Prevalence of Upper Cross Syndrome among Students of University of Balochistan, Quetta Pakistan

Objective: To assess the prevalence of upper crossed syndrome among students of Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) and Bachelors of Eastern Medicine and Surgery (BEMS) at university of Balochistan Quetta, Pakistan. Background: Upper cross syndrome is characterized as a pattern of tightness or over facilitation of chronically contracted and shortened muscles on one side and weakness or inhibition of chronically lengthened muscles on other side due to the muscle imbalance leading to postural abnormalities including, forward head posture, shoulder protraction, winging of scapula. These changes, in turn, lead to overstress of the cervical cranio-cervical junction, cervical and thoracic spine and shoulders, which can cause neck and/or jaw pain, headaches, and shoulder problems. The purpose of this study was to figure out the number of students of DPT and BEMS suffering from upper crossed syndrome at university of Balochistan Quetta, Pakistan. Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted. A self-constructed questionnaire having two parts, the first part comprised of demographics data while second part comprised of 18 questions and consent form was filled by 340 students both males and females from DPT and BEMS department. The Data was analyzed by Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16. Results: The study participants had a mean age of ±21.85, most of them were, from 22-25 years n=182 (53.5%) age group, males n=178 (52.4%) and from 3rd semester n=107 (31.5%). The prevalence of upper cross syndrome in the current study was 45.0%. Conclusion: The study concludes that upper cross syndrome has high prevalence in the students of DPT and BEMS in faculty of pharmacy and health sciences, at university of Balochistan Quetta, Pakistan.

Spirituality among Doctor of Physical Therapy Students in Lahore, Pakistan

Aim: To determine Doctor of Physical Therapy student attitudes towards spirituality. Methods: This Observational Study was conducted from March 2018 to June 2018 after ethical approval. Total of 1003 participants were recruited through purposive non-probability sampling technique. DPT students from public/ private Universities were included in the study and Graduated Physical Therapist and Postgraduate Physical Therapy Students were excluded. 16-item Daily Spiritual Experiences Scale (DSES) was used to record response. Results: The mean age of the participants was 54.90 ± 6.8 years ranging from 18 years to 23 years. Out of 1003 195(19.4%) were males and 808(80.6%) were females, 312(31.1%) having no clinical attachment and 691(68.9%) having clinical attachment. 4949(49.3%) were in Riphah international university, 68(6.8%) were in SAHS children hospital, 122(12.2%) were in SPT, Mayo Hospital, 319(31.8%) were in Rashid Lateef Medical College. The result shows that there is no significant difference in spirituality score among DPT students of different institutes according to age, gender, year of study and clinical attachment. Conclusion: This study concluded that entry-level DPT students had positive attitude towards spirituality. Keywords: Spirituality, DPT Students, Daily Spiritual Experiences Scale.

Comparison of level of mental stress between exercising and non-exercising undergraduate physical therapy students of LUMHS, Jamshoro

Objective: To Compare the Level of Mental Stress among Exercising and Non-Exercising under graduate Physiotherapy Students of LUMHS, Jamshoro. Methodology: A cross sectional survey was conducted from October to December 2019, and the data was collected from the undergraduates students of Institute of Physiotherapy & Rehabilitation Sciences, Liaquat University of Medical and Health Science Jamshoro, Pakistan. The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) was used among 194 undergraduate physiotherapy students. Apart from the demographics (age, gender, education & locality) the PSS questionnaire consist of 10 questions. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22 was used to interpret the data. Result: The majority (n=101, 51.7%) were from the age group of 18 to 21 years and (n=127, 65.1%) were female. Mostly (n=49, 25.1%) were the students of 1st year Doctor of Physical Therapy and (n=116, 59.4%) of the students were the residents of urban area. Among the non-exercising group of students majority (n=66,68%) were suffering from low level of mental stress, (n=33,34%) were suffering from moderate level of mental stress and (n=24,24.7%) were suffering from severe level of mental stress followed by the exercise group, in which (n=40,41.2%) were suffering from low level of mental stress, (n=21,21.6%) were suffering from moderate level of mental stress and (n=10,10.%) were suffering from severe level of mental stress. Conclusion: The study finalized that the exercising group of students had lower level of mental stress as compare to the non-exercising group of students. However both groups have the individuals with mental stress but the exercising students group had low number of those individuals.

Front-loading of anatomy content has no effect on long-term anatomy knowledge retention among physical therapy students: a prospective cohort study

Background Information learned over a longer period of time has been shown to result in better long-term knowledge retention than information learned over a shorter period of time. In order to address multiple curricular goals, the timing and spacing of anatomy content within the Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) program at our institution recently changed from a very spaced to a very compressed format. The purpose of the present study was to assess differences in anatomy knowledge retention that might have been impacted by this change. The research hypothesis was that students receiving spaced instruction would have significantly better anatomy knowledge retention than students receiving massed instruction. Methods Participants consisted of two cohorts of DPT students that both received 45 contact hours of anatomy lecture and 90 contact hours of anatomy lab. The LONG cohort experienced anatomy through a lecture and lab taught over a 30-week, 2 semester period as separate courses. In contrast, the SHORT cohort took their anatomy lecture and lab concurrently over one 10-week semester. A pre-test was administered on the first day of their anatomy lecture course, and a post-test was administered to each cohort 18 months after completion of their last anatomy exam. Results After controlling for age-related differences in the two groups, no significant differences in mean pre-test, post-test, or percentage improvement were found between cohorts (p = 0.516; 0.203; and 0.152, respectively). Conclusion These findings refute the hypothesis and show that both spaced and massed instruction in these cohorts resulted in the same level of long-term anatomy knowledge retention.