Integumentary Physiotherapy

The aim of this study was to compare the benefits of a 12-week abdominal and pelvic floor muscle strength training programme for the treatment of mild stress urinary incontinence (SUI) in obese women. Thirty obese female patients with mild SUI were randomly divided into two group: the abdominal exercise (ABD) group and the pelvic floor exercise (PF) group. The participants were evaluated for vaginal pressure, leak point pressure (LPP) and waist/hip ratio (WHR) before, immediately after and at a 12-week follow-up after the termination of treatment. The ABD group showed a significant increase in vaginal pressure immediately after the intervention and at follow-up (p< 0.001),while the PF group showed no significant change in this variable. The ABD group also showed a significant increase in LPP after 12 weeks of treatment (pZ0.008), while the PF group demonstrated no significant change in the same variable (p Z 0.030). At 24 weeks, the LPP remained significantly different from the baseline only for the ABD group (pZ0.005). The results showed that the 12-week abdominal muscle strength training programme is superior to pelvic floor strength training for the treatment of mild SUI in obese patients.

The aim of this study was to compare the effects of pulsed electromagnetic field versus pulsed ultrasound in treating patients with postnatal carpal tunnel syndrome. The study was a randomized,
double-blinded trial. Forty postnatal female patients with idiopathic carpal tunnel syndrome were divided randomly into two equal groups. One group received pulsed electromagnetic field, with nerve and tendon gliding exercises for the wrist, three times per week for four weeks. The other group received pulsed ultrasound and the same wrist exercises. Pain level, sensory and motor distal latencies and conduction velocities of the median nerve, functional status scale and hand grip strength were assessed pre- and post-treatment. There was a significant decrease (P<0.05) in pain level, sensory and motor distal latencies of the median nerve, and significant increase (P<0.05) in sensory and motor conduction velocities of the median nerve and hand grip strength in both groups, with a significant difference between the two groups in favour of pulsed electromagnetic field treatment. However, the functional status scale showed intergroup no significant difference (P>0.05). In conclusion, while the symptoms were alleviated in both groups, pulsed electromagnetic field was more effective than pulsed ultrasound in treating postnatal carpal tunnel syndrome.

Introduction: Dysmenorrhea is a condition describing the painful cramps that women feel before or during the menstrual period. While dysmenorrhea is the most common gynecologic complaint affecting adolescent and young women and there has been significant progress in
understanding its pathophysiology and managing the symptoms, many young women do not seek medical consultation and remain untreated.
Aim of the study: The aim of the study was to explore the prevalence of dysmenorrhea, its physical impact, and associated coping behaviors among university students.
Methods: A total of 269 female college students volunteered to participate in the study. Data regarding the students’ experience with dysmenorrhea were collected via self-reported questionnaire
developed based on relevant literature. Pain was scored on visual analog scale (VAS).
Results: Most respondents (84.01%) reported feeling pain in the abdomen and back (VAS score, 5.00). Mood swings (84.8%) and dizziness (48.2%) were, respectively, the most common
affective and somatic symptoms related to menstruation. There was a significant difference in the amount of menstrual flow (p=0.004) and incidence of dysmenorrhea (p=0.03) according to menstrual regularity. Most students (91.2%) did not seek medical consultation for dysmenorrhea, and 62.4% used analgesics. However, no significant correlation (p=0.25) was found between analgesic intake and pain relief. While most students (90.7%) did not miss exams,
48.7% reported poor satisfaction with their academic performance because of dysmenorrhea.
Conclusion: Dysmenorrhea is highly prevalent among college students, with many physical impacts and associated activity limitations. Collaborative efforts from health care providers, program coordinators, and parents should focus on increasing awareness and improving management strategies to treat dysmenorrhea.
Keywords: dysmenorrhea, prevalence, treatment, physical impact, menstrual cycle

Background: Chronic orchialgia is defined as testicular pain, which may be either unilateral or bilateral, lasting for more than 3 months. It disturbs a patient’s daily activities and quality of life (QoL), inciting the patient to search for treatments to alleviate the pain. It is estimated that 25% of chronic orchialgia cases are idiopathic.
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate how effective transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) is in pain reduction and how it consequently affects the QoL in patients with idiopathic chronic orchialgia (ICO).
Patients and methods: Seventy-one patients were randomly assigned to group A (study group), which included 36 patients who received TENS and analgesia, and group B (control group), which included 35 patients who received analgesia only. The outcome measures were the participants’ demographic data and results of the visual analog scale (VAS) and QoL questionnaire. These outcomes were measured before and after 4 weeks of treatment and at 2-month follow-up.
Results: The results showed that compared to pretreatment, there was a significant reduction in pain postintervention and at 2-month follow-up in group A (P0.0001 and 0.001, respectively; F7.1) as well as a significant improvement in QoL at these time points (P0.0001 and 0.0001, respectively). There were no significant differences in the VAS score and QoL in group B at different time points of evaluation.
Conclusion: The findings indicate that TENS is effective in reducing pain and improving patients’ QoL in cases of ICO. TENS is an easy-to-use, effective, noninvasive, and simple method for ICO-associated pain control and QoL improvement.
Keywords: orchialgia, testicular pain, TENS, pain assessment, VAS, physiotherapy, quality of life, chronic pain