School of Clinical Sciences - Te Kura Mātai Haumanu

Permanent link for this collection

https://hdl.handle.net/10292/1241
The School of Clinical Sciences plays an important role in specialist teaching and research conducted by its academic staff and postgraduate students. This places AUT students at the forefront of much of the ground-breaking research undertaken in New Zealand, especially in the fields of Midwifery, Nursing, Occupational Therapy, Oral Health, Paramedicine, Physiotherapy, Podiatry.

Browse

Browsing School of Clinical Sciences - Te Kura Mātai Haumanu by Subject "09 Engineering"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Obesity as a Risk Factor for Musculoskeletal Injury During Manual Handling Tasks: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
    (Elsevier BV, 2024-08) Boocock, Mark; Naudé, Yanto; Saywell, Nicola; Mawston, Grant
    Obesity is a growing health concern worldwide and musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) are the leading cause of injury, disability, and work-related sickness absence globally. A systematic literature review and meta-analysis was undertaken to investigate the effects of increased body weight on the biomechanical, physiological, and psychophysical responses to manual handling. Methods A literature search was conducted on five electronic databases (EBSCO Health, SCOPUS, OVID (AMED), ProQuest, Google Scholar) that followed the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis) guidelines. Studies were included if they investigated a manual handling activity comparing responses of obese/overweight adults to those with a healthy body weight. Included studies had to report on at least one biomechanical, physiological, or psychophysical outcome measure. The Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) Critical Appraisal Tool was used to assess risk of bias (RoB) and methodological quality. A narrative synthesis of the findings was conducted and where possible, a meta-analysis was performed using random-effects models. Results Eighteen cross-sectional studies met the inclusion criteria. Participants were predominately male (22% female) and were primarily classified into obese, overweight, or healthy body weight based on their body mass index (BMI). A task involving symmetrical box lifting was the most frequently performed activity. Pooled estimates of effect sizes suggest obesity increases the horizontal reach distance when lifting, and repetitive lifting leads to higher heart rates compared with healthy weight participants. There was moderate evidence of increased moments and compression forces in the lower spine. Factors unaffected by obesity were knee flexion and perceived estimates of the maximum acceptable weight of lift (MAWL). Conclusions Differences in the kinematics and kinetics of lifting between obese or overweight handlers and those of a healthier weight, suggest that approaches to preventing and managing work-related musculoskeletal conditions should consider a worker’s body weight when designing workplaces, work practices, and training. To develop appropriate interventions, more high-quality studies are needed involving a range of industry and service sector handling tasks.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The Effects of Chiropractic Spinal Adjustment on EEG in Adults with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Disease: A Pilot Randomised Cross-over Trial
    (IMR Press, 2024-01-01) Navid, MS; Niazi, IK; Holt, K; Nedergaard, RB; Amjad, I; Ghani, U; Kumari, N; Shafique, M; Duehr, J; Trager, RJ; Haavik, H
    Objectives: In this study, we explored the effects of chiropractic spinal adjustments on resting-state electroencephalography (EEG) recordings and early somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Methods: In this randomized cross-over study, 14 adults with Alzheimer’s disease (average age 67 ± 6 years, 2 females:12 males) and 14 adults with Parkinson’s disease (average age 62 ± 11 years, 1 female:13 males) participated. The participants underwent chiropractic spinal adjustments and a control (sham) intervention in a randomized order, with a minimum of one week between each intervention. EEG was recorded before and after each intervention, both during rest and stimulation of the right median nerve. The power-spectra was calculated for resting-state EEG, and the amplitude of the N30 peak was assessed for the SEPs. The source localization was performed on the power-spectra of resting-state EEG and the N30 SEP peak. Results: Chiropractic spinal adjustment significantly reduced the N30 peak in individuals with Alzheimer’s by 15% (p = 0.027). While other outcomes did not reach significance, resting-state EEG showed an increase in absolute power in all frequency bands after chiropractic spinal adjustments in individuals with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. The findings revealed a notable enhancement in connectivity within the Default Mode Network (DMN) at the alpha, beta, and theta frequency bands among individuals undergoing chiropractic adjustments. Conclusions: We found that it is feasible to record EEG/SEP in individuals with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Additionally, a single session of chiropractic spinal adjustment reduced the somatosensory evoked N30 potential and enhancement in connectivity within the DMN at the alpha, beta, and theta frequency bands in individuals with Alzheimer’s disease. Future studies may require a larger sample size to estimate the effects of chiropractic spinal adjustment on brain activity. Given the preliminary nature of our findings, caution is warranted when considering the clinical implications.
Items in these collections are protected by the Copyright Act 1994 (New Zealand). These works may be consulted by you, provided you comply with the provisions of the Act and the following conditions of use:
  • Any use you make of these works must be for research or private study purposes only, and you may not make them available to any other person.
  • Authors control the copyright of their works. You will recognise the author’s right to be identified as the author of the work, and due acknowledgement will be made to the author where appropriate.
  • You will obtain the author’s permission before publishing any material from the work.