Middle Eastern Journal of Disability Studies

Background & Objective: Awareness of the extremities and its movable range, side supremacy and correct orientation is necessary skill to maintain the body alignment. In blind people, obtaining these skills is slow due to lack of vision. Therefore, they are susceptible to a variety of functional disorders of the muscles if not exist compensatory training. These disorders cause muscle imbalance on both sides of the body and predispose a person to musculoskeletal abnormalities. One of the most common defective cervical spine postures in blind subjects is forward head with a prevalence of 66%. Sports exercises like those that Trabant is widely used among different people to maintain health and well–being with the goal of increasing strength, rehab and preventing injuries. Therabands with its elastic resistance have several advantages over other free weights. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate effect of Theraband's exercises on the forward head, power and range of motion in blinds and low visibility boys who suffering forward head.
Methods: The present study was semi–experimental and pre–posttest with control group. Out of 90 male students, 12–16 years old, blind and low vision students who studying at Shourideh Shirazi University (Fars province, south of Iran), with a forward head abnormality (angle>27 degrees), 30 were targeted intentionally and based on the criteria for entering the study. They were selected in an accessible and purposeful way and randomly divided into two groups of experimental (Trabant training, n=15) and control (n=15). The experimental group performed resistance training for 8 weeks, 3 sessions per week, and 60 minutes, with Theraband latex. These exercises are used to strengthen the muscles of scapula, parallelogram, upper and middle trapezius, muscles of the back, as well as the stretching muscles of the chest. The normal direction of the body should be maintained in all exercises. The control group did not have any sports activities during this period. The instrument used in this study was a chessboard (for the primary screening of subjects), a goniometer to determine the exact angle of the head and neck and the range of joints, dynamometer to measure the strength of the extensors and muscles of the subjects. Power, head angle and motor range of subjects were measured before and after eight weeks in both groups. The Kolmogorov–Smirnov test was used to determine the natural distribution of data. Levin test was used to determine the consistency of variances. T–test was used for comparing the intra–group data and the mean of independent t–test was used in SPSS version 21. The significance level concidered less than 0.05.
Results: Eight weeks of training with Theraband improved forward head angles with mean difference and p value of (2.53±0.17, p=0.007), hand power (-0.93±-0.56, p=0.004), abduction (-15.67±0.63, p=0.044), the strength of back extensors (19.33±1.66, p=0.012), outer joint rotation (3.23±0.51, p=0.037(, extension of head and neck (-2.07±1.51, p=0.001). However, no changes were seen in the internal displacement of the shoulder joint (-0.74±0.037, p=0.584), flexure (-11.87±1.16, p=0.072), left flexure (p=0.441, 0.074±0.01) and right flexure (-0.46±1.2, p=0.573).
Conclusion: Theraband exercises could improve the forward angle, range of motion and muscle strength in people with low vision and blinds withmovement forward head. Therefore, considering the effectiveness of these exercises, it could be used as an effective way to treat this condition. Considering the limitations of the present research and lack of cooperation of the subjects, it is suggested that in future research, the performance of deep receptors, quality of life, life expectancy and functional factors such as static and dynamic equilibrium was surveyed.