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Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship of fear avoidance belief or kinesiophobia with balance and mobility in knee osteoarthritis patients. Materials and methods: This cross-sectional correlational study was conducted in Fauji Foundation Hospital, Benazir Bhutto Hospital and Holy Family Hospital, Rawalpindi/Islamabad from January 2019 to June 2019. A total of 64 knee osteoarthritis patients (both male and female) between the ages of 40- 60 years were included in this study. They were selected using the Kallgren Lawrence Classification system (Grade I, II and III) and American College of Rheumatology criteria. Fear avoidance belief questionnaire was used to identify fear avoidance belief/kinesiophobia, Step-up test and Functional Reach test were used to measure balance and timed up and go test was used to measure mobility. Statistical analysis was carried out using SPSS version 21. Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was applied to find out the normal distribution.  The relationship between fear avoidance belief and balance and mobility was examined using Spearman’s test of correlation. Results: Results showed a weak negative correlation between fear avoidance belief and functional reach test (r= -0.259, P= 0.039), and a weak positive correlation between fear avoidance belief and timed up and go test (r= 0.26, P= 0.841). Conclusion: Balance and mobility are negatively affected by fear avoidance beliefs in knee osteoarthritic patients. Thus, fear avoidance belief is an important psychological construct to be considered in the assessment and treatment of knee osteoarthritic patients to prevent balance impairments and fall risk.

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Osteoarthritis is the most debilitating condition in general population. The incidence rate of this condition is very high. Objective: this study was conducted to observe the effectiveness of glucosamine/chondroitin alone and in combination with physiotherapy on Knee osteoarthritis. Methods: A randomized control trail registered at clinicaltrials.gov under the trail no of NCT05321836. Data was collected from the Physiotherapy clinic and Neurocounsel Hospital Islamabad from 26 July 2021 to 25th March 2022. 30 participants met inclusion criteria and were randomly divided into two groups via envelop method. The experimental group was given unlabeled 1500/1200 mg of GH/CS per day for period of 6 months along with physiotherapy treatment for two months (3 sessions per week). The Control group was treated with 1500/1200 mg of unlabeled GH/CS per day for 6 months. Tools used to measure the outcome were WOMAC scale & SF-36. Measure were taken at baseline, 4th week and at 8th week. Repeated Measure ANOVA was used to analyze results at various weeks and Post Hoc analysis was opted for comparison between groups. SPSS version 21.0 was used for data analysis  Results: Means+S.D of age in experimental & control group was 64.80+9.65, 60.93+7.61respectively. Repeated measure ANOVA within both groups significant difference at various weeks of treatment as p<0.05. Between groups, Independent t’ test also revealed statistically significant difference as p-value was <0.05. Conclusion: GH/CS along with physiotherapy is very effective in reducing patient’s pain, improving functions, mobility along with quality of life as compared to GH/CS alone.

Examinations are an integral part of medical school education and negative emotional states affect the memory, recalling and timely response of the students during the examination. Objective: To find out the frequency of anxiety and depression among medical students at the time of taking the viva examination. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on medical students at the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Shifa Tameer-e-Millat University Islamabad, Pakistan. For data collection, Beck Anxiety Inventory and Beck Depression Inventory questionnaires were used. A total of 207 participants were included via inclusion criteria. Inclusion criteria were medical students of age 18-25 years, both males and females having viva examination at the time of data collection. Those students who were already diagnosed with psychological issues were excluded from the study. For the analysis of data SPSS version 21.0 was used. Results: 207 students participated in this research. The majority of the students 115 (56.6%) have mild anxiety levels whereas 103 (49.8%) students were having normal ups and downs that were not considered as depression. 45 (21.7%) students have mild mood disturbance. Conclusions: This study concluded that medical students face a mild level of anxiety and mood disturbance during viva exams