Results of this pilot study highlighted the distinct injury incidence between the 2 different fencer groups. Larg-scale epidemiologic and biomechanical studies are warranted to improve the understanding of fencing injuries to develop specific injury prevention/rehabilitation programs.

Results: Statistical analyses revealed significant difference between the pre and post-intervention balance tests results and also significant difference in the scoring of fear of falling scale (p<0.05). Conclusion:The results showed that the performance in the three balance tests was improved after the intervention. There was also a reduction of fear of falling after the intervention.

Background and Purpose:Little is known about the prevalence of falls and the related risk factors in patients who have undergone surgery following a hip fracture. This prospective cohort study aims to assess the relationship between potential risk factors and fall incidence in this patient population. There is an increased risk of recurrent falls and hip fractures in elderly who has suffered the first hip fracture. Identification on potential recurrent fallers at early stage is thus important for improving health outcomes in these individuals as well as reducing the economic burden on the public health care system. Methods: This was a prospective cohort study. Sixty-six older adults (age S65 years) who had sustained a hip fracture and were referred to Tung Wah Eastern Hospital for rehabilitation post-surgery participated in the study. After completion of the inpatient rehabilitation program, fall risk factors were assessed by using the Physiological Profile, and the guidelines on fall prevention adopted by the Hong Kong Hospital Authority. Follow-up information on falls and related injuries was collected on a monthly basis by telephone interview. Mann-Whitney U tests (for continuous and ordinal variables) and Chi-square tests (for nominal variables) were used to compare the variables of interest between fallers and non-fallers. For those variables that showed a significant between-group difference, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were constructed to determine the optimal cutoff score. Univariate logistic regression analyses were then conducted to identify the odds ratio of each fall-related risk factor. Results: A new fall incident was reported by 8 patients during the follow-up period. Seven of them had one fall and one of them had two falls. Logistic regression analyses revealed that age (OR 5.7;95% CI: 1.05 e 30.87), ankle dorsi-flexor muscle strength (OR 7.235; 95% CI: 1.325 e 39.497), knee extensor muscle strength (OR 7.88; 95% CI: 1.438 e 43.139), visual acuity (OR 8.6; 95% CI: 1.564 e 47.303), postural sway while standing on foam with eyes open (OR 10.562; 95% CI: 1.228 e 92.397), Maximum Balance score (OR 6.67; 95% CI: 1.225 e 36.283), were significant predictors of falls. In addition those who had received extended rehabilitation had lower risk of falls than those who had not received any extended rehabilitation (OR 6.36; 95% CI: 1.16 e 34.81). Conclusion: Advanced age, lower extremity muscle strength, visual acuity, standing balance were significant intrinsic factors that contributed to falls among those patients who had recently undergone a hip surgery following the first hip fracture. In addition, those extended rehabilitation also had lower risk of falls than those who had not received the same service. The results point to the potential importance of training leg muscle strength and balance in our rehabilitation programs, in order to prevent falls in this patient population.Background and Purpose: Associated reactions (ARs) may be a significant clinical problem if increased levels of ...

Introduction There is a considerably large group of community-dwelling spinal cord injury (SCI) survivors living with low quality of life. Physical inactivity, depression, and chronic pain are major problems faced by SCI survivors discharged from the acute phase of treatment or inpatient rehabilitation. This study aims to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effects of a Physical-Psychological Integrative (PPI) online group intervention on community-dwelling SCI survivors’ physical activity, depression, and chronic pain. Methods This is a two-arm pilot randomized controlled trial with repeated measures (pre-, post-intervention, and 3-month follow-up) design. Seventy-two participants will be randomly assigned to two study groups. The PPI intervention group will receive a video program for physical activity training and eight-week online group psychological interventions using skills of group-based motivational interviewing and mindfulness-based stress reduction. The control group will receive an eight-week online didactic education programed. Focus-group interviews will be conducted post-intervention to explore their views about acceptance and suggested improvements to the intervention. The feasibility of study procedures and the acceptability of interventions will be evaluated. The effectiveness of the PPI intervention will be evaluated by leisure-time physical activity, depression, chronic pain, exercise efficacy, mindfulness, and quality of life. We will use the generalized estimating equation to assess intervention effects and content analysis for interview data. This study has received ethical approval from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (HSEARS20210705004) and was registered in ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT05535400). Discussion This study will be the first to provide empirical data on the evaluation of an online-group intervention integrating both physical activity promotion and psychological approaches, aimed at reducing physical inactivity, depression, and chronic pain for community-dwelling SCI survivors in Hong Kong. The findings could provide evidence supporting the use of PPI intervention as a novel online group support, in addressing both the physical and psychological needs of community-dwelling SCI survivors.