• PNF and Movement
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.259-266
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• 2018

Purpose: This study aimed to compare balance ability according to the immersion level of virtual reality-based training for the balance enhancement of the elderly. Methods: This study included 48 elderly people aged 65 years and older (male 16, female 32). According to the immersion level of applied virtual reality training, 16, 17, and 15 persons were randomly assigned to full immersion, semi-immersion, and control groups. The subjects who were assigned to the full immersion group and semi-immersion group received virtual reality training for 6 weeks at 20 min at a time, 3 times per week. The control group received no intervention. Balance ability was evaluated by measuring the stability limit and the tandem walking test before and after the intervention. Results: Results showed significant differences among the three groups in the limit of stability of all directions and the tandem walking test after the intervention. The results of the limit of stability showed a significantly higher value in the full-immersion group than in the control group, and the results of the tandem walking test showed a significantly lower value in the full-immersion and semi-immersion groups than in the control group. Conclusion: The results indicate that the head-mounted display equipment for applying full-immersion virtual training is the most effective in enhancing the balance ability of the elderly.

• Journal of Korea Society of Digital Industry and Information Management
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.69-81
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• 2010

Physical manifestations of aging due to the lack of exercise include the slowing down of motor learning, cardiopulmonary degradation, and the increasing difficulty to adapt to the environment. Aging is manifested with the lack of aerobic exercise work, decrease in muscular endurance, decline in skeletal and muscular strength, flexibility and agility, and the decrease in reaction speed and balance. Added to those are aging-related physiological changes, including the reduction of muscle bulk, increased body fat, decrease in total body water and basic metabolic rate as activities are reduced, and a decrease in cell and Lean Body Mass (LBM). These changes are known to cause problems. Interest and participation in appropriate physical activities among the elderly is needed to help them increase stamina, avoid diseases, maintain a clear intellect, and basically enable the elderly to live their daily lives as easy as possible. Therefore, physical activities are necessary for the elderly to enhance health-related factors. Special exercises should be performed for the enhancement of muscle function, muscle endurance, flexibility, agility, and balance. An accurate measurement of cardio-respiratory endurance and stamina through basic physical and cognitive characteristics of older adults is also required to ensure safety. Also, the development of a more scientific resistance exercise prescription system for the elderly is desperately needed.

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.213-218
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• 2018

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of the core muscle strength enhancement of the elderly on 8 weeks training using the core exercise equipment for the elderly on the ability to control the whole-body center of mass in posture stabilization. Method: 16 females (10 exercise group, 6 control group) participated in this study. Exercise group took part in the core strength training program for 8 weeks with total of 16 repetitions (2 repetitions per week) using a training device. External perturbation during standing as pulling force applied at the pelvic level in the anterior direction was provided to the subject. In a UCM model, the controller selects within the space of elemental variables a subspace (a manifold, UCM) corresponding to a value of a performance variable that needs to be stabilized. In the present study, we were interested in how movements of the individual segment center of mass (elemental variables) affect the whole-body center of mass (the performance variable) during balance control. Results: At the variance of task-irrelevant space, there was significant $test^*$ group interactions ($F_{1,16}=7.482$, p<.05). However, there were no significant main effect of the test ($F_{1,16}=.899$, p>.05) and group ($F_{1,16}=1.039$, p>.05). At the variance of task-relevant space, there was significant $test^*$ group interactions ($F_{1,16}=7.382$, p<.05). However, there were no significant main effect of the test ($F_{1,16}=.754$, p>.05) and group ($F_{1,16}=1.106$, p>.05). Conclusion: The results of this study showed that the 8 weeks training through the core training equipment for the elderly showed a significant decrease in the $Vcm_{TIR}$ and $Vcm_{TR}$. This result indicates that the core strength training affects the trunk stiffness control strategy to maintain balance in the standing position by minimizing total variability of individual segment CMs.

• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.864-875
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• 2006

The characteristics of the demographics in Korea as it gets older are the increase of Elderly Women and continuous progress in urbanization. In this study, body shapes are classified as standard, obese, and tiny according to the previous studies based on the body shape characteristics and the body measurement of the Elderly Women. Based on the classification, we developed prototype of the panty for the Elderly Women to provide basic materials for the quality enhancement of the clothing of the increasing Elderly Women. The followings are the result of the study. 1. To categorize the body shapes of the Elderly Women focusing on the lower half, we grouped the target subjects using the nested approach by the average standard deviation and the factor analysis minimal diffusion method. Accordingly, type 1 and 2 had 36 members respectively and type 3 had 43 members. In this study, two Elderly Women subjects with standard body shape falling under the type 1 were selected as the subjects. 2. In the second trial evaluation for the prototype panty for the Elderly Women 32 items for appearance test and 3 items for functional test were evaluated. The scores in leg, sideline and hip were shown high and the balance between the parts was maintained very well. In the functional test, the panty used to be too tight for the leg curve but in the second trial it was improved, too. In each item, the second trial test showed better score than the first trial test. Conclusively, the most optimal panty prototype for the Elderly Women was proposed according to the trial test result.

• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.737-748
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• 2007

Korea is now entering into aging society next to Japan in Asia, which is considered as unusual in the semi-developed countries. More than 50 year-old consumer market is anticipated to grow to 28.7% of the total in 2010 from 20.4% in 2000. In particular, the silver market is estimated to be formed in full range in 2010 when the generation born in 50s and 60s after the Korean War start to retire. In this study, body shapes are classified as standard, obese, and tiny according to the previous studies based on the body shape characteristics and the body measurement of the Elderly Women. Based on the classification, we developed pattern of the panty for the obese Elderly Women to provide basic materials for the quality enhancement of the clothing of the increasing Elderly Women. The followings are the result of the study 1. To categorize the body shapes of the Elderly Women focusing on the lower half, we grouped the target subjects using the nested approach by the average standard deviation and the factor analysis minimal diffusion method. Accordingly, type 1 and 2 had 36 members respectively and type 3 had 43 members. In this study, two Elderly Women subjects with standard body shape falling under the type 1 were selected as the subjects. 2. In the second trial evaluation for the panty pattern for the Elderly Women 32 items for appearance test and 3 items for functional test were evaluated. The scores in leg, sideline and hip were shown high and the balance between the parts was maintained very well. In the functional test, the panty used to be too tight for the leg curve but in the second trial it was improved, too. In each item, the second trial test showed better score than the first trial test. Conclusively, the most optimal panty prototype for the Elderly Women was proposed according to the trial test result.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.37-44
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• 2016

The aim of the present study was to compare the strength, balance, and flexibility across two age groups (older adults vs. young adults). The isokinetic muscle function, ankle ROM, trunk forward flexibility, stability, and antropometric data for the elderly and 46 university students were collected. The results indicated that male older adults possessed relatively low flexibility (2.97cm) among the groups and showed better stability in the right foot than in the left foot and $35^{\circ}$ of plantar flexion ROM, which was not in the normal range. Their peak strength at the knee joint was below 50% of their counterpart. They revealed a hamstring deficit of 18.55%, ankle eversion deficit of 23.08%, and ankle inversion deficit of 19.19%. The results indicated that female older adults possessed comparable flexibility compared to female young adults. The reciprocal muscle strength ratio of both knees was under 50%, and the deficit was 14.32% (extension) and 19.73% (flexion). The ankle plantar flexion peak torque was approximately 62% (left) and 73% (right) of WS's. The ankle dorsi flexion deficit was 25.05% and the plantar flexion was 26.86%. The eversion deficit was 19.97% and the inversion was 21.09%. These results will be significant in establishing an elderly fitness enhancement program and policy.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Intelligent Systems
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.157-163
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• 2017

Due to economic development and advancement of medical science, an aging society where the proportion of the elderly population increases is coming. Korea's aging speed is growing rapidly compared to that of other developed countries. The physical and mental abilities of elderly people with aging are getting worse more and more. They want a kind of auxiliary system in order to mitigate and prevent their weakness. The supplementary system can greatly contribute to improving the quality of life for elderly people. In particular, some devices that include muscle strengthening and cognitive and balance ability enhancement are useful for the most older people. In this paper, we introduce a development of human care contents based rehabilitation equipment to enhance these functions, and present its usability evaluation. The evaluation is conducted for rehabilitation specialists as well as expected users and their results are analyzed.