The method adopted here allows the subject to walk on two parallel independent treadmills. Each treadmill is mounted on four three- dimensional force sensors. Eight healthy adults, aged

22–35 years (4 males, 4 females) were tested on the treadmill, each at the average walking speed that he or she adopted over ground. Ground reactions, hip, knee and ankle sagittal rotations, torques, power and surface electromyelograms (EMGs) from four thigh and leg muscles were recorded simultaneously. Results: Comparison was made with figures from a sample of 40 healthy adults (20 males and 20 females) aged 20–40 years; walking on floor-embedded force platforms. An 8% shorter stride length was adopted on the treadmill. All of the other results matched those obtainable over ground.

COMPARISON OF A TARGETED AND GENERAL MASSAGE PROTOCOL ON STRENGTH, FUNCTION, AND SYMPTOMS ASSOCIATED WITH

CARPAL TUNNEL SYNDROME: A RANDOMIZED PILOT STUDY. Moraska A, Chandler C, Edmiston-Schaetzel A, et al. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 2008;14:259–267

Twenty-seven subjects with a clinical diagnosis of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) were included in the study. Subjects were assigned randomly to receive six weeks of twice-weekly massage consisting of either a general (GM) or CTS-targeted (TM) massage treatment programme. Dependent variables included hand-grip and key-pinch dynamometers, Levine symptom and function evaluations, and the grooved pegboard test. Evaluations were conducted twice during baseline, two days after the seventh and eleventh massages, and at a follow-up visit four weeks after the twelfth massage treatment. Results: A main effect of time was noted on all outcome measures across the study timeframe. Improvements persisted at least four weeks post-treatment. Comparatively, TM resulted in greater gains in grip strength than GM, with a 17.3% increase over baseline but only a 4.8% gain for the GM group (P = 0.21). Significant improvement in grip strength was observed following the seventh massage. No other comparisons between treatment groups attained statistical significance.

sportEX comment

This study is aimed specifically at CTS, a major repetitive strain condition. This is often associated with office-type work, but it can have sporting or performance activities as an underlying cause, especially where grip is involved. Both GM and TM treatments resulted in an improvement of subjective measures associated with CTS, but improvement in grip strength was detected only with the TM protocol. Massage therapy may be a practical conservative intervention for compression neuropathies such as CTS. It is certainly worth trying before the surgeons step forward.

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GAIT ANALYSIS ON SPLIT-BELT FORCE TREADMILLS: VALIDATION OF AN INSTRUMENT. Tesio L, Rota V. American Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation 2008;87:515–526

sportEX comment Gait analysis (GA) is usually performed

during overground walking, with ground reactions being recorded through force platforms embedded in the floor. However, use of a treadmill allows very fast recording of data

from many successive strides, at known and constant average speeds. The results suggest that gait analysis performed on the tested treadmill is a promising method of GA in a clinical setting.

DIFFERENCES IN RANGE OF MOTION BETWEEN DOMINANT AND NONDOMINANT SIDES OF UPPER AND LOWER EXTREMITIES. Macedo LG, Magee DJ. Journal of

Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics 2008;31:577–582

The objective of this study was to compare ranges of motion (ROM) between dominant and non-dominant sides for the joints of the upper and lower extremities. Ninety healthy white women aged 18–59 years were measured. Active and passive ROMs were measured for the ankle, knee, hip, shoulder, elbow and wrist using a standard goniometer. The order of the joints, motion, sides, and active or passive motion testing was selected randomly. A paired t-test was used for the comparison between sides. Results: There was a statistically significant difference between the dominant and non- dominant sides for 34 of the 60 ROMs measured. The maximum mean difference between sides for all ROMs measured was 7.5°.

sportEX comment The results of this study show that some ROMs are different between body sides but that these differences are minimal. The study validates the clinical practice of using the opposite side of the body as an indicator of pre-injury or normal extremity ROM. Why did the authors feel the need to stipulate that the women in the study were white?

sportEX dynamics 2009;19(Jan):4-6