Background Chronic low back pain is one of the most common health problems and the treatment remains unclear. Motor control of trunk and pelvis is the main alteration found in subjects with low back pain and might be responsible of recurrence of symptoms. Recent studies have shown that improvement of trunk motor control is efficient to reduce of pain and increase of function in people with chronic low back pain (1). Trunk motor control can be recovered through stabilizing exercise that involves appropriate deep trunk muscle recruitment and functional training (1). Objectives To compare the short-term results between trunk stabilizing exercise and strengthening exercise on pain, quality of life and function in patients with non-specific chronic low back pain Methods 10 subjects with non-specific chronic low back pain were randomized into 2 groups: group A –strengthening exercise, group B – trunk stabilizing exercise. Strengthening exercise consisted in 3 steps: 1 – Correction of postural alignment; 2 – Stretching of the lower limbs muscles; 3 – Strengthening exercises of abdominal and lumbar spine muscles. Trunk stabilizing exercise involved 4 steps: 1 – Correction of postural alignment; 2 – Respiratory exercises associated with change of body positions (laying to sitting position, kneeling to semi-kneeling position and semi-kneeling to standing position); 3 – Motor training of trunk and pelvis through recruitment of transversus abdominis muscle, training of balance and postural adjustments with voluntary arm movement in different directions and body positions (sitting and standing); 4 – Training of challenging tasks as walking and stairs climbing with maintenance of trunk and pelvic alignment. Intervention was applied on two weekly sessions for 4 weeks with 50 minutes each session for both groups. Each group was conducted by 2 different professionals. A blinded professional conducted all evaluations for pain (Visual Analogic Scale, VAS), quality of life (SF-36) and function (Rolland-Morris Questionnaire, RMQ) before intervention and after treatment program. Kruskal Wallis test was used to compare the difference of variables between groups before treatment and to compare the increment or decrement of the variables after treatment (score before minus score after treatment). Results There were no differences between groups before the treatment for VAS (p=0.598), all domains of SF-36 (p>0.05) and RMQ (p=0.751). Between groups comparison showed significant differences of decrement for VAS (p=0.023, Group A median=1 and Group B median=4), and for SF-36, significant increment for functional capacity (p=0.008, Group A median=-5 and Group B median=-25) and significant increment for emotional aspects (p=0.045, Group A median=0 and Group B median=-33) and marginal decrement for RMQ (p=0.059, Group A median=3 and Group B median=10). Conclusions This pilot study showed that trunk stabilizing exercise showed better short-term results for pain, quality of life and function compared to strengthening exercise in subjects with...

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Drug use during pregnancy is a well-known risk factor for the manifestation of speech--language disabilities. However, the necessity of studies directed towards drug use and its influence on interventional speech process in cases of alterations of child language and fluency is observed. In this study, clinical history data are presented as well as pre and post-assessment tests (Speech and Language) and the description of an interventional process of a six-year child. The main communication complaint about the child was stuttering. In addition to the child's clinical history, there was also knowledge of alcohol and legal and illegal drug use by the mother from before the moment of conception until this intervention process was reported. The protocols Stuttering Severity Instrument (SSI), Child Language Test (ABFW): phonology, vocabulary, and fluency tests, along with the Checklist of Verbal Communication Skills were applied. Based on these assessments, the child was diagnosed with mild to moderate stuttering, phonological simplifications, vocabulary inferior to that expected for his age, difficulty maintaining communicative turns, simplified narrative skills, alterations in psycholinguistic processes, and complaints from the school about his learning. The child underwent speech therapy in the areas of fluency and Child Language (phonological approach), showing evolution in the post-intervention assessment. Thus, in the present case, it became clear that the concomitant use of alcohol with exposure to cigarettes and marijuana may trigger changes in the acquisition and development of language, fluency and, consequently, learning.

Objetivo Correlacionar o desempenho motor oral nas tarefas de diadococinesia, de acordo com o tipo de fissura e com a presença de ceceio na fala, em crianças com fissura labiopalatina, operadas. Métodos Foram estudadas 30 crianças com fissura completa unilateral de lábio e palato e 30 com fissura isolada de palato, operadas, com idade entre 9 e 12 anos. Dois fonoaudiólogos analisaram a repetição de frases com os fones [s] e [z] para identificar a presença de ceceio e a análise da diadococinesia ocorreu a partir do registro da repetição das sílabas “ta” e “ca” e da sequência “pataca”. Na análise, o teste Kappa verificou a concordância entre os avaliadores, o teste Qui-quadrado a frequência de ceceio entre os grupos e o teste t os valores da diadococinesia, segundo o tipo de fissura e a presença de ceceio. Resultados O número de emissões por segundo e os tempos médios entre as emissões não demonstraram diferença significativa entre os grupos. Houve boa concordância entre os avaliadores quanto à presença de ceceio, com maior frequência nos casos com fissura completa unilateral de lábio e palato. A comparação entre os valores da diadococinesia e a presença de ceceio não evidenciou diferença significativa. Conclusão O desempenho nas tarefas da diadococinesia não sofreu alteração segundo o tipo de fissura labiopalatina. A presença de ceceio na fala foi maior no grupo com fissura completa unilateral de lábio e palato, sem modificação, porém, no desempenho das tarefas da diadococinesia.