Background: Patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD) have a flexed posture and are at an increased risk of falls. In addition, fear of falling (FOF) is among the main complaints of PD patients. To reduce the risk of falling, complex non-drug interventions are required, involving balance-challenging exercises with proper strength, along with posture alignment through corrective exercise interventions (Alexander techniques), which are often utilized to manage patients with PD and thoracic hyperkyphosis. Objectives: To investigate the effects of Alexander-based corrective techniques (ABCT) on forward flexed posture (thoracic hyperkyphosis and forward head posture), risk of falling, and FOF among idiopathic PD patients. Methods: In this interventional study, 26 male and female patients were randomly assigned to the experimental (n, 13) and control groups (n, 13). The subjects participated in a postural realignment program, consisting of 60-minute sessions over 8 weeks (3 sessions per week). Pre-and posttest evaluations were also carried out. Results:The results of paired t test regarding the effects of ABCT on the thoracic kyphosis angle (TKA), craniovertebral angle (CVA), falls efficacy scale-international (FES-I) score, freezing of gait (FOG), and functional reach test (FRT) score revealed a significant difference between the pre-and posttest stages in the control group (P = 0.05). In addition, the t test results showed a significant difference in the mean changes of TKA, FES-I score, FOG, and FRT score between the groups in the pre-and postintervention stages. The Pearson's correlation test showed that TKA had a significant positive correlation with FES-I and FOG in the groups. On the other hand, the results of Pearson's correlation test showed a significant negative correlation between TKA and FRT. Finally, the Pearson's correlation coefficient showed a significant positive correlation between CVA and FES-I, but not FRT in the groups. Conclusions: The findings of this study indicated that 8 weeks (24 sessions) of ABCT in the experimental group caused considerable improvements in TKA, CVA, FOF, FOG, and risk of fall in patients with PD.

Background:Posture instability and unsteady gait disorders in Parkinson’s Disease (PD) usually contribute to fall-related fractures. Fall-related trauma in PD is the most common reason for injury. Despite providing modern care for PD patients (PP) in the recent years, anti-PD drugs have no effect on falling. There is an urgent need to administer exercise interventions to reduce falls and related injuries in the rehabilitation program of PP.Objectives:To explore the effect of a selective 10-week corrective exercise with an emphasis on gait training activities (GTA) on the number of falls (NOFs), fear of falling, functional balance, timed up and go (TUG) test among PD patients.Patients and Methods:A purposeful sampling was performed on PP who had fallen or were at risk of falling in 2014. The study intervention consisted of a 10-week (3 sessions each week, each lasting 60 min) corrective exercise program. Participants were randomly allocated to control and two exercise groups; the exercise group with balance pad (EGBP) or exercise group with no balance pad (EGNBP). The analysis of variance (ANOVA) and paired t-test were used for comparison between the groups (P ≤ 0.05).Results:Administrating a selective corrective exercise in exercise group with balance pad (EGBP) showed a significant difference in number of falls (NOF), Fall Efficacy Scale-international (FES-I), Berg balance scale (BBS) (and timed up and go) TUG (P = 0.001); while administrating the same exercise in exercise group with no balance pad (EGNBP) showed no significant difference in NOF (P = 0.225) and a significant difference in FES-I (P = 0.031), BBS (P = 0.047) and TUG (P = 0.012). The control group showed no significant difference in each of the dependent variables.Conclusions:Performing a selective corrective exercise on balance pad improves falling and functional balance in idiopathic PD.

ContextGroin injuries are among the most common injuries co-existing with sports. The aim of this review was to outline the epidemiology and identify risk factors, as well as examine preventative and interventional measures for reducing the occurrence of this form of injury among athletes.Evidence AcquisitionAn electronic, systematic search for relevant keywords, either separately or in combination was sought in the academic scientific databases.ResultsGroin injuries, acute or chronic, consist of a high percentage of injuries that manifest with pain. Despite the specific tendency for injury among some sports, such injuries make up 2-5% of sport-induced injuries. There are few available reports on lower limb injuries, especially groin injuries, in Iran. Numerous factors predispose to groin injuries. A lengthy list of preventive/ treatment measures, from preliminary to sophisticated, have been proposed.ConclusionsAlthough using a programmed strategy designed to decrease the risk of groin injuries by taking a strategic approach to exercise may alleviate complications, in some cases the chronic nature of the injury may threaten the professional life of the athlete. More research is required to plan suitable programs for reducing the risk of this type of injury in athletes.

The intellectual development of people with mental retardation has been stopped or is incomplete. This condition is associated with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) of the general cognition level and affects the verbal, motor, and cognitive abilities of these people. This study aims to investigate the effect of selective balance/corrective exercises on the balance performance of mentally-retarded students with DCD. Methods: This quasi-experimental study was conducted on 23 mentally-retarded male students with DCD. They were randomly assigned to the groups of intervention (n=12, Mean±SD age: 15.75±1.21 y, Mean±SD height: 1.67±0.08 m, Mean±SD weight: 61.28±14.34 kg) and control (n=11, Mean±SD age: 16.73±1.34 y, Mean±SD height: 1.72±0.07 m, Mean±SD weight: 70.28±15.75 kg). The intervention group performed selective balance/corrective exercises for 8 weeks (three sessions per week). To assess the static balance and dynamic balance of the samples, the modified Stork test with eyes open and closed mode and the Timed Up and Go (TUG) test were used, respectively. The Pediatric Balance Scale was used to assess functional balance. For analyzing the collected data, the Independent t test and analysis of covariance were carried out. Results: There was a significant difference between the two study groups in terms of static balance with eyes open (P=0.01) and closed (P=0.01) and dynamic balance (P=0.01); however, no significant difference was found between them with respect to functional balance (P>0.05). Conclusion: The selected balance/corrective exercises can improve the static and dynamic balance of mentally-retarded students with DCD.

Background. Body adaptations and the high level of achievement in different sporting fields depend on the degree of fitness and training. Hence, it is important for basketball players to have suitable body fitness for tactics and skill performance. Objectives. The present study aims to investigate the effect of selective plyometric exercises using an unstable surface on the movement performance of female basketball players. Methods. In this pre-/post-designed clinical trial, the subjects were selected from among qualified female basketball players (n=24) having a history of two-year regular specialized training in a team considered as elite. They were randomly assigned into two, experiment (age: 20.25±2.34, training history: 2.55±0.29, and BMI: 23.28±0.93) and control (age: 21.16±2.79, training history: 2.60±0.75, and BMI: 24.80±1.04) groups. The experiment group performed for eight weeks (three sessions each week with a duration of 80 min/session) progressive plyometric exercises on an unstable surface. The assessment of dependent variables was performed using functional movement screening and the star excursion balance test. The results of the control and experiment groups were compared using multivariate covariance and post hoc Bonferroni test, while the pre-and post-test results were compared using the dependent t-test at a significance level of (p<0.05). Results. Comparing the results between the groups through the functional movement screening test and dynamic balance showed a significant difference. An improvement was seen in the results of relevant tests for the experiment group (p<0.001). Conclusion. The use of progressive plyometric exercise on an unstable surface shows an improvement in the results of the functional movement screening test and movement performance. This, in turn, results in an improvement in exercise performance.