ASSOCIATION OF PECTORALIS MINOR MUSCLE LENGTH AND SHOULDER RANGE OF MOTION AMONG INDIVIDUALS WITH AND WITH OUT SHOULDER PAIN

Background and Aim: To evaluate the association of pectoralis minor muscle length and the shoulder range of motion with and without shoulder pain. Methodology: A sample of 214 participants with and without shoulder pain were enrolled in an analytical cross sectional study at Institute of physical medicine and rehabilitation, Dow University of health sciences, Karachi.  Questionnaire was provided to all participants after taking consent. Individuals were categorized into two equal groups i.e. one with and the other without pain). Shoulder active ranges were measured with universal goniometer and pectoralis minor length with measuring tape. Statistical Package of Social Sciences version 21 was used for data analysis. The descriptive variables were assessed for frequencies and percentages. Continuous variables were shown with mean and standard deviations and were correlated with bivariate correlation test. Considered significant was 0.05 p value. Results: Females were 176(82.2%) and males were 38 (17.8%). Mean ± SD of age, weight, height, and BMI were 26.82 ±7.50, 58.45 ±12.11, 160.59 ± 12.43, and 22.18 ±3.78 respectively. The pain intensity negatively correlated with shoulder range of motions (rs = -0.307 to -0.775, p< 0.05) except medial rotation.  Significant difference (p< 0.05) is found for length of pectoralis minor and range of motion between groups. There was also weak positive correlation between pectoralis minor index and shoulder lateral rotation (rs =0.215; p = 0.003). Conclusion: The shoulder pain affects shoulder joint range of motion and pectoralis minor length. Decreased pectoralis minor muscle length accompanies limited shoulder range of motion except, medial rotation.

A Comparative Study of Effectivenss of Fragmented and Integrated Curriculum at Primary Level

The study was carried out to investigate the effectiveness of integrated and fragmented curriculum in development of basic skills at primary level. The main purpose of this study was to compare the relative effectiveness of integrated and fragmented curriculum in developing the basic skills of reading and writing at primary level. This was mixed method research in which both survey and experimental methods were used to achieve the objectives. Pretest posttest control group design was used to conduct the experimental study.First a survey was conducted to get the opinion of the teachers of primary education about current (fragmented) curriculum and the need of an integrated curriculum at primary level through a self developed questionnaire. The researcher developed integrated curriculum model for English by combining content of English and Social Studies and integrated curriculum model for Urdu by combining the content of Urdu and Islamiat by adopting multidisciplinary approach. While developing these models teachers'' opinion about integrated curriculum was given importance. Lesson plans were prepared by the researcher according to the model to teach the students of primary level. In order to measure the performance of the students'' teacher made achievement tests were prepared by the researcher. A try out of developed integrated curriculum model, lesson plans, teacher-made achievement test and questionnaire was taken in. The validity of the developed instrument was checked through expert opinion. This experimental work was carried out for sixteen weeks in Islamabad Model School I-9/4 Islamabad. Population of the survey study was the teachers of primary education of the schools of Islamabad city and the students of the class IV. Seventy six students were randomly selected from class IV for experiment. Students were assigned to experimental and control group after pre test. Experimental group was taught through integrated curriculum while control group was taught through traditional (fragmented) curriculum. After the completion of the experimental period post test was administered. The data collected through questionnaire and teacher made achievement was analyzed using SPSS and applying percentage method, Chi-Square, and t-test. In order to compare mean scores of experimental and control group independent sample t-tests was applied. Chi-Square was used to examine the association among different variables of the questionnaire and percentage method was applied to check the frequency of respondents. The results of study revealed that integrated curriculum was more effective in developing the basic skills of reading and writing in students at primary level as compare to the traditional fragmented curriculum. The study also revealed that teachers of primary education were familiar with the concept of integrated curriculum and they are strongly in favour of introducing integrated curriculum at primary level.