Pain, balance, grip strength and gait parameters of older adults with and without post‐chikungunya chronic arthralgia

Abstract

Summary Objective To compare the levels of pain, grip strength, balance and gait in older adults with and without post‐Chikungunya chronic arthralgia (PCCA). Methods Sixty‐two older adults, 30 with and 32 without PCCA participated in the study. Pain level was assessed using a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). Gait during a 10‐m walk was assessed using inertial sensors. Semi‐static balance was assessed during an eyes‐closed bipedal balance test on a force platform, and grip strength was assessed using a hand dynamometer. Results Participants with PCCA presented severe levels of pain (VAS > 7.5), poorer balance, lower grip strength, walked slower, with lower cadence and stride length and higher stride time and stride length variability than participants without PCCA (P < 0.001 for all variables). Conclusions Older adults with PCCA had high levels of pain, impaired balance and gait and lower grip strength compared to older adults without PCCA.

Better muscle strength can decrease the risk of arthralgia and back &amp; joint stiffness in Kurdish men; a cross-sectional study using data from RaNCD cohort study

“…Terauchi et al [30], in a survey of middle-aged women, showed that a greater HGS was associated with lower muscle and joint pains (OR: 0.92; CI 95%: 0.87-0.97). Forechi et al [23] observed that patients with post-chikungunya chronic arthralgia had signi cantly lower HGS than adults without this disorder (P<0.001). Findings of a prospective study on young men showed that decreased muscle strength was not associated with an increased risk of fracture musculoskeletal pain.…”

“…Although the prevalence of musculoskeletal pain in men is lower than women, men are affected by comorbidities associated with these chronic pains as well, leading them to risky behaviors to suppress pain, such as the use of narcotic drugs [22]. Low muscle strength can predict frailty, sarcopenia, falls, fractures, and overall reduced quality of life [12,23]. HGS is a valid and reliable method for determining the maximum hand muscle strength that re ects overall muscle strength and nutritional status [24].…”

Sensor Technologies to Manage the Physiological Traits of Chronic Pain: A Review

“…Results published in [140] show that it is possible to discriminate patients with complex regional pain syndrome from control subjects using a small set of gait characteristics extracted from accelerometer data during a short set of physical performance tests [170]. In [24], gait using inertial sensors was analyzed in adult subjects with chronic arthralgia after Chikungunya virus infection, finding a correlation of pain with alterations in gait, grip strength and balance.…”

“…More studies are needed to analyze the effects of treatments and interventions on pain, as well as their functional manifestations, which would allow to optimize physical and clinical interventions on patients suffering from pain [24]. For this purpose, the integration of the information from these monitoring systems with the health systems in a standardized manner is necessary and remains a challenge for researchers and developers [301].…”

“…The visual analog scale (VAS) and McGill pain questionnaire (MPQ) are the most popular self-evaluation instruments to measure pain intensity in clinical and research environments [3,24,25]. VAS is a graphical method that requests the respondent to self-evaluate her/his pain in a 10cm-length horizontal line with diverse pain legends, with scores ranging from 0 (there is no pain) to 10 (the worst possible pain) (see Figure 1).…”