Physiotherapy research international : the journal for researchers and clinicians in physical therapy
-
Comparative Study
Neuromuscular stimulation of quadriceps in patients hospitalised during an exacerbation of COPD: a comparison of low (35 Hz) and high (50 Hz) frequencies.
Neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) has shown to improve skeletal muscle strength and exercise capacity in stable patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Variations in NMES protocols are considerable. We aimed to compare changes in muscle strength after high-frequency and low-frequency NMES in patients admitted to hospital with an acute exacerbation of COPD. ⋯ NMES is a feasible intervention to improve muscle strength in a cohort of patients admitted with an exacerbation of COPD. The response appears to be independent of the frequency used and both were well-tolerated.
-
Activation of transversus abdominis and fear avoidance beliefs have both been related to low back pain (LBP). This exploratory study aims to investigate associations between fear avoidance beliefs at baseline and deep abdominal muscle activation after an 8-week period of supervised exercises for chronic LBP. ⋯ This study suggests that there is some negative association between fear avoidance beliefs for physical activity before intervention and transversus abdominis recruitment measured by lateral slide after intervention. No other significant associations between fear avoidance beliefs and abdominal muscle activation were found. We cannot exclude random findings, meaning that the results should be considered hypothesis generating for further investigations.