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Objectieve pijndrempelmetingen: de toekomst voor de fysiotherapie? - een onderzoek naar de invloed van de dominante zijde op de hoogte van de pijndrempel.

Achtergrond: Pijn is een lastig te meten, subjectief fenomeen. Pijn wordt vaak gemeten met subjectieve self-reported vragenlijsten. Een andere manier om pijn vast te leggen is het objectief meten van de pijndrempel (Pressure Pain Threshold, PPT) door middel van het uitoefenen van mechanische druk met behulp van een drukalgometer. De pijndrempel is het punt waarop een persoon voor het eerst pijn opmerkt. Het is een bruikbare en betrouwbare manier om op een objectieve wijze de PPT in kaart te brengen. Referentiewaarden van pijndrempels en de invloed van diverse variabelen hierop zijn nog vrij onbekend. Ook is nog onduidelijk of er binnen een individu verschillen kunnen zijn tussen de gevoeligheid voor pijn aan de dominante en niet-dominante zijde van het lichaam. Vraagstelling: Wat is de mate van variatie in de hoogte van pijndrempelwaarden op diverse locaties op het lichaam, gemeten met een drukalgometer, aan de dominante zijde ten opzichte van de niet-dominante zijde bij pijnvrije ouderen van 40 tot 85 jaar?” Methode: Bij gezonde deelnemers (zonder pijn) in de leeftijd van 40 tot 85 jaar werden pijndrempels gemeten op drie locaties rond de knie, twee locaties op de arm en één op het voorhoofd. Metingen werden op elke locatie drie keer verricht, met een tussenpose van 30 seconden. Dit werd gedaan aan de dominante en niet-dominante zijde van het lichaam. Op elke locatie werd de gemiddelde pijndrempel van drie metingen berekend. Door middel van een ongepaarde t-toets werd per locatie de gemiddelde pijndrempel aan de dominante zijde vergeleken met de niet-dominante zijde. Resultaten: De steekproef bestond uit 53 deelnemers, waarvan 23 mannen (gemiddelde leeftijd 64,3 jaar ±13,3) en 30 vrouwen (gemiddelde leeftijd 55,5 jaar ±9,4), waarvan vijf linkshandige deelnemers en één linksbenige deelnemer. Gemiddelde pijndrempels waren op alle zes locaties aan de dominante zijde niet significant hoger dan aan de niet-dominante zijde (p<0,05). Conclusie: Er zijn geen significante verschillen in de hoogte van de pijndrempels aan de op dominante zijde ten opzichte van de niet-dominante zijde bij pijnvrije ouderen van 40 tot 85 jaar. Dit maakt het gebruik van pijndrempels eenvoudiger wanneer dit wordt toegepast in een klinische setting. Implicatie voor de fysiotherapie: Pijndrempelmetingen kunnen in de praktijk gebruikt worden om pijn objectief te meten. Hierbij hoeft er geen rekening gehouden te worden met de dominante of niet-dominante zijde van de arm en het been.

Using a co-design approach to create tools to facilitate physical activity in children with physical disabilities

Introduction: There is a lack of effective interventions available for Pediatric Physical Therapists (PPTs) to promote a physically active lifestyle in children with physical disabilities. Participatory design methods (co-design) may be helpful in generating insights and developing intervention prototypes for facilitating a physically active lifestyle in children with physical disabilities (6–12 years). Materials and methods: A multidisciplinary development team of designers, developers, and researchers engaged in a co-design process–together with parents, PPTs, and other relevant stakeholders (such as the Dutch Association of PPTs and care sports connectors). In this design process, the team developed prototypes for interventions during three co-creation sessions, four one-week design sprint, living-lab testing and two triangulation sessions. All available co-design data was structured and analyzed by three researchers independently resulting in themes for facilitating physical activity. Results: The data rendered two specific outcomes, (1) knowledge cards containing the insights collected during the co-design process, and (2) eleven intervention prototypes. Based on the generated insights, the following factors seem important when facilitating a physically active lifestyle: a) stimulating self-efficacy; b) stimulating autonomy; c) focusing on possibilities; d) focusing on the needs of the individual child; e) collaborating with stakeholders; f) connecting with a child's environment; and g) meaningful goal setting. Conclusion: This study shows how a co-design process can be successfully applied to generate insights and develop interventions in pediatric rehabilitation. The designed prototypes facilitate the incorporation of behavioral change techniques into pediatric rehabilitation and offer new opportunities to facilitate a physically active lifestyle in children with physical disabilities by PPTs. While promising, further studies should examine the feasibility and effectivity of these prototypes.

A digitally supported home-based exercise training program and dietary protein intervention for community dwelling older adults: protocol of the cluster randomised controlled VITAMIN trial

BackgroundIncreased physical activity and dietary protein intake are promising interventions to prevent or treat the age-related decline in physical performance in older adults. There are well-controlled exercise as well as dietary intervention studies that show beneficial effects on physical performance in older adults. In practice, however, weekly group based exercise or nutritional programs may not be as effective. To optimise these exercise programs for community dwelling older adults, a digitally supported and personalised home-based exercise training program has been designed aiming to improve physical performance in older adults. In addition, a protein intervention in combination with the training program may further improve physical performance in older adults.MethodsThe VITAMIN study will be a cluster randomised controlled trial with three parallel arms. In total, 240 community dwelling older adults (≥ 55 years) participating in weekly group exercise are randomly allocated into: 1) regular weekly exercise program (Control group, n = 80), 2) digitally supported personalised home-based exercise training program group (VITA group, n = 80) and 3) digitally supported personalised home-based exercise training program group plus dietary protein counselling (VITA-Pro group, n = 80). The VITAMIN study aims to evaluate effectiveness of the digitally supported personalised home-based exercise training program as well as the additional value of dietary protein on physical performance after 6 months. In addition, a 12 month follow-up measurement will assess the retaining effect of the interventions. Primary outcome is physical performance measured by the Modified Physical Performance Test (M-PPT) and relevant secondary and observational outcomes include habitual physical activity and dietary intake, body composition, cognitive performance, quality of life, compliance and tablet usage. Data will be analysed by Linear Mixed Models.DiscussionTo our knowledge, the VITAMIN study is the first study that investigates the impact of home-based exercise, protein intake as well as use of persuasive technology in the population of community dwelling older adults.Trial registrationNL56094.029.16 / NTR (TC = 5888; registered 03–06-2016).

Nutritional Requirements Relative to Nutritional Intake Intensive Care Patients

Blended home-based exercise and dietary protein in community-dwelling older adults: a cluster randomized controlled trial

Background: Effective and sustainable interventions are needed to counteract the decline in physical function and sarcopenia in the growing aging population. The aim of this study was to determine the 6 and 12 month effectiveness of blended (e-health + coaching) home-based exercise and a dietary protein intervention on physical performance in community-dwelling older adults. Methods: This cluster randomized controlled trial allocated 45 clusters of older adults already engaged in a weekly community-based exercise programme. The clusters were randomized to three groups with ratio of 16:15:14; (i) no intervention, control (CON); (ii) blended home-based exercise intervention (HBex); and (iii) HBex with dietary protein counselling (HBex-Pro). Both interventions used a tablet PC with app and personalized coaching and were targeting on behaviour change. The study comprised coached 6 month interventions with a 6 month follow-up. The primary outcome physical performance was assessed by modified Physical Performance Test (m-PPT). Secondary outcomes were gait speed, physical activity level (PAL), handgrip muscle strength, protein intake, skeletal muscle mass, health status, and executive functioning. Linear mixed models of repeated measured were used to assess intervention effects at 6 and 12 months. Results: The population included 245 older adults (mean age 72 ± 6.5 (SD) years), 71% female, and 54% co-morbidities observed. Dropout of the intervention was 18% at 6 months and 26% at 12 months. Participants were well functioning, based on an m-PPT score of 33.9 (2.8) out of 36. For the primary outcome m-PPT, no significant intervention effects (HBex, +0.03, P = 0.933; HBex-Pro, −0.13, P = 0.730) were found. Gait speed (+0.20 m/s, P = 0.001), PAL (+0.06, P = 0.008), muscle strength (+2.32 kg, P = 0.001), protein intake (+0.32 g/kg/day, P < 0.001), and muscle mass (+0.33 kg, P = 0.017) improved significantly in the HBex-Pro group compared with control group after 6 month intervention. The protein intake, muscle mass, and strength remained significantly improved after 12 months as compared with those of control. Health change and executive functioning improved significantly in both intervention groups after 6 months. Conclusions: This HBex and dietary protein interventions did not change the physical performance (m-PPT) in community-dwelling older adults. Changes were observed in gait speed, PAL, muscle mass, strength, and dietary protein intake, in response to this combined intervention.

Student agency in higher education

Why studying student agency? • Prepare students for lifelong learning. (Biesta & Tedder, 2007;OECD, 2018) • Agency fosters motivation, which could enhance performance. (Bandura, 2018; Ryan & Deci, 2020) • More flexibility in higher education, but not all students can handle this. (De Bruin & Verkoeijen, 2022; Van Casteren e.a., 2021)