Background: Shoulder pain is prominent among sedentary employees who make motions of the upper limbs on a regular basis. Rounded shoulder posture (RSP) and hunched shoulder posture (HSP) are the most common clinical postural misalignments. These causes the spine to bend and raise tension on the nerve roots, which has a negative impact on upper-extremity muscular strength and function. Therefore, this study was carried out to investigate the effect of RSP and HSP on the mechanical parameters of the upper body muscles in clinically asymptomatic sedentary workers. Methods: Twenty office workers with RSP, 20 with HSP, and 20 with normal shoulder posture (NSP) were matched for age, BMI, and type of job. Volunteers were split into groups based on photometric shoulder angle measurements. Mechanical properties such as muscle tone, stiffness, and elasticity of the upper trapezius, middle trapezius, posterior deltoid, and pectoralis major were assessed in sedentary postures. Results: The study revealed a significant decrease in muscle tone for the pectoralis major and a significant increase in muscle stiffness for the poster deltoid in both RSP and HSP as compared to NSP. Specifically, muscle tone decreased from 20.1 ± 4.0 to 12.4 ± 3.1 Hz (38.3%), (p ≤ 0.001) in RSP and from 20.1 ± 4.0 to 14.0 ± 4.8 Hz (30.3%), (p ≤ 0.001) in HSP. Muscle stiffness increased from 309.9 ± 70.7 to 348.15 ± 68.7 N/m (11%), (p ≤ 0.001) in RSP and from 309.9 ± 70.7 to 441.7 ± 45.9 N/m (29.8%), (p ≤ 0.001) in HSP. Conclusions: RSP and HSP have an impact on the tone, stiffness, and elasticity of upper body muscles in healthy asymptomatic sedentary workers. These postures, on a regular basis, may affect physical health and decrease workers’ productivity. In addition, it is recommended for sedentary workers to take regular breaks and attend training that could help improve their physical health.

The main objective of this study was to estimate the annual direct healthcare cost of type 2 diabetes mellitus healthcare and its complications in Lithuanian population. The study uses a prevalence-based top-down approach. The random sample of study participants was formed using the database of the National Health Insurance Fund under the Lithuanian Ministry of Health. 762 patients with diabetes mellitus type 2 data were analyzed in this research. The data on healthcare costs was recorded between January 1, 2011 and December 31, 2011. Ambulatory care cost mean per patients with diabetes mellitus type 2 in 2011 was EUR 156.14 (95% CI, 147.05-165.24). 34.4% patients had at least one hospitalization during the 2011 year. Mean annual cost per patients of hospitalization was EUR 1160.16 (95% CI, 1019.60-1300.73). Covered drugs and diabetes supplies annual direct cost mean per patients was EUR 448.34 (95% CI, 411.14-485.54). The more expensive treatment was with oral and non-insulin injectable hypoglycemic medications (P<0.001). 65.1% participants were diagnosed one or more diabetes-related chronic complications. Average annual cost per person, increased gradually with the numbers of complications from EUR 671.94 (95% CI, 575.03-768.86) in patients without complications to EUR 1588.98 (95% CI, 1052.09-2125.86) in patients with 3 and more complications (P<0.001). The largest part of direct costs in diabetes mellitus healthcare composes hospital inpatient care and covered drugs expenditures. In our study we observed that the presence of microvascular, macrovascular chronic complication increased the direct cost per patient, compared with patients without complications.