Logo do repositório

Percorrer por autor "Esteves, Dulce"

A mostrar 1 - 2 de 2
  • The role of postural and plantar pressure asymmetries predicting pain in aging adults
    Publication . Dikhtyarenko, Svitlana; Encarnação, Samuel; Esteves, Dulce; Forte, Pedro
    Research lacks an integrated approach that incorporates body composition, postural asymmetries, plantar pressure distribution, and sex comparisons to comprehensively understand the complex relationship between these variables and pain levels. The study employed an observational cross-sectional design. The study sample comprised 52 participants of both sexes. The average age of participants was 57.35 years for males and 64.69 years for females. Pain levels were assessed using the numeric pain rating scale. Group comparisons (t-test) and machine learning algorithms were employed for analysis. The results indicated sex differences in height, weight, lean mass percentage, basal metabolism, shoe size, left foot area, podal axis, and distance between foot and body center of pressure (COPs). Significant differences between sexes were also observed in shoulder angles (p = 0.002). Machine learning analysis revealed that neck left deviation and left knee angle were predictive of participants’ pain levels. In conclusion, this study highlights differences in baropodometry and anthropometrics between sexes, with neck deviation and left knee angle identified as predictors of pain levels.
    2025Artigo científico Acesso aberto Ver mais
  • The use of control group in the sports science research: the ethical challenge
    Publication . Louro, Gonçalo; Ferraz, Ricardo; Forte, Pedro; Teixeira, José Eduardo; Branquinho, Luís; Esteves, Dulce
    Medical ethicists have questioned the use of no-treatment controlled studies (placebo and sham procedure) of new therapies when safe and effective standard therapies are available for use as an active or “equivalence” control. Currently, ethical and conduct principles for biomedical research specifically prohibit projects that do not make or deny the “best-proven diagnosis and therapeutic treatment” to any participant in a clinical trial, including individuals who consent to randomisation into a control group. Studies of psychophysiological therapies are often criticised for not having a placebo or sham treatment control group. In sports science research, particularly in the case of clinical exercise, the use of control groups also raises ethical questions. This article briefly reviews the problem and discusses the ethical standards governing human research derived from the Nuremberg Code and the Declaration of Helsinki.
    2023Artigo científico Acesso restrito Ver mais