Earticle

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a functional massage on hamstrings of paretic side on the flexibility and foot pressure balance in stroke patients. Twenty chronic stroke patients were enrolled in the study. The subjects received a hamstrings functional massage for 15 minutes. The hamstring flexibility was measured by performing a passive straight leg raise (PSLR) test. The foot pressure balance was measured the weight distribution ratio on the paretic and non-paretic sides, and front and rear sides using BioRescue. All measurements were performed before and immediately after the functional massage. Changes before and after intervention were analyzed with a paired t-test. And Pearson correlation coefficient was performed to analyze the correlation between hamstring flexibility and foot pressure. As a result, PSLR test significantly increased after the intervention (58.87° to 61.77°, p=.001), and foot pressure balance of paretic and non-paretic sides significantly improved after the intervention (paretic side: 41.07% to 44.66% and non-paretic side: 58.94% to 55.34%, p=.002). In the correlation analysis, there was a moderate correlation between PSLR test and foot pressure balance. These results indicate that a hamstring functional massage on paretic side increases flexibility, which has a positive effect on balance ability in stroke patients.

In the modern society, as the quality of life has been improving and social interest in health and well-being has been increasing, the importance of exercise has been emphasized so that many people actively participate in exercise and conduct many studies on physical activities and exercise. Therefore, in the present study, the lower extremities that are closely related to walking out of the body and can be easily damaged during daily living or sports activities were selected to conduct experiments to apply functional massage and stretching to the lower extremities of adults with insufficient lower extremity exercise in order to compare immediate effects with a view to making activities good before starting daily living or outdoor activities, or sports activities. The subjects were divided into a functional massage group(n: 30) and a stretching group(n: 30) and the participants participated in the experiment through voluntary applications after firsthand hearing explanations about the experiment from the therapist. In order to examine differences in the effects of the intervention between the Functional massage and stretching groups, the independent samples t-test and paired t-tests were performed. An experiment was conducted with functional massage and the results showed statistically significant differences in all comparison items. This may mean that the improvement of overall lower extremity functions and the intervention method stretching could be also regarded to be a very effective method for improvement of lower extremity functions.

Background: Functional massage is a therapeutic massage that incorporates joint motion in non-end-range to reduce pain and improve range of motion (ROM) in patients. This study was aimed at investigating the immediate effect of functional massage on pain, range of motion, balance ability and, gait speed of patients having undergone total hip replacement. Methods: Twenty patients were treated by one participating orthopedic manual physical therapist and randomly assigned to the control group (n=10) or the experimental group (n=10). To treat patients of each group, functional massage and range of motion exercises were used. The experimental group received a functional massage and the control group received range of motion exercise for minutes for one session. The visual analog scale was used for pain assessment. Balance ability was measured using a timed up and go test and a one-leg standing test for patients. The 10-meter walk test was used for the measurement of gait speed assessment of patients. Results: Significant improvements were observed in terms of balance ability (p<.05), gait speed (p<.05), and ROM (p<.05) after functional massage. There was no significant inter-group difference (p>.05). Conclusion: Application of the functional massage showed that statistically significant improvements in ROM, gait speed, and balance ability after a single treatment session. This technique may be a useful treatment in patients having undergone total hip replacement.

Background: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of functional massage and stretching, applied to the elbow and shoulder joints, on pain, tenderness threshold, and grip strength. Methods: A total of 29 individuals were assigned to a single site (n=15) or multiple sites (n=14). Pain measured through the visual analogue scale (VAS), tenderness threshold (TTH), and grip strength (GI) were measured before and four weeks after the intervention. Results: After four weeks of treatment, visual analogue scale significantly decreased in both groups (p<.05), and the tenderness threshold and grip strength significantly increased in both groups (p<.05). There was also a significant difference between the two groups (p<.05). Conclusion: The reduction of visual analogue scale and the increase in the tenderness threshold and grip strength were more significant in the multi-site treatment group than in the single-site treatment group.

Background: The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of cervical deep muscle flexion exercise (CCFE) on craniovertebral angle, pain, and neck disability for patients with chronic neck pain Methods: The subjects of this study were randomly divided into three groups of 30 patients with chronic neck pain: rectus abodominis functional massage (n=10), cervical deep muscle flexion exercises group (n=10), and the control group(n=10). To assess visual analog scale (VAS) was used to test the neck pain, To assess neck posture was used to craniovertebral angle, VAS was used to test the neck pain, neck disability index (NDI) was used to test the neck dysfunction. All measurements were performed before and after each intervention was applied 3 times a week for 4 weeks. Results: In the results of all measurements, 2 groups except for the control group showed a significant change in the recovery of posture, neck pain, neck disability index (p<.05). Conclusions: Our results of this study showed that applying cervical deep muscle flexion exercise and rectus abodominis functional massage to patients with chronic neck pain improved cervical posture, neck pain, neck disability.

Background: A chronic condition that has a fine rupture and inflammation that occurs in the plantar fascia medial calcaneal origin or occur during the rough part is called plantar fasciitis heel pain plantar fasciitis. Using functional taping to fix the subtalar joint were investigated through an experiment for how much the elastic taping effect than applying it to correct by applying the inelastic taping. This study was performed to change the balance and walking ability shown by the groups that do not apply to the application of the functional group taping. Methods: 20 people functional taping group 10 patients, deep friction massage was applied to the group to 10 people. The duration of the experiment were divided into groups going deep friction massage and the month after you apply before applying the functional taping. Results: Analysis showed statistically significant improvement in all time in both groups. All functional taping group and deep friction massage group had no significant difference with respect to balance and walking ability. Conclusion: When you saw the results of this study showed functional taping group is plantar fasciitis is the patients for treatment to mark fasciitis patients than those applying deep friction massage effects that increase is believed to help the symptoms of recovery.

The present study purposed to examine the effects of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, self-stretching and functional massage on the recovery of muscle contraction force for muscle fatigue caused by sustained isotonic contraction. The subjects of this study were 45 healthy students. They were divided into transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation group(n=15), self-stretching group(n=15) and functional massage group(n=15), and using Primus RS. We observed the pattern of changes in maximal voluntary isometric contraction force(MVIC) after causing muscle fatigue in quadriceps femoris muscle through sustained isotonic contraction. Maximal voluntary isometric contraction force(MVIC) were greatly increased after transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, self-stretching and functional massage. In the comparison of recovery rate of muscle contraction force for muscle fatigue caused by sustained isotonic contraction among the treatment groups, it did not show any significant differences. However, it showed that each treatment may be effective in recovery of muscle fatigue caused by sustained isotonic contraction.