Iranian Rehabilitation Journal

● Aquatic and Non-aquatic balance exercise improves the balance of women with grade 2 or 3 knee osteoarthritis.
● Over four weeks, the result of this study showed that Non-aquatic balance exercise was superior to aquatic balance exercise.
Plain Language Summary 
Knee osteoarthritis is one of the most common musculoskeletal disorders. Knee osteoarthritis causes loss of balance, muscle weakness, and instability resulting in a risk of falling. Exercise is one of the most important methods to cure this disease. This study aimed to investigate the effect of balance exercises on the risk of falling in women with knee osteoarthritis in water and land environments. The study’s findings showed that balance exercise in both environments decreases the risk of falls. But the results obtained from the land environment were superior to the water environment

● This study was performed on the elderly with thoracic hyperkyphosis. The purpose of this study was to compare orthosis treatment along with a supervised exercise program.
● Orthotic therapy combined with an exercise program can have an excellent therapeutic effect on reducing kyphosis angle and back pain and increasing the quality of life.
Plain Language Summary 
At present, the mean age of the world population is the highest compared to the past. Preventing old-age injuries is the best way to control the health cost of society and improve the quality of life of the elderly. This study is about the hunchback complication that has adverse effects on the health of the elderly. Hunchback causes people to fall, reduces their respiratory capacity and activity, and even increases mortality in the elderly community. Exercise and the use of orthoses are two non-surgical methods in controlling and treating this complication. The purpose of this study was to investigate these treatments and their further combinations.

● Neck and shoulders had the highest prevalence of MPs anatomic area in girl students. 
● The highest prevalence of MPs was in the lower back and knee in boy students. 
● The lowest level of MPs prevalence was in the elbow in both genders. 
Plain Language Summary 
Musculoskeletal Pains (MPs) are among the most prevalent types of pain with numerous consequences for individuals and society. Musculoskeletal disorders are usually associated with constant pain, limitations in movement, skill, performance, and negative effects on the mental health. It has been shown that 20-33% of people worldwide live with one painful musculoskeletal problem. The main cause of many musculoskeletal disorders and their injuries is related to the advancement of technology and excessive use of computers, laptops, and mobile phones. University students stay for long hours in static or infrequent postures due to long study hours and high levels of stress and workload in using laptops. Therefore, they are highly affected by problems resulting from MPs. It is possible that neglecting to study musculoskeletal disorders in students can have negative and perhaps irreversible effects on their body structure. Therefore, it is important and necessary that musculoskeletal pain be examined every year in the student community. The present study reported the prevalence of MPs, especially in the neck, low back, and knees. One of the ways to reduce musculoskeletal disorders is to pay attention to physical activity and ergonomic factors. In addition, college students should be instructed on how to sit and stand properly, how to stand behind a computer, and how to use mobile phones.

● Higher ambulatory status in transfemoral prosthesis users is associated with younger age group and single people.
● Better social performance in transfemoral prosthesis users is present in the younger age group and female gender.
● Marital status and gender have no association with social performance and ambulatory status for transfemoral prosthesis users, respectively.
Plain Language Summary 
Amputation and, especially transfemoral, is a common surgical procedure requiring prosthetic use and rehabilitation to achieve the required ambulatory and social performance status. Since amputees suffer from physical and mental challenges, studying the determinants of prosthetic ambulation and the social performance of such amputees, along with an absence of related literature, was the stimulus for the study. This study was done to determine the association of ambulatory and social performance status of transfemoral prosthetic users with age, gender, and marital status. In this cross-sectional study, 400 transfemoral prosthesis users were studied using the lower extremity functional scale and 36-item short-form health survey questionnaire. The results revealed the association of ambulatory status with age and marital status with no significant gender association. The social performance showed an association with gender and age groups with no association with marital status.

● This article explains the features of children with Speech Sound Disorder (SSD).
● It justifies the necessity of the Azeri Phonological Test (APT) in clinical settings.
● The significant psychometric characteristics of the APT make it a suitable tool for screening purposes.
Plain Language Summary 
Speech Sound Disorder (SSD) refers to any problem or problems that affect perception, motor production, or phonological representation of speech sounds, either in the sound itself or in the speech segments. It is one of the most prevalent forms of communication disorders among children. The prevalence of SSD is higher among preschool children compared to other children. It is necessary to have a reliable and valid tool to assess phonological skills in children, but there is no such tool in Azari language yet. Therefore, speech-language pathologists use informal or Persian instruments for this purpose. According to what was mentioned above, it is essential to develop a tool in Azeri language for assessing articulation and phonological skills. The current study was conducted to design and validate an instrument that measures speech sound production in Azeri-speaking children aged 4–6 years through story retelling and incorporated all Azeri consonants. This age range was selected since speech disorders are most prevalent among the children within this age range.

● In differentiating MCI and AD, the semantic VF test is more efficient than the phonemic VF test.
● The VF score had a significantly positive correlation with MMSE scores.
● In semantic VF, animals’ semantic category better differentiated the MCI and AD groups from the normal group.
● in phonemic VF, the /sh/, /s/ phonemes, and then /a/ better differentiate the MCI and AD groups from the normal group.
Plain Language Summary 
Alzheimer Disease (AD) and dementia are the most prevalent disease among aging population. To screen and determine the severity cognitive evaluation instruments are often used. VF is one of the instruments used in clinical and research to detect cognitive changes based on word retrieval, which are two types: the phonemic VF and the semantic VF. We concluded that comparing frequent phonemes and semantic categories across three groups of normal, AD, and MCI some phonemes and semantic categories can be more differentiating in the VF task.

● The present study's correlations among satisfaction, feasibility, advantages, and compatibility were significant. 
● The feasibility of telehealth systems can increase the number of intervention sessions per week among professionals. 
● The mean level of satisfaction was also higher in rehabilitation professionals who provided telerehabilitation before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Plain Language Summary 
Would you please provide a Plain Language Summary for the article in 200-300 words? Consider that Plain Language Summary is different from abstract, and it has to be written for non-specialists. To provide it, consider the following points: 1. think about your audience (e.g., journalists, science-interested public), 2. Get rid of jargon, 3. Explain what the study is about. Remember, others will need more context about what you studied, 4. Explain what you found, 5. Explain why this matters. Discuss the importance of these findings not just in terms of their implications for your field but in terms of their relevance to the public.

● The self-managed program compared to usual physiotherapy treatments decreases knee pain significantly and improves functions and health-related quality of life.
● The self-managed program compared to usual physiotherapy treatments is less costly due to fewer consultation visits and treatment sessions.
● Physiotherapists may adopt the program to reduce costs for patients and congestion in the clinics.
Plain Language Summary 
Knee Osteoarthritis (OA) is a chronic, debilitating, and degenerative condition. Knee OA has no known cure. The current treatment guidelines stipulate the empowerment of patients to self-manage the condition to reduce visits to the clinics and save costs associated with care. The self-managed program is cost-effective in settings where treatments are heavily subsidized through the medical insurance scheme; however, it is unknown if the program will be cost-effective in a setting where patients solely pay to access care. The results demonstrate that the self-managed program in this setting is effective and costs less than the usual care and may be adopted by healthcare professionals to reduce costs associated with treatments and transportations.

● Early and detective screening of locomotive syndrome requires reliable, standard, and user-friendly tools. 
● The psychometric properties of both versions of the GLFS tool (25 and 5 items) are very close and acceptable. 
● So, the short version (GLFS-5) can be used instead of the long version in emergencies to screen seniors. 
Plain Language Summary 
The locomotive syndrome is one of the most common disorders that can lead to dependency and limited activity daily living among seniors. Early detection of this condition requires screening tools that fit seniors. The questionnaire of Geriatric Locomotive Function Scale (GLFS) is one of the instruments to identify the elderly persons at locomotive syndrome risk. It has been designed in two versions (5 and 25 items) by the Japan Orthopedic Association. To ensure the applicability and useability of this questionnaire in the Iranian older people, a psychometric review is necessary. Because the time saving and accuracy of screening in older people is very important, and no studies have compared psychometric properties of two versions of the GLFS, this research was done on a representative sample of community-dwelling Iranian older people. Comparison of psychometric properties of the two versions shows that both have good validity and reliability among Iranian seniors. Also, due to the proximity of the psychometric properties, we recommend using the short version in emergencies to save time.

● Although MDD is not a pure inflammatory disorder, inflammation vigorously contributes to the severity of depression.
● There is a significant difference in the mean levels of HSCRP between those having mild and those with mild to severe depression based on the 9-item PHQ-9 depression module scores.
● Low-grade inflammation is a significant risk factor for the onset or exacerbation of depression in patients with MDD.
● Further studies should explore the mechanisms involved in the association of inflammation and MDD, which may improve understanding of these conditions and design more targeted therapies.
Plain Language Summary 
As a prevailing disorder, depression can result in substantial burdens and debilities worldwide. Of many emerging recent risk factors, inflammation had a documented contribution to several human diseases. C-reactive protein (CRP) is a known biomarker of systemic body inflammation. Our goal in this study was to assess the role of low-grade inflammation in patients with depression. The study revealed that the depressive patients exhibited higher levels of CRP in their blood, though not correlated with the severity of the symptoms. Meanwhile, there is a significant difference between those having mild and those with moderate to severe depressive scores regarding the mean levels of CRP. These findings suggest the significant role of low-grade inflammation in depressive patients that may predict the onset or even aggravation of the depression symptoms. This observation is essential in future studies to develop more targeted therapies that could help patients with depression.

● Most mothers with fair knowledge and practices regarding traditional caring for neonates with jaundice.
● Majority of mothers followed mixed breast and formula as the type of feeding. 
Plain Language Summary 
Newborn jaundice is a prevalent condition characterized by yellowish sclera and skin of neonate because of high bilirubin levels in the blood. Complications may include seizures, or cerebral palsy, or kernicterus. The initial step in management is encouraging the mothers to continue breastfeeding to excrete the bilirubin by defecation and urination to reduce bilirubin levels in the blood as soon as possible.

● Six to 24 months old children have different abilities in terms of prelinguistic skills.
● There are differences between girls and boys regarding prelinguistic skills, such as gesture, vocalization, first word, social interaction, imitation, and play. 
● Children develop their communicational skills in the prelinguistic stage as they grow up. 
● Positive family history of speech-language disorders affects children’s performance in the prelinguistic stage. 
Plain Language Summary 
Children develop prelinguistic skills before learning to use language. Prelinguistic skills are the only ways that children can communicate with their parents before expressing their first words. For example, pointing at something is a prelinguistic skill, which provides a foundation for language learning. Studying these skills is very important because it gives us more information about the prerequisites of language learning and determining communication deficits at an early age. This study focused on the development of prelinguistic skills in Persian children aged 6 to 24 months. We found that these skills develop as children age and become more complex. Based on the results, a positive history of speech or language-related disorders in the family affects children’s prelinguistic skills. Also, we found some differences between girls and boys in developing these skills. Our findings provided helpful information about prelinguistic skills that can spot children at risk of communication disorders.

● Inspiratory muscle metaboreflex plays a role in reducing exercise tolerance. 
● There was a significant increase in lung function, functional mobilization, grip, and quadriceps paretic side strength after inspiratory muscle training in patients with subacute stroke. 
● Exercise should be included in the rehabilitation program of patients with subacute stroke.
Plain Language Summary 
The current study found that an inspiratory muscle training rehabilitation intervention improved lung function, functional mobilization, balance, quadriceps strength, and handgrip strength on the paretic side of subacute stroke patients. Furthermore, based on the findings of this study, we conclude that exercise should be considered part of the rehabilitation program of subacute stroke patients.

● Muscle herniations are one of the causes of lower leg pain among athletes.
● Tibialis anterior hernia is the protrusion of muscle through the defect in the fascia.
● Conservative treatment should be considered as an initial treatment.
● Minhaj protocol is a new physiotherapy management protocol for tibialis anterior hernia.
Plain Language Summary 
Muscle hernias are the bulging out of the muscles through the overlying membrane covering. Tibialis Anterior is a muscle seen in the lower leg. Hernia of the Tibialis hernia muscle is one of the causes of lower leg pain and is often an undetected condition in the lower leg. Due to injury and increased muscle bulk following strenuous muscle activity, it commonly occurs in athletes. Diagnosis of Tibialis Anterior hernia is mainly based on its presentation as a soft tissue bulge that can be felt under the overlying skin. The node may be enlarged by tightening the muscle and disappear by muscle relaxation. Special medical imaging studies such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Ultrasonography (US), and Computer Tomography are used to confirm the diagnosis of Tibialis anterior hernia. Treatment of Tibialis Anterior hernia is mainly physiotherapy consisting of rest, application of compression bandage, modification of activities, and specific exercise in a phased manner. Such treatment should be considered an initial treatment approach for Tibialis Anterior hernia, and surgery can be performed in case of failure of this approach. They presented a case history of an athlete presented to the Physiotherapy department with exercise-related lower leg pain. Detailed examination by the physiotherapist and after ultrasound scanning by a radiologist confirmed it as a Tibialis Anterior hernia. The patient has undergone eight weeks of Physiotherapy treatment and returned to the previous level of activity after eight weeks of rehabilitation.