• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.197-204
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• 2010

Scapular position and motion are essential for normal upper limb mobility; Further, the posture of patients with thoracic kyphosis is related to shoulder girdle function and disorder. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of thoracic posture on the shoulder range of motion and on three-dimensional scapular kinematics. Thirty healthy subjects performed right-arm abduction along the frontal plane while standing in both erect and in slouched trunk posture. The scapular position and rotation, and shoulder and thoracic angles were recorded using a motion analysis system. The scapular upward rotation and internal rotation were significantly altered according to postural tatiges; however, scapular tilt was not affected. Shoulder angle was significantly decreased in the slouched posture as c rpared to tatt in the erect posture. Thus, a slouched posture(thoracic kyphosis) significantly affects the shoulder range of motion and scapular kinematics during shoulder abduction in the frontal plane.

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.197-204
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• 2009

It bas been hypothesized that foot ulceration might be internally initiated. Current instruments which merely allow superficial estimate of plantar loading acting on the foot, severely limit the scope of many biomechanical/clinical studies on this issue. Recent studies have suggested that peak plantar pressure may be only 65% specific for the development of ulceration. These limitations are at least partially due to surface pressures not being representative of the complex mechanical stress developed inside the subcutaneous plantar soft-tissue, which are potentially more relevant for tissue breakdown. This study established a three-dimensional and nonlinear finite element model of a human foot complex with comprehensive skeletal and soft-tissue components capable of predicting both the external and internal stresses and deformations of the foot. The model was validated by experimental data of subject-specific plantar foot pressure measures. The stress analysis indicated the internal stresses doses were site-dependent and the observation found a change between 1.5 to 4.5 times the external stresses on the foot plantar surface. The results yielded insights into the internal loading conditions of the plantar soft-tissue, which is important in enhancing our knowledge on the causes of foot ulceration and related stress-induced tissue breakdown in diabetic foot.

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.167-174
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• 2010

This study aims to quantitatively compare and analyze kinetic variables in the motion of male and female professional golfers to suggest basic scientific materials for golf iron swing. Five male and five female professional golfers participated in this experiment. Ground reaction force and foot pressure were measured during performing 10 swings for each participants using an iron club. The result of the ground reaction force indicates that the force occurs at the left foot toward right(-) direction in the mid-downswing(E3) and impact(E4) events in X-axis, while it occurs at the right foot toward anterior(-) direction in Y-axis for both male and female, showing a big difference between them. Also, in Z-axis, large force occurs at the left foot in most events. The analyzed result on foot pressure indicates that men have the highest pressure and area at the left foot, and women have the highest ones at the right foot in the mid-downswing(E3) and impact(E4) events in the max foot pressure, ground contact area and average pressure. It is considered that there is difference of central movement methods between men and women. Thus, different education and training on golf swing should be necessary by gender due to their different patterns of golf iron swing.

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.187-196
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• 2009

The foot type is classified into normal, high or low arch according to either foot print or medial longitudinal arch (MLA) height. Plantar fasciitis, heel pain, Achilles tendinitis, stress fracture, metatarsalgia, knee pain, shin splint pain, and etc are common foot disorders and associate to the foot type. The purpose of this study was to evaluate several suggested bony inclination used to classified the abnormal foot and if the arch index (AI) was correlated with foot morphology. Lateral view and dorso-plantar view of radiographic images and flatbed scanner measurements obtained from 57 college students were analyzed. Results showed that AI measured in this study was higher than Caucasian Americans and European, but similar with African. The ethnic origin could influent the AI distribution. The AI provided a simple quantitative means of assessing the structure of lateral and medial longitudinal arches. The correlation coefficients of true bone height with AI could be further improved by normalized foot width rather than foot length. AI also demonstrated as a good indicator of inclination between calcaneus-fifth metatarsal (CalM5) and calcaneus-first metatarsal (CalX), it is a good means to classify the foot type.

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.175-182
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• 2010

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the biomechanical effect of sports taping on the lower limb during drop landing. Twelve male university students who have no musculoskeletal disorder were recruited as the subjects. Principal strain, median frequency, vertical GRF, loading rate, angular velocity and resultant joint moment were determined for each trial. For each dependent variable, paired t-test was performed to test if significant difference existed between taped and untaped conditions(p<.05). The results showed that principal strain of the thigh and the shank in taping group were significantly less than those found in control group. These indicated that sports taping may prevent excessive mechanical strain caused by impact force during the deceleration phase. Flexion(-)-extension(+) and varus(-)-valgus(+) resultant joint moment of the knee joint in taping group were greater than corresponding value for control group. It seems that extensor muscle of the knee joint were not only supported by sports taping during knee flexion but also sports taping is effective for minimizing the possibility of injury.

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.129-137
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• 2010

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of a 12-week aquatic exercise on obstacle gait in older women. Originally, 20 healthy female elderly participated this study but 12 of them completed the program. All participants were trained in the aquatic exercise program by an authorized trainer. They had come to the authors' lab three times during training period(0, 6, 12 weeks) and performed obstacle gait with three different height(0, 30, and 50% of leg length). After performed 3-Dimensional motion analysis following results were found. (1) For the CV, MVHC, TC, HC, statistically significances were shown in obstacle height. Although significant training effects were not shown, all variables showed typical patterns and it was considered as efficient motion to overcome the height obstacles. (2) The anterior-posterior and vertical GRF of support leg during support phase were revealed in height effect but in training one. However, differences between Peak 1 and Peak 2 in vertical GRF increased as training period increased. (3) Knee and hip resultant joint moments were affected by training but ankle resultant moments remained unchanged.

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.17-27
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• 2007

It is essential for gait analysis to know the distance information. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of start and finish distance on the gait variable during walking. Six adolescent participated in this study. Start condition was given by six conditions.: walking forward from (1) one step, (2) three steps, (3) five steps, (4) ten steps, (5) one step after standing walk, and (6) three steps after standing walk, before contacting the force plate. Stop condition was given by four conditions. : stop after (1) one step, (2) two steps, (3) three steps, and (4) ten steps, passing force plate. Repeated measured one-way ANOVA was utilized for data analysis, and the significant level was set at .05. The largest change from the difference of gait velocity exists between the variables of ground reaction force. There were no significant differences in spatio-temporal and posture(angle) variables, as well as ground reaction force variables with walking over the three steps. There were significant differences in gait velocity, knee angle at heel contact, vertical impulse and ankle angle at toe off in short distance.

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.175-184
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• 2007

The first purpose of this study was to compare kinematic variables during spinning motion with or without upper extremity and identify the most effective spinning method. The second purpose of this study was to compare functional difference between novice and elite dancers with the term of training. Ten experienced female dancers and ten novices were recruited as subjects for this study. Elite group was asked to perform turn motion with three types of upper extremity. Novice group has taken training of spotting technique for five weeks. Four Falcon HiRES cameras were used to analyze kinematic variables including head angular velocity and CG displacement during spinning. These data were sampled before training, after 3-week, and 5-week of training. Eight different events in two consecutive turns were defined for statistical comparison. One-way ANOVA was performed to compare among the kinematics of turning motion with three types of upper extremity. Independent t-test also used to compare kinematics between elite and novice at three different length of training. As results, spinning with both arm increased angular velocity and stability compared to the turning motion with one arm or with arm strapped and found out that the turn with both arm was the most effective way of spin. Also, for novice dancers, three weeks of training were needed to complete spinning motion.

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.185-190
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• 2007

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects that breathing, thoracic and abdominal, had on the smoothness while performing ballet pour de bra. Five skilled ballet dancers(age: $24{\pm}1$, height: $163.4{\pm}2.88$, weight: $44.4{\pm}1.34$) with experience of over 10 years participated in this study. Each participant performed the ballet movement three times with abdominal respiration and with thoracic respiration. The kinematic data was recorded at 60 Hz with three digital cameras (Sony VX-2100). The pour de bra movement consists of two phases, up and down. The up phase is defined as the movement from the en bas through the en avant to the en haut. The down phase is defined as the movement from the en haut through the $\grave{a}$ la seconde to the en bas. During these two phases the Jerk Cost (JC) factor was calculated for the shoulder, elbow and wrist to quantify the smoothness. The group who performed the movement while abdominal respiration had a lower JC factor and so it was concluded that while abdominal respiration the smoothness of the movement was increased as opposed to the thoracic respiration.

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.41-52
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• 2007

The present study analyzed the two hand backhand stroke motion of six female high school tennis players who won the championship at the National Athletic Meeting in 2006, and drew conclusions as follows. The open angle of the racket at the moment of impact was 90 degree without significant difference among the players, making a wide contact between the ball and the racket. The racket angle was 43 degree at take back and 91 at impact, showing a style of holding the racket rather upright in general. In back swing from the top to the impact, the shoulders and the hips turned by 97 degree and 40 degree, respectively. At the moment of impact, the height of the impact was 54%H, and the position of the impact was 10%H ahead of and 37%H left from the central axis of the body. The right hand made a continental grip and the left hand made a Western or semi Western grip. Through the entire swing motion, the grip angle of the left hand was smaller than that of the right hand, and those who maintained a large grip angle of the right hand at the moment of take back put the racket head slightly farther from the body. In the swing of the racket head from the lowest point to the impact, the vertical length of movement was 11%H and the horizontal length of movement was 60%H, quite long.