Biomedical subjects

Paul Dall'Alba

Publications and source records attributed to Paul Dall'Alba.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2003

A study of five cervicocephalic relocation tests in three different subject groups.

OBJECTIVE: To compare head relocation accuracy in traumatic (whiplash), insidious onset neck pain patients and asymptomatic subjects when targeting a natural head posture (NHP) and complex predetermined positions. DESIGN: A case-control study. SETTING: University-based musculoskeletal research clinic. PARTICIPANTS: Sixty-three volunteers divided into three groups of similar gender and age: Group 1 (n = 21) an asymptomatic group; group 2 (n = 20) insidious onset neck pain; group 3 (n = 22) a history of whiplash injury. INTERVENTION: Five randomly ordered tests designed to detect relocation accuracy of the head. OUTCOME MEASURES: A 3-Space Fastrak system measured the mean absolute relocation error of three trials of each relocation test. RESULTS: A significant difference was found between groups in one of the tests targeting the NHP (p = 0.001). Post-hoc pairwise comparisons revealed a significant difference (p < or = 0.05) between the asymptomatic group and each symptomatic group. The difference between the symptomatic groups just failed to reach significance (p = 0.07). None of the other four tests revealed significant differences. CONCLUSION: The test of targeting the NHP indicates that relocation inaccuracy exists in patients with neck pain with a trend to suggest that the deficit may be greater in whiplash patients. Tests employing unfamiliar postures or more complex movement were not successful in differentiating subject groups.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2003

An electromyographic analysis of the deep cervical flexor muscles in performance of craniocervical flexion.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: This study evaluated an electromyographic technique for the measurement of muscle activity of the deep cervical flexor (DCF) muscles. Electromyographic signals were detected from the DCF, sternocleidomastoid (SCM), and anterior scalene (AS) muscles during performance of the craniocervical flexion (CCF) test, which involves performing 5 stages of increasing craniocervical flexion range of motion--the anatomical action of the DCF muscles. SUBJECTS: Ten volunteers without known pathology or impairment participated in this study. METHODS: Root-mean-square (RMS) values were calculated for the DCF, SCM, and AS muscles during performance of the CCF test. Myoelectric signals were recorded from the DCF muscles using bipolar electrodes placed over the posterior oropharyngeal wall. Reliability estimates of normalized RMS values were obtained by evaluating intraclass correlation coefficients and the normalized standard error of the mean (SEM). RESULTS: A linear relationship was evident between the amplitude of DCF muscle activity and the incremental stages of the CCF test (F=239.04, df=36, P<.0001). Normalized SEMs in the range 6.7% to 10.3% were obtained for the normalized RMS values for the DCF muscles, providing evidence of reliability for these variables. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: This approach for obtaining a direct measure of the DCF muscles, which differs from those previously used, may be useful for the examination of these muscles in future electromyographic applications.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Repeatability of surface EMG variables in the sternocleidomastoid and anterior scalene muscles.

In this study we examined the repeatability and reliability of the surface electromyographic (sEMG) signal mean frequency (MNF), average rectified value (ARV) and conduction velocity (CV) measured for the sternocleidomastoid (SCM) and the anterior scalene (AS) muscles in nine healthy volunteers during 15-s isometric cervical flexion contractions at 50% of the maximal voluntary contraction level over 3 non-consecutive days. Repeatability and reliability estimates were obtained for the initial values and rates of change of each sEMG variable by using both the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) and the normalised standard error of the mean (nSEM). Results from SCM indicated good levels of repeatability for the initial value and slope of ARV (ICC>65%). For the AS, high levels of repeatability were identified for the initial value of MNF (ICC>70%) and the slope of ARV (ICC>75%). Values of nSEM in the range 2.8-7.2% were obtained for the initial values of MNF and CV for both SCM and AS, indicating clinically acceptable measurement precision. The low value obtained for the nSEM of the initial value of MNF for the AS, in combination with the high ICC, indicates that of all of the variables examined, this variable could offer the best normative index to distinguish between subjects with and without neck pain, and represents the sEMG variable of choice for future evaluation purposes.

Adult↗