• PNF and Movement
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.267-273
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• 2018

Purpose: Leg length discrepancy (LLD) is one of the risk factors for postural imbalance. This study aimed to investigate the effect of induced leg length discrepancy on the limitation of stability (LOS) and static postural balance. Methods: Thirteen adults (males, 7; females 6) participated in this study. The LOS and static postural balance [sway length, sway area, and sway velocity of center of gravity (COG) displacement] were measured by the balance trainer system. The subjects were asked to move the COG for the anterior, posterior, and left and right directions maximally and to keep standing on the platform with and without induced LLD for 30 s in the open and closed eyes conditions, respectively. The LLD was artificially induced to 2 cm using insole. Wilcoxon test was used to compare the LOS and the static postural balance between with and without induced LLD. Results: The anterior and posterior LOS significantly decreased in induced LLD (p<0.05), and the left and right LOS were not significantly different between with and without LLD (p>0.05). Sway length, sway area, and sway velocity of the COG displacement significantly decreased in induced LLD (p<0.05). Conclusion: This study suggests that induced LLD could decease the antero-posterior LOS and increased the static postural balance. Therefore, the LLD could disturb the postural balance.

• Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Science
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.164-171
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• 2018

Objective: The purpose of this research was to determine the immediate effects of wearing a foot-pressure-based insole (FPBI) on ankle dorsiflexion range of motion (DFROM), postural sway, and muscle activation in healthy individuals with genu varum. Design: Cross-sectional study. Methods: This study was conducted on thirteen adults, with six male and seven females subjects. The mean age was 24.08 years. Foot pressure was measured to apply the FPBI and the weight bearing lunge test was performed with the application of a flat insole (FI) and FPBI. Examination was randomly performed in four conditions to measure both postural sway and muscle activation. All participants applied both the FI and FPBI with four conditions. The four conditions were as follows: 1) Romberg test posture with eyes closed, 2) Romberg test posture with eyes opened, 3) dominant single leg standing with eyes opened, and 4) non-dominant single leg standing with eyes opened. Results: For ankle DFROM between the FI and FPBI, a significant increase was observed in both the dominant and non-dominant leg (p<0.05). For postural sway between the FI and FPBI in the Romberg test posture with eyes closed and dominant single leg standing with eyes opened conditions, a significant decrease was observed (p<0.05). However, the postural sway between FI and FPBI in the Romberg test posture with eyes opened and non-dominant single leg standing with eyes opened, no significant decrease was observed. Also, there were no significant effects on muscle activation between the application of the FI and FPBI. Conclusions: The result showed that FPBI immediately improved ankle DFROM and postural sway. It seems that FPBI may improve genu varum in healthy individuals with genu varum.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.115-119
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• 2006

To investigate the effects of independent suspension technology(IST) of hiking boot on the stability and load of foot, eight participants performed medial and lateral drop landing from 33.4cm height and 85cm distance to uneven surface while wearing normal & IST hiking boots. For the stability of foot during the drop landing, the balance angle & suspension angle and rearfoot angle was analyzed using high-speed video analysis. Also kinetic analysis using the force plate and insole pressure measurement was conducted to analyze vertical & breaking ground reaction force and pressure distribution. Not only the balance angle & suspension angle but also rearfoot angle was improved with IST boots for lateral drop landing. These results indicate the IST boots may have the suspension function which keeps the foot to be stable during landing. However the IST boots did not show any effect for medial landing. This might be related to the hardness of medial part of outsole. Therefore the softer outsole of medial part could be recommended. Furthermore the impact force & breaking force and insole pressure were reduced with IST boot. These results means that IST boot has not only cushioning effect but also good grip effect. Therefore the hiking boots applied the independent suspension function may help to reduce fatigue and prevent injury such as ankle sprain in hiking on uneven surface.

• CELLMED
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.10.1-10.3
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• 2015

Arthritis is a major cause of joint pain, stiffness, and subsequent disability which adversely affects quality of life. Seriously, it can lead to long term social and psychological effects including loss of independence, depression, and anxiety. Arthritis is usually treated with joint replacement surgery or medications. However, the artificial joint is temporary and pharmacological measures have side effects, such as addiction or hypersensitivity. Thus, orthotics has been developed to improve arthritis as a nonpharmacological measure. The increased regional load across compartments of articular cartilage is an important factor in the cause of the arthritis. Mubal$^{(R)}$, a clinical shoe insole, has a sliding function to help people to walk straight and realign the body balance. The slide of Mubal$^{(R)}$ reduces the knee joint loading in patients with arthritis. In addition, pumping function of Mubal$^{(R)}$ can mitigate arthritis by stretching the squashed nerves from lumbar to cervical vertebral and actively circulating blood of pelvic limb. In addition, Mubal$^{(R)}$ could help to stimulate the growth plate. Therefore, Mubal$^{(R)}$ can be used for the child with short stature as well as patients with arthritis.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2005.10b
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• pp.542-544
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• 2005

This paper describes the detection of spatio-temporal parameter using an accelerometer and footswitches to evaluate a symmetry and balance of hemiplegic patients. We detected gait data using a 3-axis accelerometer that mounted between L3 and IA intervertebral area and footswitches made by FSR-Sensor attached insole. To minimize the error of the gait parameters to be detected incorrectly in case of using only accelerometer, we enhancement the performance of detection by measuring an accelerometer and foots witches data at the same time. So, it was possible to detect more accurate gait parameters. As a result, we can confirm the symmetry and balance of hemiplegic patients. In the future. these results could be used to evaluate the walking ability in hemiplegic patients in clinical pratice.

• Journal of Convergence for Information Technology
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.184-192
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• 2020

This study presents a gait analysis method (including time series analysis) using a smart insole as an objective and quantitative evaluating method after lumbar scoliosis surgery. The participant is a degenerative lumbar scoliosis patient. She took 3-min-gait-test four times(before and 8, 16, and 204-days after surgery) and 6-min-gait-test once(204-days after surgery) with smart-insoles in her shoes. Each insole has 8-pressure sensors, an accelerometer, and a gyroscope. The measured values were used to compare the characteristics of gait before and after surgery. The analysis showed that all of the patient's gait parameters improved after surgery. And after 6 months, the gait was more stable. However, after long walk, the swing duration of one leg was slightly shorter than that of the other again. It was a preclinical problem that could not be found in the visual examination by the practitioner. With this analysis method we could evaluate the improvement of patient quantitatively and objectively. And we could find a preclinical problem. This analysis method will lead to the studies that define and distinguish gait patterns of certain diseases, helping to determine appropriate treatments.

• Journal of Naturopathy
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.39-50
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• 2022

Background: It is essential to investigate the functionality of the newly developed knobble shoe. Purpose: The purpose was to explore how the body shape and balance change when wearing knobble shoes. Methods: Nine subjects wearing knobble shoes after walking for a month were analyzed. Results: For knobble shoes, we created various small air pockets in the insole to stimulate the soles of the feet to induce body changes. In particular, it was to promote the arch part of the foot by making a large lump inside and outside the center of the foot's arch. After wearing knobble shoes and using them for 30 days, the average blood sugar decreased by 31.1 mg. The lowering range was 5 to 120 mg. In one patient, the result of the hemoglobin test decreased by 7.5% to 6.5%. In the shoulder tapping test for a body balance test, seven subjects leaned to the right in a barefoot state, and two people to the left. However, after wearing shoes, all of them maintained equilibrium. knobble shoes fit, and balance was all stable. There were two subjects with a short left and four subjects with a short right. Conclusions: Blood sugar decreased after wearing the knobble shoes. The deformed shape of the body was restored to its original state by the knobble supporting the foot arch area. The balance of the sole directly affects the overall posture.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.55-64
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• 2019

Stroke is a health problem experienced by many elderly people around the world. Stroke has a devastating effect on quality of life, causing death or disability. Hemiplegia is clearly an early sign of a stroke and can be detected through patterns of body balance and gait. The goal of this study was to determine various feature vectors of foot pressure and gait parameters of patients with stroke through the use of a wearable sensor and to compare the gait parameters with those of healthy elderly people. To monitor the participants at all times, we used a simple measuring device rather than a medical device. We measured gait data of 220 healthy people older than 65 years of age and of 63 elderly patients who had experienced stroke less than 6 months earlier. The center of pressure and the acceleration during standing and gait-related tasks were recorded by a wearable insole sensor worn by the participants. Both the average acceleration and the maximum acceleration were significantly higher in the healthy participants (p < .01) than in the patients with stroke. Thus gait parameters are helpful for determining whether they are patients with stroke or normal elderly people.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.654-670
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• 2020

Workers at construction sites are easily exposed to many dangers and accidents involving falls, tripping, and missteps on stairs. However, researches on construction site monitoring system to prevent work-related injuries are still insufficient. The purpose of this study was to develop a wearable textile pressure insole sensor and examine its effectiveness in managing the real-time safety of construction workers. The sensor was designed based on the principles of parallel capacitance measurement using conductive textile and the monitoring system was developed by C# language. Three separate experiments were carried out for performance evaluation of the proposed sensor: (1) varying the distance between two capacitance plates to examine changes in capacitance charges, (2) repeatedly applying 1 N of pressure for 5,000 times to evaluate consistency, and (3) gradually increasing force by 1 N (from 1 N to 46 N) to test the linearity of the sensor value. Five subjects participated in our pilot test, which examined whether ascending and descending the stairs can be distinguished by our sensor and by weka assessment tool using k-NN algorithm. The 10-fold cross-validation method was used for analysis and the results of accuracy in identifying stair ascending and descending were 87.2% and 90.9%, respectively. By applying our sensor, the type of activity, weight-shifting patterns for balance control, and plantar pressure distribution for postural changes of the construction workers can be detected. The results of this study can be the basis for future sensor-based monitoring device development studies and fall prediction researches for construction workers.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.327-334
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• 2024

The purpose of this study is to develop a customized foot disease analysis and management system for diabetic patients to prevent foot ulcers in diabetic foot disease patients. This system utilizes image analysis technology to measure not only foot pressure, but also ankle deformation, body balance, and foot wounds. Through various data, it is possible to accurately analyze the state of foot deformation, and based on this, the exact state of deformation of the foot of a patient with diabetic foot disease was identified and a customized insole was produced. This study was conducted to examine the satisfaction level of using an application that checks the status of diabetic foot disease wounds and to identify the degenerative status of diabetic foot disease patients and foot disease patients by wearing customized insoles and to survey the satisfaction of wearing insoles. As a result of the study, the knee angle measured for plantar pressure was -0.8 ± 1.3 degrees and ranged from a minimum of -2.4 degrees to a maximum of 1.1 degrees, and there was no significant difference in valgus knee between both lower extremities (p = 0.534). There was a significant difference in tibial angle between both lower extremities (p < 0.001). Ankle angle on the left side was 2.6 ± 2.0 degrees, ranging from a minimum of 0 degrees to a maximum of 6.3 degrees, and on the right, it was 4.5 ± 2.1 degrees, with a distribution of minimum 1.5 degrees to a maximum of 9.1 degrees. There was a significant difference in ankle angle between both lower extremities (p = 0.011). They responded that they felt an average of 4.3 points of satisfaction with the plantar pressure measurement application. Respondents responded that they felt an average of 3.9 points of satisfaction with the use of customized insoles.