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Abstract: Various physiotherapeutic methods and approaches play a significant role in the treatment of patients with Parkinson’s disease, including the use of enriched environments. Virtual reality (VR) as a type of enriched environment has the potential to create multiple sensory experiences and feedback, influencing various aspects of the patient’s information processing and response. The suitability for home use and the considerable impact on motivation highlight its advantages over alternative approaches. The objective of this review is to investigate the impact of VR-based exercise on balance outcomes among individuals with Parkinson’s disease. The inclusion criteria consisted Parkinson’s disease. The comparable improvements in balance observed between the experimental and control groups signify the potential effectiveness of VR-based exercises. This underscores the encouragement for further development in this technology, particularly focusing on fully immersive VR environments, which may yield superior effects in enhancing balance among individuals with Parkinson’s disease. of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that examined the effects of exercise in a VR environment on individuals’ static and dynamic balance outcomes. In order to gather relevant studies, we conducted a comprehensive search across three databases. From a dataset of 625 records, we conducted a comprehensive full-text screening based on specific inclusion and exclusion criteria. This process resulted in the inclusion of 14 RCTs in our review. The emerging evidence regarding exercising in a VR environment does not definitively prove its superiority over standard exercise routines. However, studies have demonstrated that both the experimental and control groups showed comparable improvements in enhancing static and dynamic balance among individuals with
Keywords: virtual reality, Parkinson's disease, balance, rehabilitation
Published in DiRROS: 16.04.2024; Views: 38; Downloads: 14
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Abstract: Purpose: The aim of this study was to review the literature analyzing the effects of aerobic interval training in the rehabilitation of cardiovascular patients.Methods: Research data was collected considering the inclusion and exclusion cri-teria of the research studies published in English. In order for the study to be included in the analysis, it had to meet the following criteria: year of publication (2004–2022), respondents were people with cardiovascular disease, and the studies included in this review must contain data on disease, training programme and outcomes. Papers with-out full texts available and systematic review studies were excluded. The first search identified 71 articles. In the initial assessment carried out in accordance with the inclu-sion and exclusion criteria, 15 articles were found suitable and were included in the study, while 20 studies were excluded for being duplicates, 28 studies excluded for not having the full text available and eight for non-compliance. Results: The reviewed materials indicate that aerobic interval training has an im-pact on VO2 max, functional abilities, VO2 peak and functional capacity in the reha-bilitation of cardiovascular diseases, especially in the elderly. The duration of the pro-gramme in most studies has a similar time range from 10 to 16 weeks. The programmes that showed the best effects are related to aerobic interval training, from 2 to 3 times per week with moderate (50–60% of VO2 max) or high intensity (80–90% of VO2 max). Conclusion: Studies indicate that properly dosed physical activity contributes to a better lifestyle for people with cardiovascular diseases. All 15 studies showed positive effects of aerobic interval training in cardiovascular disease rehabilitation.
Keywords: aerobic exercise, interval training, rehabilitation, cardiovascular diseases
Published in DiRROS: 16.04.2024; Views: 46; Downloads: 24
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Abstract: The Mavčiče concrete gravity dam, part of the corresponding hydro-power plant, was built on the Sava River, in Slovenia, in 1986. It has a maximum structural height of 38.5 m, and the dam crest has a length of 149 m. The dam structure consists of an erection bay, a machine hall, and two spillways, followed by an embankment dam. Most of the dam is founded on permeable Quaternary conglomerate bedrock, so that a cut-off grout curtain had to be constructed to a depth of up to 60 m below the ground surface, where a layer of impermeable Oligocene marine clay occurs. However, the erection bay, which is located on the right bank of the dam, is founded on a layer of gravel backfill, up to about 25 m thick, which lies on top of the conglomerate bedrock. Long-term manual technical monitoring of the behaviour of the dam began in 1986, and an automated monitoring system was established between 2003 and 2005. In general, the results of measurements and visual inspections did not show any abnormalities. However, this was not the case for the erection bay located on the top of the backfilled right bank of the dam, where the results of measurements of vertical displacements showed increasing settlements. By 1999, i.e. over a period of 12 years, these settlements had increased to 22 mm. The results of investigations, by drilling three research boreholes in 1993, and another six such boreholes in 1996, indicated that the settlements were the consequence of the secondary consolidation of the backfill, and probable also due to scouring of fine material from the backfill. Due to the resulting differential settlements, the crane rail which connects the erection bay to the machine hall, as well as the crane rail which is located along the crest of the dam, became nonfunctional, and needed height corrections. For this reason rehabilitation works of the backfill and of the substratum of the right bank of the dam were performed between September 1999 and August 2000, using 50 m long grouted boreholes. This grouting was performed using a combination of water reactive polyurethane and a cement-bentonite mixture. Measurements performed since than have shown that the settlement rate has slowed down slightly (by 2017, i.e. over the last 17 years, the settlements had increased by up to 8 mm), but from the point of view of the operation of the two crane rails the settlement process needed to be stopped. Additional investigations, involving the drilling of two research boreholes, as well as appropriate laboratory and field measurements, were performed between November 2015 and March 2016. According to the results of these most recent investigations, the newer settlements were the consequence of additional scouring of fine material from the backfill. In order to achieve a final solution to the problem of the subsidence of the erection bay, additional rehabilitation works of the backfill and substratum of the right bank of the dam, by grouting the permeable zones, would be needed in order to stop both the scouring of fine material from the backfill, as well as any internal erosion of the cavernous conglomerate at the base of the backfill. The latter concerns the long-term stability of the right bank of the dam with potentially serious results.
Keywords: concrete dams, gravity dams, Mavčiče Dam, Sava River, technical monitoring, geotechnical investigation, rehabilitation
Published in DiRROS: 05.04.2024; Views: 58; Downloads: 31
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Abstract: Background: An injury followed by surgery poses many challenges to an athlete, one of which is rehabilitation, with the goal of returning to sport. While total restoration of physical abilities is a primary goal for most athletes, psychosocial factors also play an important role in the success of an athlete’s return to sport (RTS). The purpose of this review was to examine the eectiveness of exercise and psychosocial interventions on RTS rates, which might be one of the most important outcomes for elite athletes. Methods: To carry out this review, PubMed, SAGE Journals, Web of Science, SPORTDiscus, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar databases were searched from inception to July 2022. The inclusion criteria consisted exercise or psychosocial intervention for athletes after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR), with reporting RTS rates as an outcome. Results: From 1032 identified articles, four reports (N = 130) met inclusion criteria, all of which examined the recovery after ACLR. The mean MINORS score for the included studies was 16.3 ± 6.1, of which non-comparative studies scored 11.0 ± 1.4, while comparative studies scored 21.5 ± 0.7. There were consistent findings for benefits of exercise and psychosocial interventions on RTS rates. Return to preinjury rates in the reviewed studies vary between 63 and 95% with lower % observed in female athletes and with shorter follow-up. Interventional studies reporting RTS rates with a larger sample size and longer follow-up are needed. Conclusion: Physical and psychological function, as well as social support can be influenced by appropriate interventions, indicating future work on rehabilitation programs for return to preinjury might consider taking the holistic approach addressing those.
Keywords: return to preinjury, anterior cruciate ligament injury, exercise interventions, psychosocial interventions, injury rehabilitation, return to play
Published in DiRROS: 30.08.2022; Views: 438; Downloads: 311
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Abstract: A major concern of public health authorities is to also encourage adults to be exposed to enriched environments (sensory and cognitive-motor activity) during the pandemic lockdown, as was recently the case worldwide during the COVID-19 outbreak. Games for adults that require physical activity, known as exergames, offer opportunities here. In particular, the output of the gaming industry nowadays offers computer games with extended reality (XR) which combines real and virtual environments and refers to human-machine interactions generated by computers and wearable technologies. For example, playing the game in front of a computer screen while standing or walking on a force plate or treadmill allows the user to react to certain infrastructural changes and obstacles within the virtual environment. Recent developments, optimization, and minimizations in wearable technology have produced wireless headsets and sensors that allow for unrestricted whole-body movement. This makes the virtual experience more immersive and provides the opportunity for greater engagement than traditional exercise. Currently, XR serves as an umbrella term for current immersive technologies as well as future realities that enhance the experience with features that produce new controllable environments. Overall, these technology-enhanced exergames challenge the adult user and modify the experience by increasing sensory stimulation and creating an environment where virtual and real elements interact. As a therapy, exergames can potentially create new environments and visualizations that may be more ecologically valid and thus simulate real activities of daily living that can be trained. Furthermore, by adding telemedicine features to the exergame, progress over time can be closely monitored and feedback provided, offering future opportunities for cognitive-motor assessment. To more optimally serve and challenge adults both physically and cognitively over time in future lockdowns, there is a need to provide long-term remote training and feedback. Particularly related to activities of daily living that create opportunities for effective and lasting rehabilitation for elderly and sufferers from chronic non-communicable diseases (CNDs). The aim of the current review is to envision the remote training and monitoring of physical and cognitive aspects for adults with limited mobility (due to disability, disease, or age), through the implementation of concurrent telehealth and exergame features using XR and wireless sensor technologies.
Keywords: older adults, telemedicine, virtual reality, rehabilitation, active video games
Published in DiRROS: 17.03.2022; Views: 570; Downloads: 454
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