MATERIALS AND METHODS: 93 patients with diagnosed carpal tunnel syndrome subjected to complete the self-report DASH-KU and patient rated wrist\hand evaluation PRWHEKU questionnaire during two consecutive assessments with a 24-hour interval before any intervention.
RESULTS: DASH-KU questionnaire had excellent internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.99) and test-retest reliability (intra-class correlation coefficient =0.99). A strong correlation between the DASH-KU score and the PRWHE tool (r=0.792) demonstrated acceptable construct validity of DASH-KU. Bland-Altman plot showed good agreement between the two assessments of DASH-KU, and no floor (3%) nor ceiling effects (0%) were observed. Factor analysis showed that the DASH-KU scale had a high acceptable adequacy (adequacy index = 0.700) and a significant sphericity (p<0.001). The analysis showed a major factor that accounted for 40% of the observed variance with an eigenvalue of 13.14. In addition, five items model also explained 81.23% of the DASH-KU scale variance. However, the responsiveness of DASH-KU was suboptimum, which can be linked to the short 24-hour interval between measurements.
CONCLUSION: The DASH-KU scale is a reliable, valid, and responsive instrument for assessing disabilities in patients with carpal tunnel syndrome.
Methods: Overall, 142 participants (height: 1.80 ± 0.15 m, BMI: 26.08± 6.70, age: 35±15 yr) with at least a year of working experience completed both questionnaires, the online ROSA and the Cornell musculoskeletal discomfort, in 2016 in Malaysia.
Results: Relationship between the total scores of both questionnaires for lower back, shoulder and neck pain were significant but exhibited a weak to moderate relationship (range of r values from 0.012 (CI 95%, -0.153-0.176) to 0.503 (CI 95%, 0.369-0.616).
Conclusion: The online ROSA does not appear to be a reasonable tool for evaluating the severity of lower back, shoulder and neck pain among office workers as the correlations were low. We suggest continued use of the musculoskeletal discomfort questionnaire. Additional studies are required to further examine the ROSA for other anatomical regions.
METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study among 660 public hospital nurses. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data on the occurrence of WRMSDs according to body regions, socio-demographic profiles, occupational information and psychosocial risk factors. 468 questionnaires were returned (response rate of 71%), and 376 questionnaires qualified for subsequent analysis. Univariate analyses were applied to test for mean and categorical differences across the WRMSDs; multiple logistic regression was applied to predict WRMSDs based on the Job Strain Model's psychosocial risk factors.
RESULTS: Over two thirds of the sample of nurses experienced discomfort or pain in at least one site of the musculoskeletal system within the last year. The neck was the most prevalent site (48.94%), followed by the feet (47.20%), the upper back (40.69%) and the lower back (35.28%). More than 50% of the nurses complained of having discomfort in region one (neck, shoulders and upperback) and region four (hips, knees, ankles, and feet). The results also revealed that psychological job demands, job strain and iso-strain ratio demonstrated statistically significant mean differences (p shoulders and upper back) and region 4 (hips, knees, ankles, and feet). All demographic variables except for years of employment were statistically and significantly associated with WRMSDs (p
METHODS: All infants requiring ventilation in the neonatal intensive care unit of a tertiary hospital in Malaysia during the 4-month study period were eligible to enter this randomised controlled trial. All participants were randomised into two groups: experimental and control group. The main outcome measure was malposition of the ETT (requiring adjustment), as seen on the chest X-ray performed within 1 h after intubation. Tube placement was assessed by two neonatologists, blinded to the allocation.
RESULTS: One hundred and ten infants were randomised, 55 in each group. The ETT was malpositioned in 13 of 55 infants (23%) for the experimental group and 22 of 55 infants (40%) in the control group (P = 0.06).
CONCLUSION: In the experimental group, fewer infants showed a need for tube adjustment than in the control group. While a larger study may be necessary to show statistical significance, the difference shown in this study may be large enough to be of clinical significance.
Methods: Nineteen young state-level weightlifters performed concentric strength tests of the upper limbs using an isokinetic dynamometer. Peak torque/body weight was measured for each weightlifter in dominant and non-dominant limbs.
Results: Peak torque/body weight was significantly different in external rotation (p 0.05). Time to peak torque in external rotation was less in the dominant than in the non-dominant limb. However, opposite results were obtained in external rotation, whereby time to peak torque was longer in the dominant limb compared to the non-dominant limb. Similarly, no significant difference was found between dominant and non-dominant limbs in terms of average power (p > 0.05).
Conclusions: The findings of this study may help in establishing potential imbalance in variables of muscular contractions between dominant and non-dominant limbs of weightlifters. This may help to maximise performance and minimise potential shoulder injury.