Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) changes the force applied on the lower extremities. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between various severity of KOA and the forces applied to the lower limb during walking. Sixty eight limbs were divided into three groups of mild, moderate and severe KOA and a healthy normal group according to the Kellgren-Lawrence scale. The subjects walked with a self-selected speed to collect five successful trials. The components of ground reaction forces i.e., medio-lateral (ML), first peak of antero-posterior (AP1), second peak of antero-posterior (AP2), first peak of vertical (VP1), second peak of vertical (VP2) and vertical valley (V.V) were collected. AP1 and AP2 had decreasing pattern with increasing disease severity. Although ML Peak and VV have shown rising trend from normal people to severe KOA, ML difference was not significant in various groups (p > 0:05). In addition, the VP1 did not differ significantly among the subjects. In contrast, the VP2 decreased significantly in OA subjects (p ¼ 0:002). It seems that AP1 and VP2 components are more sensitive to KOA, which may be used to represent severity of knee OA.

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Background: Cervicogenic headache (CGH) is a secondary headache with a cervical source that radiates pain to the head or face. Accordingly, one reason of CGH is myofascial trigger points. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of one session dry needling (DN) of myofascial trigger points of the sternocleidomastoid (SCM) muscle in patients with CGH. Materials and Methods: In this before-and-after clinical trial, 16 females aged 18–60 years with a clinical diagnosis of CGH were enrolled. All of the patients received one session DN into the myofascial trigger points of the SCM muscle. Headache index (HI), headache duration, headache frequency, and headache disability index (HDI) were assessed at 2 weeks before and 2 weeks after the intervention. This study was registered in Clinical Trials as IRCT20181109041599N1. Results: One session DN into myofascial trigger points of the SCM muscle showed a significant improvement in HI ( P < 0.001). Duration and frequency of headache as well as HDI significantly reduced after intervention ( P < 0.001). Conclusion: One session DN into myofascial trigger points of the SCM muscle was effective on improvement of HI, headache duration, headache frequency, and HDI in patients with CGH.

Objective: Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome (PFPS) is one of the most common disorders of the knee joint. It is characterized by pain, reduced proprioception, and altered pattern of vastus muscle activation, which effectively maintain the balance needed for performing daily living activities such as walking and running. One treatment method that can reduce pain and improve balance in people with PFPS is Kinesiology Taping (KT). Considering the physiological and anatomical differences in the knee structure of men and women and the importance of studying the effect of KT on the dynamic balance of men with PFPS, this study aims to compare the effect of KT on dynamic balance and pain of men and women with unilateral PFPS. Materials & Methods: This is a quasi-experimental and non-randomized clinical trial. The participants were 30 males and 31 females aged 18-40 years suffering from unilateral PFPS. They were recruited using a convenience sampling method. First, the subjects performed the Y-balance test three times in each of the anterior, posteromedial, and posterolateral directions. The maximum score obtained from the three repetitions in each direction was divided by the limb length and recorded in percentage as a dynamic balance score. After 5 minutes of rest and performing initial tests, the subjects performed the intervention. In this stage, KT with a tension equal to 50%-75% of its initial length was applied on the patella of the involved limb to cause medial glide. The effectiveness of KT was examined under a single-leg squat-test. For this purpose, all subjects performed unilateral squatting on their affected leg for 10 seconds with 45 degrees of knee flexion before and after KT, while their pain level was recorded using the visual analog scale. In case of a 50% reduction in pain, the subjects were allowed to enter the final stage (performing the Y-balance test); otherwise, patellar taping was repeated to obtain the appropriate pain reduction. Results: Within-group comparison of balance parameters before and after KT using the paired t-test showed an increase in the reach distance at three directions in the Y-balance test, revealing a significant improvement in the dynamic balance following KT (P<0.05). According to the independent t-test results, there was no significant difference in balance parameters between males and females before and after the intervention (P>0.05). Moreover, the pain was significantly reduced in both genders after KT (P<0.05), but its difference between men and women was not statistically significant (P>0.05). Conclusion: KT is an appropriate therapeutic intervention for improving dynamic balance and reducing pain in people with PFPS. It seems that KT has the same effect on dynamic balance and pain of women and men with PFPS.