Therapeutic Exercise Research

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There are countless conditions and diseases that burden the population. A myriad of these disorders include musculoskeletal pathologies that affect the activities of daily living and overall quality of life of individuals. In fact, many of these afflictions are chronic, encompassing the individual’s life each second of every day for years at a time. Although the prevalence of these debilitating diseases are common, copious amounts of research are still necessary to attain the information and knowledge that will completely rid these afflicted individuals of any lifelong and recurrent pain. A seemingly simple condition that affects a large population is pes planus, or flat feet. There is no known cure for conditions such as flat feet; however, …show more content…
The promoters of exercise to improve physical functioning and quality of life include the categories of gait retraining and aquatic exercise activities as part of the physical activity routine. For instance, Hinman et al. (2013) express that “...exercise programs should comprise at least muscle strengthening exercises, exercises to improve aerobic capacity, functional exercises, and gait training, either as standalone treatments or combined with each other, depending on treatment goals” (p. 22). Additionally, Andreasen et al. (2013) assert that changes in foot posture were mostly seen in the participants who took part in exercise and those who engaged in exercise and utilized an insole. However, the utmost change seen in the long-term follow-up occurred with the group that participated in both physical activity and the use of orthotics. These studies reveal the fact that exercise is an advantageous benefit for individuals suffering from musculoskeletal …show more content…
Furthermore, there was a lack of diversity among the participants of the different studies. In fact, Branthwaite et al.’s (2004) study exclusively had male participants within a minute age range. Moreover, discrepancies among the levels of health of participants surfaced. For example, there were a few studies in which healthy individuals were being tested with orthoses rather than actual individuals plagued with chronic pain from their musculoskeletal pathology. This finding is detrimental in obtaining applicable results because the patients truly in need of orthoses or a remedy to chronic pain are not being tested. An additional concern regarding the use of orthoses falls upon expenditure for these rehabilitative gadgets. It remains to be seen that “Moulded orthotics are expensive and time consuming to produce as the construction of the device involves several manufacturing stages to provide the prescription” (Branthwaite et al., 2004, p. 973). Instead of serving as an aid to reduce pain and improve gait ability, orthoses may be seen as a hindrance to the population unable to afford