The aim of this study was to elucidate the characteristics of daily physical activity and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and to determine whether daily physical activity is associated with hip impairments and HRQOL in adult women with mild to moderate hip osteoarthritis (OA).
Study participants consisted of 29 women (mean age, 50.1 ± 11.3 years) recruited from an outpatients clinic at a university hospital. Harris hip score was used to assess overall hip impairments. A pedometer was used to measure daily physical activity over 7 days. General HRQOL was evaluated by means of The Medical Outcomes Study Short Form 36 Health Survey (SF-36). Inter-relationships among these three variables were determined by using Pearson's correlation and path analysis.
Daily physical activity of the study population was similar to that of the National Nutrition Survey in Japan, 2001. However, all domains of SF-36, except mental health, were lower compared with the Japanese population. Among these domains physical functioning was the lowest. Harris hip score. daily physical activity. physical component summary of SF-36 correlated moderately with each other (r = .482 ～ .551). Path analysis identified a model with good fitness indices where Harris hip score was the most significant factor affecting physical component scale. Daily physical activity had direct (.153) and Harris hip score -mediated indirect (.241) effects. thereby producing total effects of .394 on physical component scale.
These results suggest that adult women with hip OA may have lower HRQOL. especially physical functioning. and that daily physical activity has an important role in determining HRQOL through hip impairments. Further studies are needed to determine whether interventions to promote daily physical activity improve HRQOL.

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In this paper we examined a treatment approach to hemiplegia with feeding and swallowing disorders and classified the approach in three stages. A 92-year-old female patient with pseudobulbar palsy due to Ischemic stroke was being fed with a nasogastric tube since contracting aspiration pneumonia. We evaluated her swallowing ability to determine the possibility of oral feeding. Although some choking occurred after swallowing water, the patient showed fairly normal gag reflex and cough reflex. Because the patient was not Impaired at the pharyngeal level, we believed it might be possible for her to feed orally under certain conditions. However, the patient was unable to close her lips, and bolus transport function was impaired; she could only swallow food without chewing. In Stage I (Dec. 2001-Nov. 2002) patient was able to swallow to some degree when we made use of compensatory strategies such as arranging her alignment, flexing her neck, and selecting foods that were easy to swallow. Although the patient was able to feed orally in this manner, because this approach did not require her voluntary effort, she became lethargic and refused to eat, especially when she was not fully alert, and consequently her food intake decreased. To address this situation and increase her food intake, we decided to try to stimulate her chewing function and thereby raise her alertness level. Because the patient was fond of rice, we prepared rice balls which she was able to eat safely, chewing while closing her lips in Stage 2 (Dec. 2002-May 2003). In addition, we employed the cognitive approach in order to stimulate the patient's sensory functions. e.g., by varying the saltiness and texture of her food. As a result, improvement was seen in swallowing and bolus transport function on the affected side. However, the patient's ability to chew and close her lips was still insufficient when eating soft foods like pudding because she had relied on assisted feeding. Therefore, to achieve the goal of self-feeding by spoon, we worked with the patient to identify variations of touch and pressure in the mouth during Stage 3 (June 2003-Dec. 2003). As a result of this treatment, she became able to form and swallow bolus successfully while controlling her own head position. We conclude that the patient's lethargy dissipated as her cognitive processes was activated, leading to a gradual improvement in her oral level function. By stimulating sensory function via “active touch”, the system of perception and response is established and maintained, a process in which independent physical elements come to work together as a unit. The results of this study suggest that use of physical therapy simply to aid and guide patients with dysphasia due to pseudobulbar palsy is not sufficient, but that approaches which stimulate cognitive function appear effective.

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The ultrasonic acousto-elastic method is being used to evaluate the material isotropy of industrial materials and is a nondestructive inspection technique applied to residual stress analysis in which measurement and evaluation can be performed by the propagation velocity. This method has been attracting attention in the engineering field, even though its theoretical research has already been done. The features of this inspecting method are: that more information on internal organisms can be received using a transverse wave in addition to the longitudinal wave of an ultrasonic wave; that it can enable measurement and evaluation with non invasion; that the ultrasonic wave, which can spread without selecting any particular medium, is easy to handle, and so forth. This research attempted to determine whether the propagation velocity could be applied to the measurement and evaluation of the muscular system of an internal organism or not. The test was conducted on the knee extension muscle, especially rectus femoris and vastus intermedius. The measurement of muscular power was also performed at the same time in order to analyze the correlation between propagation velocity and knee extension muscular power. The subject group consisted of seven hemiplegia patients after cerebrovascular disorder, and the control group consisted of eight healthy adults in their twenties and six healthy adults in their forties. As a result, a significant difference in the propagation velocity between ages was not observed in the control group. On the transverse wave test, however, a significant difference in the propagation velocity by the incidence to the parallel direction and the perpendicular direction of a muscular system was observed. When the result of the control group was converted into a fiducial point in the sonic ratio, on the other hand, a tendency towards deviation by the subject group could be observed in the vastus intermedius with or without the physiotherapy enforcement. A similar correlation observed in the vastus intermedius could also be observed in the comparison of knee extension muscular power and sonic ratio. These results indicate that the propagation velocity of the ultrasonic acousto-elastic method suggests the restorative index in the vastus intermedius.

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