• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.235-243
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• 2011

The purpose of the study was to examine the thickness of the trunk muscles ie. external obliques (EO), transversus abdominis (TrA), and multifidus and the trunk endurance strength in order to determine any relationship between the presence or absence of low back pain (LBP) and the size of trunk muscles. Data were obtained from 50 subjects, aged between 19-29 years. Participants had no experience of spinal problems that had resulted in a restriction of normal activity or time-off work and no current spinal symptoms. Measurements of muscle thickness of the trunk muscles were collected at rest, contraction and 15 seconds of post contraction during endurance strength tests. Background information was obtained followed all physical measures. Subjects were divided into two groups based on their experience of LBP. In draw-in maneuver, increasing the thickness of TrA was observed in all participants while EO was decreased at contraction in group 1 and increase in group 2. Only subjects in the group 2 had TrA increased during the flexion endurance test. In the side-bridge endurance test, the thickness of the right TrA was also observed differently between groups. Therefore, the results of the study may suggest that a function of specific muscle should be addressed for training persons with LBP.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.11 no.9
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• pp.277-285
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• 2020

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of wearing Head-Mounted Display (HMD) on the cervical range of motion (CROM), neck muscle thickness, and pain in healthy young adults. The HMD group(male=16, female=7) was asked to perform sitting comfortably in a backless chair with hands on their knees with the HMD was worn on their heads to watch the video for 30 minutes. The control group(male=15, female=8) was asked to sit in the same posture as the HMD group for 30 minutes. CROM, neck muscle thickness, and pressure pain threshold (PPT) of both the upper trapezius and levator scapulae were measured before and after intervention. CROM and PPT of the upper trapezius and levator scapulae in the HMD group were significantly decreased and the thickness of the muscles in the HMD group were significantly increased more than in the pre-test (p<.05). There was no significant difference in CROM, muscle thickness, and PPT in the control group. Wearing HMD for a long time can cause a decrease in CROM and PPT and an increase in muscle thickness, and there is a risk of developing musculoskeletal disorders in the neck and shoulder. Therefore, this study recommends maintaining the correct posture of the neck and shoulder and using HMD only for an appropriate time.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.1957-1963
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• 2015

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of dynamic stabilization exercise on unstable surface on thickness, muscle density and white area index (WAI) of transverse abdominis muscle and multifidus muscle. The subjects were 20s healthy adults and 27 people were measured for muscle thickness and muscle density, white area index after the experiment conducted during a six-week dynamic stabilization exercises divided into three groups, each in a different plane. The results showed a significant difference between the three groups (p <.05). Repeated measures analysis of variance (repeated ANOVA) results, transverse abdominis muscle and multifidus muscle thickness showed a significant difference between the groups in the time difference (p <.05), and between multifidus muscle density and white area index in the comparison between groups showed a significant difference (p <.05). In conclusion, showed significant difference in lumbar stabilization exercise part. These results seems to be utilized as a basis for future research on the lumbar stabilization exercise.

• Journal of rehabilitation welfare engineering & assistive technology
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.85-90
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• 2013

Core muscle is the most crucial for rehabilitation of patients with musculoskeletal and nervous problem, there is pain, imbalance and functional movement disorder of upper and lower extremities. In this study, low-frequency electrical stimulator was developed for the purpose increasing the activity of rectus abdominis (RA) and the thickness of transverse abdominis (TrA), internal obliquus abdominis (IO), and external obliquus abdominis (EO). Fifteen female in their 20's was divided into a experiment groups (traditional electrical stimulation group, developed electrical stimulation group) and control group. Low-frequency electrical stimulation was performed in experimental groups for 4 times a week, 4 weeks. The muscle activities (RA) by EMG and muscle thickness (TrA, IO, EO) by Ultrasonogrphy imaging were measured, respectively. In the result, the muscle activity of RA and muscle thickness of TrA and EO were significantly increased at developed electrical stimulation group (p<.05). Therefore, the developed low-frequency electrical stimulation is useful for rehabilitation with CNS and PNS subjects.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.15 no.11
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• pp.2321-2326
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• 2011

Cervical vertebrae are a complex structure and an important part of human body connecting the head and the trunk. In this paper, we propose a method to extract sternocleidomastoid muscle from ultrasonography images of cervical vertabrae automatically. In our method, Region of Interests(ROI) is extracted first from an ultrasonography image after removing unnecessary auxiliary information such as metrics. Then we apply Ends-in search stretching algorithm in order to enhance the contrast of brightness. Average binarization is then applied to those pixels which its brightness is sufficiently large. The noise part is removed by image processing algorithms. After extracting fascia encloses sternocleidomastoid muscle, target muscle object is extracted using the location information of fascia according to the number of objects in the fascia. When only one object is to be extracted, we search downward first to extract the target muscle area and then search from right to left to extract the area and merge them. If there are two target objects, we extract first from the upper-bound of higher object to the lower-bound of lower object and then remove the fascia of the target object area. Smearing technique is used to restore possible loss of the fat area in the process. The thickness of sternocleidomastoid muscle is then calculated as the maximum thickness of those extracted objects. In this experiment with 30 real world ultrasonography images, the proposed method verified its efficacy and accuracy by health professionals.

• Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.247-255
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• 2005

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of botulinum toxin type A on masseter muscle atrophy and the extent of masseter muscle affected from the injection site in relation to injection dose, with and without occlusal splint therapy through computed tomographic measurement. 32 volunteers were divided into four groups - group 25U (injection dose of 25 unit), group 25Us (injection dose of 25 unit with occlusal splint), group 35U (injection dose of 35 unit), group 35Us (injection dose of 35 unit with occlusal splint). Each group consisted of 8 people. 3 positions (position 1, 2, 3 - 10mm, 20mm and 40mm from the inferior border of the mandible, respectively) were selected for the evaluation of the masseter muscle change. The following results were obtained. 1. The thickness and the cross-sectional area of the masseter muscle had reduced in all groups except for the right side thickness at position 3 of group 25U and group 25Us, and the right side thickness as well as the left side cross-sectional area at position 3 of group 35Us. In group 35Us, the thickness and the cross-sectional area of the masseter muscle had reduced significantly in all positions (P < 0.05). 2. There was no significant difference in the masseter muscle change between the injection dose of 25unit and that of 35unit. 3. The groups with occlusal splint showed greater reduction of the masseter muscle thickness than the other groups (P < 0.05). From the above results, botulinum toxin type A injection together with occlusal splint therapy in the treatment of masseter muscle hypertrophy would be clinically effective.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.81 no.1
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• pp.176-189
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• 2020

Purpose To evaluate the clinical efficacy of real-time sonoelastography (RTS) for the follow-up of congenital muscular torticollis, based on measurements of muscle elasticity. Materials and Methods Thirty-four infants (23 male, 11 female) with congenital sternocleidomastoid (SCM) muscle torticollis underwent ultrasonography and elastography between November 2012 and December 2014. We evaluated the thickness, morphology (mass-like, fusiform, or overall thickened shape), and echogenicity of the SCM muscle on grayscale images and color patterns (homogeneous blue, mixed green < 50% and ≥ 50%, and green to red) on elastography. Strain ratios were measured using Q-lab software. A clinician classified the degree of neck rotation and side flexion deficits using a 5-point grade system based on angles of neck rotation and side flexion. Correlations between the ultrasonography and clinical findings were evaluated by statistical analysis. Results Twenty-two infants had right and 12 had left SCM torticollis, respectively. Linear regression analysis showed that involved/contralateral SCM thickness differences, morphology, elasticity color scores, and strain ratios of the affected SCM muscles were significantly correlated with neck rotation and side flexion deficit scores (p < 0.05). The elasticity color score of the affected SCM muscle was the most significant factor. Conclusion RTS might provide a reliable means for evaluating and monitoring congenital muscular torticollis.

• 재활복지
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.147-163
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• 2017

The purpose of this study was to examine how horse-riding exercise would be effective on the stroke patients' muscle thickness of lower extremity. The 30 stroke patients who were hospitalized in a hospital located in G metropolitan city were selected for this study. These subjects were randomly placed in a horse-riding exercise group (n=15) and a control group (n=15). The horse-riding exercise group received three 20-minute exercises a week for a total of 6 weeks. An ultrasound imaging equipment was used to measured The thicknesses of the rectus femoris (RF), tibialis anterior (TA), medial gastrocnemius (MG), and gluteus medius (GM). After the completion of a 6-week exercise program, same measurement was conducted for all study subjects. The data were analyzed using a paired t-test and independent t-test to determine the statistical significance. As a result, muscle thickness was significantly differentiated before and after the intervention in each group. The thicknesses of all the four muscles significantly increased after exercise in the horse-riding exercise group. The thicknesses of the RF, GM, and TA significantly increased after exercise in the control group. In conclusion, horse-riding exercise increased the thickness of the lower extremity skeletal muscles by stabilizing the knees and activating the extensor muscles of the lower extremities.

• Journal of rehabilitation welfare engineering & assistive technology
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.301-308
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• 2015

The purpose of this study was to compare core muscle activity and thickness in the abdomen (internal Oblique, IO; External Oblique, EO; Transverse Abdominis, TrA) according to walking training methods. Tests were performed on 20 healthy men who randomly assigned to two groups, divided by Nordic walking (n=10) or Power walking group (n=10). They were performed Nordic walking or Power walking training for 2 weeks that is consistent with each of the assigned groups. Results demonstrated that Nordic walking was more effective than Power walking in improving IO and EO activities. Nordic walking is believed to be useful method for a variety of therapeutic exercise as a stable balance with the stick in addition to normal gait and trunk stability.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.471-477
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• 2006

Ion exchange metal composite(IPMC) has toughness equivalent to the range of human's muscle, transformation-actuation force by relatively low voltage and the fast response time. Thus, as a new method for preparing thicker IPMC, the solution casting method to make the films of various thicknesses out of liquid nation was attempted in this study. To reduce the surface resistance of electrode, the first plated electrode prepared by Oguro method was replated with Au and Ir using ion beam assisted deposition(IBAD). The microstructures of electrode surfaces before and after IBAD plating were investigated using SEM. The change of water and ion-conductivity in IPMC were measured under applied voltage. The displacement and driving force of IPMCs with various thicknesses were measured to evaluate the driving properties.