Splint Conditions Research Articles

Kinematical Effects of a Mandibular Advancement Occlusal Splint on Running until Exhaustion at Severe Intensity.

The effects of occlusal splints on sport performance have already been studied, although their biomechanical impacts are often overlooked. We investigated the kinematical changes during running until exhaustion at severe intensity while wearing a mandibular advancement occlusal splint. Twelve trained runners completed (i) an incremental protocol on a track to determine their velocity corresponding to maximal oxygen uptake and (ii) two trials of square wave transition exercises at their velocity corresponding to maximal oxygen until exhaustion, wearing two occlusal splints (without and with mandibular advancement). Running kinematics were compared within laps performed during the square wave transition exercises and between splint conditions. The mandibular advancement occlusal splint increased the running distance covered (~1663 ± 402 vs. 1540 ± 397 m, p = 0.03), along with a noticeable lap effect in decreasing stride frequency (p = 0.04) and increasing stride length (p = 0.03) and duty factor (p < 0.001). No spatiotemporal differences were observed between splints, except for improved balance foot contact times in the mandibular advancement condition. An increased knee flexion angle at initial contact (p = 0.017) was noted along laps in the non-advancement condition, despite the fact that no differences between splints were found. Running patterns mainly shifted within laps rather than between conditions, indicating that a mandibular advancement occlusal splint had a trivial kinematical effect.

Changing the Mandibular Position in Rowing: A Brief Report of a World-Class Rower.

We investigated the acute biophysical responses of changing the mandibular position during a rowing incremental protocol. A World-class 37-year-old male rower performed two 7 × 3 min ergometer rowing trials, once with no intraoral splint (control) and the other with a mandibular forward repositioning splint (splint condition). Ventilatory, kinematics and body electromyography were evaluated and compared between trials (paired samples t-test, p ≤ 0.05). Under the splint condition, oxygen uptake was lower, particularly at higher exercise intensities (67.3 ± 2.3 vs. 70.9 ± 1.5 mL·kg-1·min-1), and ventilation increased during specific rowing protocol steps (1st-4th and 6th). Wearing the splint condition led to changes in rowing technique, including a slower rowing frequency ([18-30] vs. [19-32] cycles·min-1) and a longer propulsive movement ([1.58-1.52] vs. [1.56-1.50] m) than the control condition. The splint condition also had a faster propulsive phase and a prolonged recovery period than the control condition. The splint reduced peak and mean upper body muscle activation, contrasting with an increase in lower body muscle activity, and generated an energetic benefit by reducing exercise cost and increasing rowing economy compared to the control condition. Changing the mandibular position benefited a World-class rower, supporting the potential of wearing an intraoral splint in high-level sports, particularly in rowing.

Leaf Disease Detection in Android

Abstract: In agriculture, early disease identification is crucial for a productive crop product. Ails similar as bacterial spot, late scar, Septoria splint spot, and unheroic twisted splint the quality of the tomato crop. Automatic bracket ways of factory conditions also help in taking action once they're discovered diseased splint symptoms Presented below is a Convolutional Learning Vector Quantization and Neural Network( CNN) model system for detecting tomato splint dis- ease grounded on the( LVQ) algorithm and categorization. There are 500 tomato prints in the dataset. leaves that display four complaint symptoms. We created a model of CNN for point birth and categorization automatically. Color Research on factory splint conditions laboriously uses information. In our model, three channels grounded on RGB are subordinated to pollutants

Studying the Immediate Effects of Two Types of Thumb Splints on the Pain, Grip Strength, and Hand Function in People With De Quervain Tenosynovitis

Objective: The prevention of thumb joints flexion help cure de Quervain tenosynovitis. The thumb, therefore, is being immobilized in the abduction position by splinting. Thumb abduction can be away from the palm (palmar abduction) or from the fingers (radial abduction), which are done in two different planes. To the authors' knowledge, the literature has not specified which kind of thumb abduction has better treatment outcomes and functions. This study aimed to compare the immediate efficacy of palmar abduction and radial abduction splinting on the severity of pain, handgrip, palmar and lateral pinch strength, and hand function in people with de Quervain tenosynovitis. Materials &amp; Methods: In this quasi-experimental study, 30 volunteer patients (24 females) with de Quervain tenosynovitis referred to clinical centers were selected via convenience sampling. The participants were randomly assigned to three study groups (without the splint, palmar abduction splint, and radial abduction splint). The splints' height was two-thirds of the elbow. The splints were designed to immobilize the carpometacarpal and metacarpophalangeal joint of the thumb but allow the interphalangeal joint to move. One splint immobilizes the thumb in palmar abduction, while another immobilizes the thumb in radial abduction. The outcomes were studied and measured immediately after the intervention and in a single session. The intended outcomes included pain severity, handgrip strength, palmar and lateral pinch strength, and hand function measured with a visual analog scale, hand dynamometers, and the Jebsen-Taylor test, respectively. The repeated measures analysis of variance was performed for statistical analysis using SPSS software, version 16. Results: All participants completed all study assessments. The results showed a significant reduction of pain, handgrip strength, lateral and palmar pinch, and hand function after using a thumb splint compared to without the splint condition (P&lt;0.05). The pain severity in gripping objects was lower after using a palmar abduction splint than the radial abduction splint. Also, the strength reduction in taking objects by gripping, lateral pinch, and palmar was lower after using the palmar abduction splint than the radial abduction splint (P&lt;0.05). Still, both splints were not significantly different in slowing the hand function in the Jebsen-Taylor test (P&gt;0.05). Conclusion: The positioning of the thumb in palmar abduction with splinting could be more effective for pain reduction and manipulation of objects with the hand and fingers.

Strength improvements through occlusal splints? The effects of different lower jaw positions on maximal isometric force production and performance in different jumping types.

ObjectiveThe influence of the jaw position on postural control, body posture, walking and running pattern has been reported in the literature. All these movements have in common that a relatively small, but well controlled muscle activation is required. The induced effects on motor output through changed jaw positions have been small. Therefore, it has been questioned if it could still be observed in maximal muscle activation.MethodTwenty-three healthy, mid age recreational runners (mean age = 34.0 ± 10.3 years) participated in this study. Three different jump tests (squat jump, counter movement jump, and drop jumps from four different heights) and three maximal strength tests (trunk flexion and extension, leg press of the right and left leg) were conducted. Four different dental occlusion conditions and an additional familiarization condition were tested. Subjects performed the tests on different days for which the four occlusion conditions were randomly changed.ResultsNo familiarization effect was found. Occlusion conditions with a relaxation position and with a myocentric condylar position showed significantly higher values for several tests compared to the neutral condition and the maximal occlusion position. Significance was found in the squat jump, countermovement jump, the drop jump from 32cm and 40cm, trunk extension, leg press force and rate of force development. The effect due to the splint conditions is an improvement between 3% and 12% (min and max). No influence of the jaw position on symmetry or balance between extension and flexion muscle was found.ConclusionAn influence of occlusion splints on rate of force development (RFD) and maximal strength tests could be confirmed. A small, but consistent increase in the performance parameters could be measured. The influence of the occlusion condition is most likely small compared to other influences as for example training status, age, gender and circadian rhythm.

Comprehensive Rehabilitation Management for Children With Burn Injury on Hand

Background: Children are of the most susceptible groups for burn injuries, and hand injuries are prevailing among all sites of injuries. Due to the unique role of hands in children’s normal development, pediatric hand burn injuries may result in permanent disabilities that severely affect the functioning and quality of life of the child and the family. Therefore, other than proper wound care and timely surgery, rehabilitation management for children with burn injury on hand is essential. Objective: This presentation aims to propose a comprehensive rehabilitation management strategy for children with burn injuries on hands. Materials and Methods: Pediatric cases admitted to our university rehabilitation clinic with bilateral hand injuries due to second-degree burn are presented as case series. Tailor-made intervention regime was provided for each case. New methods of pressure therapy intervention was introduced, including innovative products of the Smart Pressure Monitored Suit and the Smart Pressure Monitored Padding, which were developed and patented by our research team. Splints were provided and monitored. Functional activities, parent education, and counseling, as well as home programs were also delivered. The state of preservation of the pressure intervention products, the splint condition and the rehabilitation progress of the children were monitored on a regular basis. The treatment outcomes are presented by comparing the pre- and post-intervention photos and functioning of the patients. Results: Cases with pediatric bilateral hand injuries demonstrated satisfactory recovery on both hand functions and scar appearances. Several features have been identified from the cases as key elements in successful management of pediatric burnt hand. The proper adoption of the concept of pressure therapy played an important role, and the therapists should not limited pressure intervention to pressure garment only. Proper splinting of hands prevented and corrected contracture and deformation effectively. Engaging children into age-appropriate activities should be also considered. Suitable environment that promotes participation and reduces psychological stress should be established. Moreover, the psychosocial well-being of the children and the caregiver should be addressed in order to achieve maximum compliance to the intervention regime. Finally, regular long-term follow-ups guarantee the effectiveness of the rehabilitation intervention. Conclusions: To achieve the optimal functional recovery that enables participation and engagement, individualized, comprehensive and early rehabilitation management is advocated. Rehabilitation on pediatric burns is a long-term process that requires not only collaboration and understanding among different parties but also persistent effort.

No Improvement in Sprint Performance With a Neuromuscular Fitted Dental Splint.

To test the effects of a neuromuscular fitted dental splint in comparison with a habitual verticalizing splint and a no-splint condition on cycling sprint performance in the Wingate Anaerobic Test (WAnT). Twenty-three men (26.0 ± 2.0 y, 1.82 ± 0.06 m, 79.4 ± 7.7 kg) performed 3 WAnTs, 1 with the neuromuscular fitted splint, 1 with a habitual verticalized dental splint of the same height and material, and 1 under control conditions without any mouth guard, in randomized order separated by 1 wk. No differences between any splint conditions were found in any aspect of WAnT performance (time to peak power, peak power, minimum power, power drop, and average power). Moderate to nearly perfect correlations between all splint conditions in all WAnT outcomes with coefficients of variation between 1.3% and 6.6% were found. Irrespective of habitual verticalization or myocentric positioning, dental splints have no effects on any aspect of WAnT performance. Results are comparable to those of test-retest experiments.

Influence of the Lower Jaw Position on the Running Pattern.

IntroductionThe effects of manipulated dental occlusion on body posture has been investigated quite often and discussed controversially in the literature. Far less attention has been paid to the influence of dental occlusion position on human movement. If human movement was analysed, it was mostly while walking and not while running. This study was therefore designed to identify the effect of lower jaw positions on running behaviour according to different dental occlusion positions.MethodsTwenty healthy young recreational runners (mean age = 33.9±5.8 years) participated in this study. Kinematic data were collected using an eight-camera Vicon motion capture system (VICON Motion Systems, Oxford, UK). Subjects were consecutively prepared with four different dental occlusion conditions in random order and performed five running trials per test condition on a level walkway with their preferred running shoes. Vector based pattern recognition methods, in particular cluster analysis and support vector machines (SVM) were used for movement pattern identification.ResultsSubjects exhibited unique movement patterns leading to 18 clusters for the 20 subjects. No overall classification of the splint condition could be observed. Within individual subjects different running patterns could be identified for the four splint conditions. The splint conditions lead to a more symmetrical running pattern than the control condition.DiscussionThe influence of an occlusal splint on running pattern can be confirmed in this study. Wearing a splint increases the symmetry of the running pattern. A more symmetrical running pattern might help to reduce the risk of injuries or help in performance. The change of the movement pattern between the neutral condition and any of the three splint conditions was significant within subjects but not across subjects. Therefore the dental splint has a measureable influence on the running pattern of subjects, however subjects individuality has to be considered when choosing the optimal splint condition for a specific subject.

Influence of Ankle Braces on the Maximum Strength of Plantar and Toe Flexor Muscles.

This study sought to investigate the influence of ankle braces on maximum strength of plantar and toe flexor muscles. 21 healthy participants volunteered, and their maximum isometric toe flexor muscle strength (TFS), plantar flexor muscle strength (PFS) and passive range of motion of the ankle joint (ROM) were measured. TFS, PFS and ROM were compared among barefoot as a control (BAR), ankle support (SUP) and ankle splint (SPL) conditions. TFS was significantly lower in SPL (90.7±32.5 N, p<0.0001) compared to BAR (117.3±39.5 N) and it was significantly lower in SPL than in SUP (110.5±36.7 N, p=0.0001), whereas it was not significantly different between SUP and BAR (p=0.2587). On the contrary, PFS and ROM were significantly lower in SUP (p=0.0087 for PFS; p=0.0095 for ROM) and SPL (p<0.0001 for PFS; p<0.0001 for ROM) compared to BAR, and they were significantly lower in SPL than in SUP (p=0.0073 for PFS; p<0.0001 for ROM). The ankle support could provide ankle joint stabilization without a large decrease in the muscle strength of the foot. The proper use of an ankle brace is required to prevent major impairment of the muscle functions of the ankle-foot complex.

An assessment of hand volumetric and temperature changes during office related repetitive activities

Hand usage and movement is routinely performed by all individuals daily irrespective of age. These movements can vary and can be repetitive in nature. Exposure of the hard and soft tissues of the hand to prolonged repetitive activities could contribute to the development of work related upper limb disorders (WRULD). Within the work setting, work related upper limb disorders (WRULDs) rank high in the United Kingdom (UK), second only to back complaints. This paper reports the amount of tendon travel and swelling that occurs in the hand during repetitive office activities associated with WRULDs. Nine healthy adults (five males; four females) participated in the study. A 30-minute laboratory-based simulated office activity that consisted of data entry, mouse clicking and dragging, and mouse scrolling tasks was performed. Participants wore a custom-made cost effective flexible electrogoniometric glove (FEG) as two experimental conditions were tested; namely, FEG - only, and FEG using a Splint (FEG - Splint). The FEG - only condition produced a higher overall tendon travel compared to the FEG - Splint condition. Both hands presented no statistically significant differences in hand temperature (p > 0.05) and hand volume increments (p > 0.05) with respect to the FEG - only and FEG - Splint office activity experiments. All participants that showed a decrease in hand volumetric measurement produced final temperature measurements lower than initial temperature measurements taken at the commencement of the experiment. Based on participants' perception, the mouse scrolling task was deemed as most strenuous. The findings can help to advise patients on biomechanical 'risks' associated with repetitive activities.

Does the use of orthoses improve self-reported pain and function measures in patients with plantar fasciitis? A meta-analysis

Objectives To perform a meta-analysis examining the effects of foot orthoses on self-reported pain and function in patients with plantar fasciitis. Data Sources MEDLINE, SPORTDiscus, and CINAHL were searched from their inception until December 2007 using the terms “foot”, “plantar fascia”, “arch”, “orthotic”, “orthoses” and “plantar fasciitis”. Study Selection Original research studies which met these criteria were included: (1) randomised controlled trials or prospective cohort designs, (2) the patients had to be suffering from plantar fasciitis at the time of recruitment, (3) evaluated the efficacy of foot orthoses with self-reported pain and/or function, (4) means, standard deviations, and sample size of each group had to be reported. Results We utilised the Roos, Engstrom, and Soderberg (Roos, E., Engstrom, M., & Soderberg, B. (2006). Foot orthoses for the treatment of plantar fasciitis. Foot and Ankle International, 8, 606–611) night splint condition to compare our pooled orthoses results. The meta-analysis results showed significant reductions in pain after orthotic intervention. The Roos et al.' (Roos, E., Engstrom, M., & Soderberg, B. (2006). Foot orthoses for the treatment of plantar fasciitis. Foot and Ankle International, 8, 606–611) study also showed significant reduction in pain after night splint treatment. The meta-analysis results also showed significant increases in function after orthotic use. In contrast, the Roos et al.' (Roos, E., Engstrom, M., & Soderberg, B. (2006). Foot orthoses for the treatment of plantar fasciitis. Foot and Ankle International, 8, 606–611) study did not show a significant increase in function after night splinting for 12 weeks. Conclusion The use of foot orthoses in patients with plantar fasciitis appears to be associated with reduced pain and increased function.

Effect of Wrist Hand Splints on Grip, Pinch, Manual Dexterity, and Muscle Activation in Children with Spastic Hemiplegia: A Preliminary Study

The effect of wrist/hand orthoses on force production, dexterity, and upper extremity muscle recruitment was investigated in children with and without cerebral palsy (CP) to determine if splint design affects 1) hand function and 2) muscle activation. Ten children with hemiplegic CP used hands with spasticity ( n = 10) and five age-matched control children used dominant and nondominant hands ( n = 10) in three splint conditions (no, dynamic, static) during grip, pinch, and peg-board tests while electromyography (EMG) recorded muscle activation. Children with spasticity increased their grip (p = 0.008) and dexterity (p = 0.02) when wearing dynamic splints and pinch (p = 0.04) with no splints. All children had significantly less wrist EMG activity during grip with static splints; only children with CP had greater compensatory shoulder activation. Preliminary findings suggest that dynamic splints increased function of children with CP while static splints decreased muscle activation at wrist and increased compensatory shoulder muscle recruitment.

The Effect of Wearing a Wrist Splint on Shoulder Kinematics During Object Manipulation

Mell AG, Childress BL, Hughes RE. The effect of wearing a wrist splint on shoulder kinematics during object manipulation. Objectives To test the hypotheses that (1) wearing a flexible wrist splint while taking an object from a box increases known postural risk factors for shoulder disorders and (2) that the height of the front of the box modulates the effect on shoulder kinematics of wearing a wrist splint. Design A controlled laboratory experiment with 2 factors (splint wearing, box height). Setting Human performance laboratory. Participants Ten consecutive healthy volunteers (5 men, 5 women; age range, 19–32y). Interventions Experimental manipulation of wrist immobilization and box height. Main Outcome Measures Humeral plane of elevation, humeral elevation, and humeral axial rotation. Results Wearing a wrist splint increased the maximum humeral elevation angle ( P<.001), and the height of the barrier also increased the maximum humeral elevation angle ( P<.001). The average difference in maximum humeral elevation between the splint and the no splint conditions was 6.8°. Conclusions Wearing a wrist splint while performing a job that requires removing objects from a box can increase risk factors for shoulder disorders. Workplace analysis should be performed to avoid secondary injuries before a patient wearing a wrist splint returns to work.

A comparison of static and dynamic wrist splints using electromyography in individuals with rheumatoid arthritis

This study compared strength, dexterity, and the muscle activation of individuals with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) when different splints were worn. Five persons with RA were observed in four splint conditions (none, static, hinged, spiral) during grip, pinch, and dexterity tests by recording muscle activity of eight muscles in the upper extremity using electromyography (EMG). Statistically significant differences were found in clinical tests when hinged (p<0.001) and spiral splints (p = 0.02) were worn. Grip strength decreased when hinged splints were worn, whereas two-point pinch increased and dexterity improved on the Nine-Hole Peg Test with the spiral splint. Although no significant EMG differences were found during different splint conditions, wrist muscles were recruited more for grip, and shoulder muscles were used most during pinch and dexterity tests. Individuals with RA who wore splints had decreased grip when wearing hinged splints, but improved pinch and dexterity were found when the spiral splint was worn. Increased use of proximal shoulder muscles was observed during pinch and dexterity tests with and without splints.