHODS: This study included a total of 227 participants with a mean age of 11.93 ± 2.96 years, comprising 116 children and adolescents with ADHD and 111 without ADHD. The parents or primary caregivers of all the children completed the Participation and Environment Measure for Children and Youth (PEM-CY), which was used to assess participation and environmental factors in the home. The Student's t-test was used to compare numeric data and Chi-square test to categorical data between children and adolescents with ADHD and those without ADHD in all three settings. RESULTS: The children with ADHD were determined to play computer and video games significantly more than children without ADHD (p < 0.001). The mean frequency of participation in arts, crafts, music, hobbies (p < 0.001), school preparation (<0.0001), and homework (<0.003) was significantly higher in children without ADHD. A moderate effect size (ϕ = 0.42) was determined in respect of cognitive demands making it more difficult for children with ADHD to participate in home activities than children without ADHD. CONCLUSIONS: Children with ADHD were negatively affected in terms of participating in home activities than their typically developing peers. In addition, cognitive demands prevented their participation and involvement in the home environment while cognitive demands were a support for non-ADHD children. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: A highlight of this research was the comprehensive investigation of the long-term effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on participation in all activities at home, in addition to the support and barriers in the home environment for children with ADHD compared to typically developing peers.

The effect of manual therapy and exercise in patients with chronic low back pain: Double blind randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: To determine the effects of spinal stabilization exercises (SSE) and manual therapy methods on pain, function and quality of life (QoL) levels in individuals with chronic low back pain (CLBP). METHODS: A total of one-hundred thirteen patients diagnosed as CLBP were enrolled to the study. The patients allocated into Spinal Stabilization group (SG) and manual therapy group (MG), randomly. While SSE performed in SG, soft tissue mobilizations, muscle-energy techniques, joint mobilizations and manipulations were performed in MG. While the severity of pain was assessed with Visual Analog Scale (VAS), Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) and Short Form 36 (SF-36) assessments were performed to evaluate the functional status and QoL, respectively. All assessments were repeated before and after the treatment. RESULTS: Intragroup analyses both treatments were effective in terms of sub parameters of pain, function and life quality (p< 0.05). Inter group analyses, there was more reduction in pain and improvement in functional status in favor of MG (p< 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that SSE and manual therapy methods have the same effects on QoL, while the manual treatment is more effective on the pain and functional parameters in particular.

The effect of visceral osteopathic manual therapy applications on pain, quality of life and function in patients with chronic nonspecific low back pain.

BACKGROUND: The efficacy of osteopathic manual therapy (OMT) applications on chronic nonspecific low back pain (LBP) has been demonstrated. However, visceral applications, which are an important part of OMT techniques, have not been included in those studies. OBJECTIVE: The study's objective was to determine the effect of OMT including visceral applications on the function and quality of life (QoL) in patients with chronic nonspecific LBP. DESIGN: The study was designed with a simple method of block randomization. METHODS: Thirty-nine patients with chronic nonspecific LBP were included in the study. OMT group consisted of 19 patients to whom OMT and exercise methods were applied. The visceral osteopathic manual therapy (vOMT) group consisted of 20 patients to whom visceral applications were applied in addition to the applications carried out in the other group. Ten sessions were performed over a two-week period. Pain (VAS), function (Oswestry Index) and QoL (SF-36) assessments were carried out before the treatment and on the sixth week of treatment. RESULTS: Both of the treatments were found to be effective on pain and function, physical function, pain, general health, social function of the QoL sub-parameter. vOMT was effective on all sub-QoL parameters (p<0.05). Comparing the groups, it was determined that the energy and physical limitations of the QoL scores in vOMT were higher (p< 0.05). CONCLUSION: Visceral applications on patients with non-specific LBP gave positive results together with OMT and exercise methods. We believe that visceral fascial limitations, which we think cause limitations and pain in the lumbar segment, should be taken into consideration.

The importance of rehabilitation concerning upper extremity amputees: A Systematic review.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate and point out the importance of prosthetic rehabilitation of upper extremity. METHODS: A systematic literature search was performed to identify studies concerning prosthetic rehabilitation in upper extremity. The PRISMA Statement 2009 was used to establish the study and the methodological quality was assessed. RESULTS: The literature search identified 620 studies. Of these 620, 9 studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria and were included for data extraction. The studies pointed out the upper limb prosthetic rehabilitation protocols consist of general exercise programme, motor tasks, phantom exercises, Muscle Training System, edema control, functional activities, signal strengthening, prosthetic education exercises, neuromuscular reeducation, virtual image and virtual reality exercises. CONCLUSIONS: The current systematic literature review has shown that the prosthetic rehabilitation seems promising especially for upper extremity amputees.