Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud

The biopsychosocial paradigm contemplates the patient’s personality traits in physiotherapy treatments for chronic pain. Among these traits, the locus of control has a direct relationship with the person’s coping strategies in the face of their health problems. The objective of this systematic review was to assess the influence of locus of control on the efficacy of physiotherapy treatments in patients with chronic pain. A systematic review of the publications of the last ten years in Pubmed, Scopus, Science Direct and Web of Science databases was conducting with the terms physical therapy modalities, chronic pain, internal-external control, self-management, physical therapy and physiotherapy. The inclusion criteria were participants with chronic pain lasting at least three months who have received at least one session of physical therapy; the studies should have collected the patient’s locus of control as a prognostic factor at the beginning of physiotherapy treatment; the variables studied should include the pain intensity or clinical variables related to pain. A total of 13 articles were found, of which three were experimental studies and ten were observational studies. The included samples had chronic knee pain, nonspecific back pain, low back pain or neck pain; were people over 65 years of age or patients who had undergone hand surgery. In patients with chronic pain for more than three months, the locus of control construct participates as a predictor of the results of physiotherapy treatment. The presence of an internal locus of control favors better results. The personality traits of the subjects represent an important factor to take into account when planning physiotherapy treatments.

Anxiety, depressive symptoms and stress have a significant influence on chronic musculoskeletal pain. Behavioral modification techniques have proven to be effective to manage these variables; however, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for an alternative to face-to-face treatment. We conducted a search of PubMed, the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL),Web of Science, APA PsychInfo, and Psychological and Behavioural Collections. The aim was to assess the effectiveness of telematic behavioral modification techniques (e-BMT) on psychological variables in patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain through a systematic review with meta-analysis. We used a conventional pairwise meta-analysis and a random-effects model. We calculated the standardized mean difference (SMD) with the corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI). Forty-one randomized controlled trials were included, with a total of 5018 participants. We found a statistically significant small effect size in favor of e-BMT in depressive symptoms (n = 3531; SMD = 􀀀0.35; 95% CI 􀀀0.46, 􀀀0.24) and anxiety (n = 2578; SMD = 􀀀0.32; 95% CI 􀀀0.42, 􀀀0.21) with low to moderate strength of evidence. However, there was no statistically significant effect on stress symptoms with moderate strength of evidence. In conclusion, e-BMT is an effective option for the management of anxiety and depressive symptoms in patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain. However, it does not seem effective to improve stress symptoms.

Objective. The main objective of this trial was to assess whether action observation (AO) training and motor imagery (MI) produced changes in the cervical joint position sense (CJPS) both at the end of the intervention and 10 min postintervention compared with a placebo intervention in patients with nonspecific chronic neck pain (NSCNP). Methods. A single-blind placebo clinical trial was designed. A total of 30 patients with NSCNP were randomly assigned to the AO group, MI group or placebo observation (PO) group. CJPS in flexion, extension and rotation movements in both planes were the main variables. Results. The results obtained in the vertical plane showed that the AO group obtained greater impr ovements than the PO group in the CJPS in terms of cervical extension movement both at the end of the intervention and 10 min postintervention (p = .001, d = 1.81 and p = .004, d = 1.74, respectively), and also in cervical flexion movement, although only at 10 min after the intervention (p = .035, d = 0.72). In addition, the AO group obtained greater improvements than the MI group in the CJPS only at the end of the intervention in cervical extension movement (p = .041, d = 1.17). Regarding the left rotation cervical movement, both the MI and AO groups were superior to the PO group in both planes at the end of the intervention (p < .05, d > 0.80). Conclusions. Although both AO and MI could be a useful strategy for CJPS improvement, the AO group showed the strongest results. The therapeutic potential of the application of mental practice in a clinical context in the early stages of rehabilitation of NSCNP should be considered.

Unstable shoe was developed as a walking device to strengthen the lower extremity muscles and reduce joint loading. A large number of studies have reported in asymptomatic adults increased electromyography (EMG) activity throughout the gait cycle in most of the lower limb muscles. However, no previous studies have explored the effects of wearing unstable shoes on trunk muscle activity in patients with chronic low back pain (CLBP). Therefore, the aim of the present study was to compare trunk muscle activity during gait using an unstable shoe and a conventional flat control shoe in patients with CLBP. Thirty-five CLBP patients (51.1±12.4 yrs.; 26±3.8 kg/m2; 9.3±5.2 Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire score) were recruited from the Orthopedic Surgery Service at the Hospital to participate in this cross-sectional study. All participants underwent gait analysis by simultaneously collecting surface electromyography (EMG) data from erector spinae (ES), rectus abdominis (RA), obliquus internus (OI) and obliquus externus (OE) muscles, while walking on a treadmill with flat control shoes and experimental unstable shoes. The results showed significantly higher %EMG activity in ES (mean difference: 1.8%; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.3 to 2.2), RA (mean difference: 1.5%; 95% CI 0.3 to 2.7), and OI (mean difference: 1.5%; 95% CI 0.2 to 2.8) in the unstable shoes condition compared to the flat shoes condition. Based on these findings, the use of unstable shoes may have potential implications in promoting spine stability, particularly in improving neuromuscular control of trunk muscles in CLBP treatment.

Objective: To investigate the effects that wearing unstable shoes has on disability, trunk muscle activity, and lumbar spine range of motion (ROM) in patients with chronic lower back pain (CLBP). Design: Randomized controlled trial. Setting: Orthopedic Surgery Service. Participants: We randomized 40 adults with nonspecific CLBP either to an unstable shoes group (n = 20) or to the control group (n = 20). Intervention: The participants in the unstable shoes group were advised to wear these shoes for a minimum of six hours a day for four weeks. Control group participants were asked to continue wearing their regular shoes. Outcome measures: Our primary outcome was measurement of back-related dysfunction, assessed using the Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire. Secondary outcomes included changes in electromyographic (EMG) activity of erector spinae (ES), rectus abdominis (RA), internus obliquus (IO), and externus obliquus (EO) muscles, and changes in lumbar spine ROM. Results: Between-group analysis highlighted a significant decrease in disability in the unstable shoes group compared to the control (−5, 95% confidence interval (CI) = −8.4 to −1.6). Our results revealed a significant increase in the percentage of RA, ES, IO, and EO EMG activity and in lumbar spine ROM in the unstable shoes group compared to the control group. Moreover, our results showed a significant negative correlation between disability and the percentage of ES, RA, and IO muscle activity at the end of the intervention.