Si Eun Park

The Influence of Flip-flops Gait on the Muscle Activity of Tibilalis anterior and Gastrocnemius

The fact that flip-flops, one of many different types of unstable shoes, are light and relatively easy to put on, accounts for their popularity among people. But because flip-flops rely heavily on the support of a single thong between your first and second toes, they impose a huge amount of pressure onto lower leg. Thus in the following experiment we tried to examine the different effects of flip-flops and running shoes in terms of their effect on muscle activity and fatigue of tibialis anterior and gastrocnemius during walking. In order to measure an electromyogram we used Free EMG system. 10 men and 10 women in running shoes ran on treadmills for 15 minutes at 4.8km/h, 2 days later the same experiment was carried out, but this time, in flip-flops. p value turned out to be greater than .05 and thus there was no considerable difference between the effects of flip-flops and running shoes on muscle activity and fatigue during walking. Therefore we conclude that despite the fact that flip-flops are considered unstable, their effects on muscle activity and fatigue of tibialis anterior and gastrocnemius are negligible.

The Correlation between Flexi-bar Exercise and Trunk Muscles Strength and Body Composition in Juvenile Soccer Players

The purpose of this study is to verify a correlation between flexi-bar exercise and improvement of trunk strength and body composition in juvenile soccer players. The subjects were 11 teenager juvenile soccer players who conducted flexi-bar exercise half an hour daily three times a week for eight weeks. They were tested for trunk muscles strength, body composition and correlation. The result showed that trunk muscles strength improved significantly( p<.01) and weight, Rt. arm muscle mass, Rt. leg muscle mass, and Lt. leg muscle mass(p<.05), Lt. arm muscle mass, trunk muscle mass, and body muscle mass(p<.01) improved significantly as well while Lt. arm fat mass, Rt. leg fat mass, and Lt. leg fat mass decreased significantly(p<.05). In the correlation analysis, the more trunk muscle mass and trunk muscles strength increased, the more muscle mass of body regions increased, which was a positive correlation whereas fat mass of body regions decreased, which was a negative correlation. It was verified that there was a correlation between flexi-bar exercise and improvement of trunk muscles strength and body composition for juvenile soccer players.

Effects of The Home Physical Therapy on Recovery of Muscle Strength and Gait for Discharged Patients Who Underwent Total Knee Replacement

This study aims to identify the effect of home physical therapy on patients who left the hospital after total knee arthroplasty, compared to the Daily living group, when it was applied to them, under the guidance of physical therapists. As research subjects, 20 patients that were scheduled to leave the hospital after unilateral total knee arthroplasty, were chosen, and they were randomly divided into a home physical therapy group(10 patients) and an Daily living group(10 patients) in order to conduct an experiment. During the 4-week research, home physical therapy was offered for 40 mins once for 5 days a week, and muscular strength, gait components were measured. For muscular strength, quadriceps muscle strength, hamstring muscle strength were measured, and as gait components, endurance, speed, step time, single-limb support were analysed. For this experiment, pre- and post-measurement were performed, and collected data were analyzed using SPSS ver. 18.0 statistical program. From the analysis of data, the following study results were obtained. Home physical therapy group and Daily living group both showed significant improvements in quadriceps muscle strength, hamstring muscle strength, and quadriceps muscle strength, hamstring muscle strength of home physical therapy group more significantly improved than Daily living group`s. In relation to gait components, gait endurance, gait speed, step time significantly improved in both of home physical therapy group and Daily living group, whereas home physical therapy group only showed significant improvements in single-limp support. According to the comparison between two groups, gait speed, single-limp support and step time improved more significantly in the home physical therapy group than in the Daily living group. In conclusion, positive results were revealed in both home physical therapy group and Daily living group, with regard to muscular recovery of lower limbs of patients discharged from the hospital after total knee arthroplasty and walking, but considering the comparison results between two groups, it seems that applying home physical therapy is more effective than maintaining a daily life.

The Effects of Proprioceptor Training and Vestibular Organ Training on Balance Ability of Adults

The purpose of this study was to analysis of the effect of proprioceptor training and vestibular organ training for balance ability. The subjects was consist of two different subjects group, proprioceptor training group and vestibular organ training group. Proprioceptor training group consisted of 10 subjects and vestibular organ training group consisted of 10 subjects. Training was performed 3 times per week, 30 minutes per day, for 3 weeks. Balance ability analysis was performed using Rombergs one leg standing test and BT4 when opened eyes and closed eyes. The analysis results were as follows. There was no significant differences in balance after the training in both groups when they opened their eyes(p

Effect of Myofacial Release and Cryotherapy in Acute Whiplash Injury

The purpose of this study is to provide the case of influence of myofacial release(MFR) and cryotherapy in acute whiplash injury. The subjects were consisted of 3 adults(2 males, 1 female) who had been diagnosed with whiplash injury. The performance period was 1 weeks, 6 times and 1 time is 40min(MFR: 20min, cryotherapy: 20min). We measured neck pain(Visual analogue scale, VAS) and cervical alignment(cervical curvature & line of gravity). All measurements of each subject were measured at pre-treatment and post-treatment. The results are listed below. The neck pain(VAS) index decreased from 7.54cm to 4.11cm. The cervical curvature increased from 23.62°to 29.76°. The line of gravity decreased from 8.03mm to 3.66mm. Based on the results, it can be suggested that both MFR and cryotherapy can be used to neck pain and alignment in acute whiplash injury.

The Study on Respiratory Function, Spirometric Lung Pattern and Fatigue of Elderly in a Facility

The purpose of this study was to investigate spirometric lung pattern, respiratory function and degree of fatigue by lung function tests and fatigue tests of 39 elderly people in a care facility aged 65 and over. The respiratory function tests were used to the Spirovit SP-1 and fatigue tests were used modified Piper fatigue scale(mPFS). Regarding the respiratory function, the FVC was l, the FVC % predicted was %, the was l, the % predicted was %, the /FVC was %, and the fatigue score was . As for the spirometric lung pattern, 19 patients had a restrictive pattern(48.7%), followed by 11 with a mixed pattern(28.2%), 5 with an obstructive pattern( 12.8%), and 4 with a normal pattern(10.3%). Regarding the respiratory function and fatigue by spirometric lung pattern, the FVC and the FVC % predicted of patients with a normal pattern or an obstructive pattern were greater than other groups at a statistically significant level. As for the , that of patients with a normal pattern was significantly higher than others, and for the % predicted, that of patients with a normal pattern or a restrictive pattern was significantly higher(p

Influences of Chronic Shoulder Pain on Muscle Tone Changes in Trunk Muscles

The purpose of this study was to examine the influences of chronic shoulder pain on the muscle tone in trunk muscles. The study``s subjects were 40 men and women in their 30 to 50s, which were divided into two groups. A chronic shoulder pain group consisted of 20 subjects who had been diagnosed with chronic shoulder pain by doctors, and a painless group consisted of 20 subjects who had experienced no such pain. An analysis was performed using electromyography on the muscle tone in the rectus abdominalis, external oblique, internal oblique, and erector spinae muscles under the same conditions between the two groups. The analysis results were as follows. The chronic shoulder pain group exhibited an overall high level of trunk muscle tone than the painless group, along with a statistically significant difference in the rectus abdominalis(p<.05). Moreover, the chronic shoulder pain group showed differences in the trunk muscle tone depending on the affected side. The chronic left shoulder pain group yielded higher levels of muscle tone in the right-side trunk muscles. In particular, the group revealed statistically significant differences in the rectus abdominalis and internal oblique(p<.05). The chronic right shoulder pain group exhibited higher levels of muscle tone in the left-side trunk muscles with a statistically significant difference in the internal oblique(p<.05). The above results suggested that chronic shoulder pain influences increases in the muscle tone in the trunk muscles on the opposite side to the affected shoulder.

Effects of Therapeutic Ball Exercise and Hippotherapy for Balance Ability in Elderly

Fall accidents in old age are primarily caused bylowered balancing abilities including bone density,muscular strength, flexibility, power, and stabilityaccording to decreased amounts of exercise, accord-ingly having a very high risk(1). It was reported thatprograms designed to increase balance, flexibility,and response time improved the balance and percep-tual exercise of the elderly and thus contributed totheir stability(2) and that programs based on aerobicexercise, active strength exercise, long walk, postureadjustment, and repeating muscular coordinationexercise increased balance and mobility and reducedand prevented falls(3, 4).There have been many researches to help toincrease balancing abilities, which have much influ-ence on fall. Research efforts have recently beenactive to help the elderly reduce pain and increasestability, flexibility, and muscular strength throughtherapeutic ball exercise with positive effects onhealth, the muscles in the waist, pelvis, and trunk,and balance reported(5, 6). The elderly more and moreexperience a fall accident with aging and desperatelyneed efforts to prevent such an accident. With theincreasing elderly population, it is further importantto raise the quality of life in old age. Illness-basedaging rather than simple aging is emerging as asocial issue beyond the individual economic level.The number of proper exercise programs to help theelderly prevent a fall is low in reality. This studythus set out to investigate the effects of ball exerciseand hippotherapy, which are both a regular and eas-ily applicable exercise enough to induce interest andfun in the elderly and thus settle down as an elderlyexercise program and consists of simple and easymovements, on the balancing abilities of the elderly. The subjects include the male and female elderlyaged 65 or older according to the Elderly Welfare Actand hospitalized in a nursing hospital in Gyeonggi

The Approach of Robot-assisted Gait Therapy for Locomotor Recovery of Chronic Stroke Patients: a Case Report

The recovery of gait function is one of the mostimportant aims for patients with injured centralnervous system such as stroke, spinal cord injuries,and traumatic brain damage. It is a major factorinfluencing return to home or work(1). For patientswith gait problems due to stroke, neurophysiologicaltreatmentconceptsinotherwords,traditionaltreat-ment such as Bobath, PNF, Brunstrom, and Vojtahave been applied. However, recently based on themotorlearningconcept,treatmentsenablingpatientsto learn motor skills through task-specific traininginvolving repetition of movements that are mostsimilar to motions ultimately wanted by patientshave been highlighted(2). Body weight-supportedtreadmill training(BWSTT) is a representative treat-mentexamplebasedonthismotorlearningtheory.BWSTTfocusesonidealkinematicsaswellastimeaspect when walking and is based on training fornormal physiological walking patterns(3, 4, 5). Apatient may supplement deficits in equilibriumresponsesbywearingaharness,complementdeficitsfromparesisofthelegsthroughweightsupport,andreintantwalkingwithmotor-driventreadmill(6).There have been reports from systematic analysesthat gait functions of patients with neurologicaldamage such as stroke or spinal cord injuries haveimproved(7, 8). Also there have been reports thatcomparedtotraditionaltherapeuticexercise,BWSTThas shown similar effects to improve gait and motorfunction(9) while some reports have maintained thatin experiments on control of cortex and spinal cordby motor learning and task-specific training, thetask-specific training has been more effective thantraditionaltherapeuticexercise(10,11).However, in order to help patients with gait prob-lems to receive repetitive gait training safely basedontheapplicationofnormalgaitpatterns,physical