• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.8-16
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• 2015

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of mobilization of the sciatic nerve on hamstring flexibility, lower limb strength, and gait performance in patients with chronic stroke. This study was a randomized clinical trial with a crossover design. Sixteen subjects were recruited for this study. The subjects were randomly divided into two intervention groups and underwent either of the following two interventions: sciatic nerve mobilization or static stretching of the hamstring. We assessed hamstring flexibility, lower limb strength, and gait performance using a digital inclinometer, a hand-held dynamometer, and the 10-meter walk test, respectively. Subjects had a 24-hour rest period between each session in order to minimize carryover effects. Measurements for each test were assessed prior to and immediately after the intervention sessions. Using a two-way analysis of variance test with repeated measures, data from the two trials were analyzed by comparing the differences between both techniques. The level of statistical significance was set at .05. Sciatic nerve mobilization resulted in significantly better knee extensor strength (p=.023, from $15.32{\pm}5.98$ to $18.16{\pm}6.95kg$) and knee flexor strength (p=.011, from $7.80{\pm}4.80$ to $8.15{\pm}4.24kg$) in the experimental group than in the control group. However, no significant effects of static stretching of the hamstring were observed on hamstring flexibility from the ankle plantar flexion (p=.966) and ankle neutral positions (p=.210) and on gait performance (p=.396). This study indicated that the sciatic nerve mobilization technique may be more effective in muscle activation of the knee extensor muscle and knee flexor muscle than hamstring static stretching technique in patients with chronic stroke.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.64-69
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• 2022

Background: Gluteus medius muscle is important for the stability of hip joint. The sufficient core stability can be contributed to the performance of gluteus medius muscle in standing position. In addition, the external support may affect core stability in standing position. Objects: The purpose of this study was to investigated the effectiveness of the external support on the strength and muscle activity of hip abductor muscle during hip abduction in standing position in subjects without core stability. Methods: Fifteen subjects participated in this study. The subjects were evaluated by using the double-leg lowering with bent knees to measure the core stability. The strength and muscle activity of hip abductors was measured in standing position with the condition with and without external support using the tensiometer sensor and the surface electromyography. The paired t-test was used to investigate the difference between hip abductor strength and activity according to external support. The level of statistical significance was set at α = 0.05. Results: The hip abductor strength and muscle activity of gluteus medius muscle with external support were significantly greater than those without external support during hip abduction in standing position (p < 0.05). Conclusion: During hip abduction in standing position, the external support may be contributed to the improvement of the hip abductor strength and muscle activity of gluteus medius especially in the subjects without core stability.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.90-95
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• 2018

Purpose: To investigate the relationship between gross motor capacity and neuromuscular function in children with cerebral palsy (CP) through a short-term intensive intervention. Methods: Twenty-four children younger than 6 years of age (17 boys, 7 girls, mean $age{\pm}standard$ deviation, $42.71{\pm}14.43months$) who were diagnosed with CP underwent short-term intensive treatment for 8 weeks. An evaluation of gross motor function capacity using the gross motor function measure (GMFM-66 and GMFM-88) was performed to measure muscle strength, selective motor control (SMC), and spasticity, factors related to neuromusculoskeletal function. Changes in spasticity, strength, range of motion, selective motor function, and exercise intensity scores were evaluated in terms of the gross motor function classification system (GMFCS) and ages. Results: The GMFM-88 and GMFM-66 scores significantly increased, by $4.32{\pm}4.04$ and $2.41{\pm}1.51%$, respectively, following the 8-week intervention. The change in the GMFM-66 score did not reflect a statistically significant difference in the GMFCS level. However, there was a statistically significant difference in the GMFM-88 score change in individuals at GMFCS Level III, the strength and spasticity of subjects at GMFCS Levels I-II did not significantly differ (p<0.05). The changes in the GMFM-66 scores for strength, SMC, range of motion (ROM), and spasticity significantly differed according to age (p<0.05) in children aged 36 months and older. Overall, there was a statistically significant difference in strength, SMC, and spasticity (p<0.05) before and after intensive short-term treatment. Conclusion: The 8-week short-term intensive care intervention improved the motor function score of study participants, emphasizing the need for early intervention and additional research in this area.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.5-21
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• 1999

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the physical fitness status and health promoting life styles of the workers. For the purpose, 108 workers who attended the exercise program in Inchon branch of KISCO were selected as the subjects. From Oct. 20th to Nov. 30th, in 1998, they were firstly assessed their physical fitness. The items include cardio-respiratory endurance, flexibility, muscular strength, muscular endurance, agility, power, balance, body composition, etc. Secondly, the health promoting life styles were asked by questionnaires about daily life and dietary habits. Both of them were evaluated by 5 or 3 levels as A(very good) to E(very poor) or A (good) to C(poor). Those data were analyzed percentile, mean, standard deviation by SAS program. Major findings are as follows ; 1. The health promoting life styles were generally good, but 43.5% of the subjects didn't exercise at all. Most of them(93.5%) thought about their physical fitness status as lower than average level. About half of them(48.1%) didn't drink alcohol, non smokers were 70.4% of them. But they had poor dietary habits(lower than average level : 79.6%), females were a little bit better than males. The aged group had the poor body compositions, 21.4% of females and 10.0% of males were obese. 2. Physical fitness status of the workers were assessed as two areas, one is health related, the other is physical function related area. In the health related area, females were better than males, in view of age, forties aged group had the highest scores of all items except cardio-respiratory endurance. Among 'A' and 'B' level, muscular endurance was showed most frequently, followed by muscular strength, flexibility, cardiorespiratory endurance. In physical function related status, balance was ranked highly in the portion of over 'B', followed by power, agility. In view of sex, males were better than females for all items except balance, and there were various figures in the status by age groups. 3. Comprehensive assessment scores were poor(under 'D' leves were most frequent), females were better than males, and teenage group had the worst scores. In ages of the physical fitness, generally they had 1 year under their real ages, and females were better than males. In view of age, forties aged group was ranked highly and teenagers had lowest scores.

• Advances in nano research
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.99-111
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• 2017

Nano particles have been gaining increasing attention and applied in many fields to fabricate new materials with novel functions due to their unique physical and chemical properties. In the present study two nano materials, namely nano silica (NS) and nano clay metakaolin (NMK) were partially replaced with ordinary Portland cement (OPC). The replacement level was varied from 0.5 to 2.0% in OPC and blended in cement mortar with a water cement ratio of 0.40. Mechanical property studies and durability experiments such as compressive strength, tensile strength, water absorption, depth of chloride penetration test. Nano silica was synthesized from rice husk ash and analyze the size using particle size analyzer. The results indicate that the compressive and tensile strength of the cement mortars containing nano materials were higher strength compared to the plain mortar with the same water cement ratio.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.105-112
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• 2018

PURPOSE: Strengthening training is effective at improving the function of stroke patients. This study was conducted to compare the effects of exercise intensity on walking, balancing ability, and blood glucose in stroke patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and to suggest more effective exercise intensity for stroke patients. METHODS: Twenty-two patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus were divided into an experimental group (n=11) and a control group (n=11). In the experimental group, a 40-70% strength of 1RM exercise program was applied for 40 minutes a day, three times a week for 4 weeks. The control group received a 50% intensity of 1RM for the same number and duration of interventions as the experimental group. RESULTS: Both the experimental group and the control group showed significant improvement in the gait function, balance ability, and blood glucose level after the intervention compared to before the intervention. In the FGA (functional gait assessment), the experimental group showed a 52.4% greater increase than the control group, and the fasting blood glucose level was 16.7% greater in the experimental group than the control group. CONCLUSION: The strengthening exercise program, which gradually increases exercise intensity, seems to be effective at improving the function of stroke patients with type 2 diabetes.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.28-36
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• 2022

Background: It is known that hand strength and fingertip force are used as an indicator of muscle strength and are also highly related to the various chronic symptoms and even lifespan. To use the individual fingertip force (IFF) as a quantitative index for clinical evaluation, the IFF should be measured and analyzed with various variables from various subjects, such as the normal range of fingertip force and the difference in its distribution by disease. Objects: We tried to measure and analyze the mean maximum IFF distribution during grasping a cylindrical object in healthy adults and patients with spinal cord injury (SCI). Methods: Five Force-sensitive resistor (FSR) sensors were attached to the fingertips of 24 healthy people and 13 patients with SCI. They were asked to grip the object three times for five seconds with their maximum effort. Results: The mean maximum IFF of the healthy adult group's thumb, index, and middle finger was similar statistically and showed relatively larger than IFF of the ring and small finger. It is a 3-point pinch grip pattern. All fingertip forces of patients with SCI decreased by more than 50% to the healthy group, and their IFF of the middle finger was relatively the largest among the five fingertip forces. The cervical level injured SCI patients showed significantly decreased IFFs compared to thoracic level injured SCI patients. Conclusion: We expect that this study results would be helpful for rehabilitation diagnosis and therapy goal decision with robust further study.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.1117-1128
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• 2021

The purpose of the current study was to investigate the effects of 4-week health promotion intervention program consisting of high-intensity aerobic exercise to improve energy consumption and cardiorespiratory capacity, circuit training to strengthen muscular strength and endurance and education for lifestyle changes on the obesity level, physical fitness, insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome among overweight or obese elementary school students. Twenty three overweight or obese children as obese group and 15 normal body weight children as normal group were recruited. The health promotion program consisted of two exercise sessions and one education session, 3days/week in 4-week. Obesity level(body mass index, waist circumference, %body fat), physical fitness(muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, cardiopulmonary fitness), insulin resistance(homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance) and metabolic syndrome risk factors(blood pressure, fasting glucose, triglycerides, high density lipoprotein cholesterol) were measured. There was not significant decrease in obesity level; however, there were significant improvement in physical fitness, insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome risk factors after program participation among obese children. As a result, through participation in the summer camp consisting mainly of exercise, the improvement of the physical fitness level and the decrease of insulin resistance had an effect on the reduction of the metabolic syndrome frequency.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.71-83
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• 2019

This investigation presented conventional triaxial and creep-permeability tests on sandstones considering thermally-induced damage (TID). The TID had no visible effects on rock surface color, effective porosity and permeability below $300^{\circ}C$ TID level. The permeability enlarged approximately two orders of magnitude as TID increased to $1000^{\circ}C$ level. TID of $700^{\circ}C$ level was a threshold where the influence of TID on the normalized mass and volume of the specimen can be divided into two linear phases. Moreover, no prominent variations in the deformation moduli and peak strength and strain appeared as TID< $500^{\circ}C$ level. It is interesting that the peak strength increased by 24.3% at $700^{\circ}C$ level but decreased by 11.5% at $1000^{\circ}C$ level. The time-related deformation and steady-state creep rate had positive correlations with creep loading and the TID level, whereas the instantaneous modulus showed the opposite. The strain rates under creep failure stresses raised 1-4 orders of magnitude than those at low-stress levels. The permeability was not only dependent on the TID level but also dependent on creep deformation. The TID resulted in large deformation and complexity of failure pattern for the sandstone.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.45-54
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• 2005

The quadriceps-angle (Q-angle) and the ratio of hamstring/quadriceps (H/Q) are important for the stability of the knee and for protection from excessive stress. The aim of this study was to examine the association between Q-angle and H/Q ratio with and without knee osteoarthritis. We compared knee osteoarthritis patients with symptom-free women. The mean age of the patients in the arthritis group (25 women, osteoarthritis) was 59.7 years. The non-arthritis group consisted of 25 women with a mean age of 55.2 years. Of the 25 women with osteoarthritis, 5 had the condition in their left knee, 5 had it in their right knee, and 15 had it on both sides. There was no significant difference in the knee Q-angle of the left and right knees of the arthritis group and the non-arthritis-group (p>.05). The strength of all the muscles around the involved right knee in the arthritis group was significantly weaker than that of the non-arthritis group (p<.05). However, in the left knee, only the strength of the knee extensors and internal rotators was significantly weaker than that of the non-arthritis group (p<.05). The Q-angle was not associated with the H/Q ratio and internal rotators/external rotators ratio of the involved knee in the arthritis group (p>.05). Neither was the Q-angle associated with the pain level of an involved knee in the arthritis group (p>.05). The knee pain was not associated with the H/Q ratio of the involved knee in the arthritis group (p>.05). The Q-angle was not associated with the ratio of H/Q and pain level of the involved knee in the osteoarthritis women.