THE EFFECTIVENESS OF INSTRUMENT-ASSISTED SOFT TISSUE MOBILIZATION TECHNIQUE ON MUSCULOSKELETAL SOFT TISSUE INJURIES: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW AND META-ANALYSIS

Objective: This systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to determine the impact of IASTM on musculoskeletal soft tissue injuries.  Materials and Methods: In order to find terms like "instrument," "assisted," "soft tissue dysfunction AND wrist, back, elbow, knee, ankle and foot", "interventions AND IASTM," studies from conception to December 2021 were systematically analyzed across seven electronic databases: Medline, PubMed, Cochrane Library, Google Scholar, Scopus, PEDro, and Web of Science. The inclusion criteria for the systematic review were thus met by (n=14) randomized controlled studies. Results: IASTM treatments are associated with both short and long-term pain reduction and improved functioning. IASTM was discovered to have a short-term favorable effect on the functioning of patients with soft tissue injuries.  Conclusion: It was established that IASTM had a short-term positive impact on the functionality of individuals with soft tissue injuries in different body regions. Future researches should focus on acquiring information about long-term effects using credible evidence.

Challenges During Crisis Management in Higher Educational Institutions: Perspectives on Leadership and Organizational Learning

With the increasing number of crisis events occurring in higher educational institutions across the globe, crisis management has attracted wider attention of the research community. Although developed countries have created some response mechanism, but Higher Education Institutes (HEI’s) in Pakistan are not generally equipped or prepared to respond to such crisis events. Therefore, it is imperative to conduct a research study on crisis management in Pakistan to explore its importance and to safeguard the interests of all stakeholders. This research study employed a multiple case study approach based on Zdziarski’s ‘Crisis Matrix’ as the basis for selecting and exploring crises in several higher educational institutions across Pakistan to gain real life experience and collected the data related to different types of crises. Chaos theory was used as the underpinning theory for this study. Purposive sampling was utilized to select at least two institutions for each type of crises and information rich respondents were identified to collect relevant and authentic account of event. The purpose of this research study was to report detailed descriptions of challenges faced by the institutions and strategies adopted by leaders who had experienced different forms of campus crisis. It further elaborated on the leadership roles and responsibilities employed during or after the incident along with the steps taken to mitigate the possible risks. Additionally, a comprehensive list of leadership characteristics required for organizational learning for post crisis management was explored. Data analysis across the three types of crises revealed three themes in crisis management; (i) cause and trigger (ii) incident response and control (iii) mitigation and recovery. Similarly, three meta-themes associated with crisis leadership were derived from a synthesis of leadership roles and responsibilities used during crisis. These included; (i) detect and interpret signal (ii) identify practical and unique solutions (iii) leading and sustaining.Finally, three meta-themes associated with organizational learning were gleaned. There were (i) debriefing (ii) training, (iii) reconfiguring. The findings of this research study supported the importance of development and dissemination of a comprehensive crisis management plan to all stakeholders. This was achieved when leaders dealt with the challenges and learnt from these crises. This learning helped evaluate the plan and actual crises responses before, during, and after a crisis event. The findings from this study provided not only an overview of leadership challenges and strategies but practical strategies for university administrators. This study has both practical and theoretical significance for the administration in educational institutes. By understanding the unique properties and nature of the crises, this study elucidated how threatened the higher education institutes are and helped prepare leaders to identify areas in which administration may take a lead. Theoretically, by exploring the role of organizational learning in crisis management this research will provide new research frontiers where various unexplored or underexplored issues may be discovered that are critical to the institutes’ uninterrupted operations.