• PNF and Movement
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.217-227
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• 2018

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) exercises on the neck disability index and deep neck flexor endurance of acute whiplash injury patients and to provide basic data for PNF exercises for musculoskeletal system disorder patients. Methods: Twenty acute whiplash injury patients were randomly assigned to an experimental group (n=10) and were treated with PNF exercises whereas a control group (n=10) underwent general exercises. Each session lasted 15 minutes and was performed five times a week for two weeks. The degree of pain was assessed using a visual analogue scale (VAS) and the degree of neck disability was measured by the neck disability index (NDI). Craniocervical flexor endurance (CCFE) tests were conducted to measure deep neck flexor endurance. Results: In terms of the intragroup changes in VAS, NDI, and CCFE, there were significant decreases in both the experimental and the control groups. After intervention, there were significant differences between the experimental group and the control group in terms of intergroup changes in VAS, NDI and CCFE. Conclusion: Although the exercises that are generally applied to acute whiplash injury patients are effective on the whole, PNF exercises are considered to be beneficial, given the improvements in the neck disability index and deep neck flexor endurance.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.255-259
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• 2014

Physical activity could be considered one of the factors that affect the immune system status and function. To find the relation between exercise and cytokines, we examined the possible effects of an 8-week endurance training program on the serum levels of cytokines, including tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-${\alpha}$) and interferon-gamma (IFN-${\gamma}$) in sedentary men. A total of 30 healthy young male volunteers were randomly divided into an endurance training group and a control group. The training group followed a specific exercise protocol (running on a treadmill for 15~30 min at 50~70% maximal heart rate) for 8 weeks and the control group did not participate in any exercise program. Venous blood samples were collected from both the groups 24 h before and 24 h and 48 h after the exercise. Repeated ANOVA was used for statistical purposes. The serum levels of TNF-${\alpha}$ and IFN-${\gamma}$ were determined by ELISA. Significant (p<0.05) and non-significant (p>0.05) decreases were observed in the serum levels of IFN-${\gamma}$ and TNF-${\alpha}$, respectively, after the 8-week endurance training program. Our findings indicated that an 8-week endurance exercise may affect the serum levels of some inflammatory cytokines, suggesting the beneficial role of this training protocol in elderly population and people with certain conditions (inflammation of the vertebrae or other inflammatory diseases).

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.5-14
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• 2006

Purpose: This study was done to analyze the effects of an exercise program on body composition and physical fitness of obese female college students. Method: Data was collected from September 29, 2003 to December, 29, 2003. The research design was arandomized control group pretest-posttest experimental design. The subjects were college nursing students at K University. Forty four students, 20 in the experimental group and 24 ina control group, with more than $30\%$ body fat were randomly assigned. The subjects in the experimental group participated in an exercise program for 12 weeks, sixty minutes per session, five times per week. Body composition and physical fitness was measured by a body composition analyzer, cardiovascular endurance, muscle endurance, muscle strength(grip strength, back strength), flexibility, balance, agility(whole body reaction time) and power(standing long jump). Result: Body weight(F=4.76, p=0.035), body fat(kg)(F=5.68, p=0.022) and body mass index(F=5.73, p=0.021) of the experimental group were significantly different from the control group, but there were no significant differences in body fat($\%$), lean body mass, muscle mass and WHR. Back strength(F=6.50, p=0.015), flexibility(F=14.62, p=0.000), muscle endurance(F=7.98, p=0.007), power(F=5.76, p=0.02l) and balance(F=2.46, p=0.018) of the experimental group were significantly different from the control group, but there were no significant differences in cardiovascular endurance, grip strength or agility. Conclusiton: The exercise program was effective in improving body weight, body fat(kg), body mass index, back strength, muscle endurance, flexibility, balance and power of obese female college students.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.33-39
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• 2016

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether a circuit aerobic exercise program positively affects pulmonary function and gait endurance in chronic stroke patients. METHODS: Twenty-four chronic stroke patients were allocated equally and randomly to an experimental group (n=12) or a control group (n=12). All participants received 60 minutes of comprehensive rehabilitation treatment, the experimental group additionally performed a circuit aerobic exercise for 30 minutes, while the control group additionally performed a general aerobic exercise, i.e., gait training on the treadmill for 30 minutes. These 30-minute exercise sessions were held three times per week for six weeks. Pulmonary function was assessed using forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), and maximal voluntary ventilation (MVV), and gait endurance was assessed using the 6-minute walk test (6MWT). RESULTS: In the both groups, FVC, FEV1, MVV, and 6MWT were significantly increased after training. Members of the experimental group showed significant improvements in FVC, FEV1, and MVV, and significantly greater improvements than controls (p<.05). However, 6MWT improvements were not significantly different in the two groups (p>.05). CONCLUSION: The devised circuit aerobic exercise program offers an effective rehabilitation aerobic exercise for improving pulmonary function and gait endurance in patients after chronic stroke.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.61-65
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• 2011

Acanthopanax senticosus, a member of the Araliaceae used as an invigorant in traditional Korean medicine, is known to relieve physical fatigue. The principal objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of eggs laid by hens fed on Acanthopanax senticosus extracts on physical endurance and reproductive parameters. Male Sprague-Dawley rats at 4 wk of age were divided into 3 groups of 15 rats each: group A (14% egg yolk powder from hens fed with Acanthopanax senticosus extracts+86% AIN-93G), group B (14% plain egg yolk powder + 86% AIN-93G) and group C (7% fat source + 93% AIN-93G), and studied for 5 wk. The rats' physical endurance was measured via forced swimming tests. According to the results, 53.3% rats of group A swam for longer than 20 min, in group B and C, only 48.9% and 46.7% of the rats achieved this. In terms of reproductive parameters, sperm motility was significantly higher in group A than in groups B and C (p<0.05). However, no differences in sperm count were detected among the groups. Additionally, the serum testosterone levels of groups A and B were higher than that of group C. Our findings suggest that rats fed with egg yolk powder from hens fed on Acanthopanax senticosus extracts may improve athletic endurance and reproductive parameters in rats.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Integrative Medicine
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.71-81
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• 2020

Purpose : The purpose of this study is to investigate the instant effect of Kinesio taping on pain decrease and improvement of functional disorder of the subjects who have lumbar instability. Methods : A total of 20 patients (13 men and 7 women) who have lumbar instability were chosen as the subjects. The experiment was conducted by assigning the subjects into Kinesio taping group and placebo taping group. A visual analog scale (VAS) was used to measure back pain and Biering-Sorensen test was applied to measure the muscle endurance of back extensor muscles. A digital dynamometer was used to test the isomeric contraction strength of lumbar extensor muscle. The subject performed single-leg stance and double-leg stance task and their static balancing ability was measured by a testing device that captures the static balancing ability. Results : In a within-group comparison, Kinesio taping group showed a significant decrease of VAS (p<.05) and a significant increase of endurance and strength of lumbar extensor muscle (p<.05). In Kinesio taping group, the shift distance in anterior-posterior sway and medial-lateral sway during the double-leg stance significantly decrease (p<.05). The shift distance in anterior-posterior sway and medial-lateral sway also significantly decreased during the single-leg stance (p<.05). Placebo taping group showed a significant decrease of visual analog scale (p<.05). In a between-group comparison, Kinesio taping group showed a significantly larger decrease of VAS (p<.05), significant larger increase of muscle endurance and muscle strength (p<.05), and significant larger decrease of anterior-posterior sway in the double-leg stance (p<.05), compared to placebo taping group. Conclusion : Application of Kinesio taping to the subjects with lumbar instability produced positive effect of reducing pain, increasing muscle strength and endurance, and improving static balancing ability.

• Journal of Korean Physical Therapy Science
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.72-83
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• 2023

Background: Normal-weight obese women have a normal weight with relatively low muscle mass resulting from high body fat. We aimed to investigate the effects of core exercise on body composition, abdominal muscle thickness, trunk muscular endurance, and psychological factors in normal-weight obese women. Design: One group pre-, mid-, and post-test design. Methods: A total of 20 normal-weight obese women were recruited voluntarily. Core exercises were performed for 30 minutes, three times a week for 4 weeks. InBody measurements, ultrasound imaging, and clinical tests were used to assess body composition, abdominal muscle thickness, trunk and core muscular endurance, and psychological condition(satisfaction with appearance and self-esteem). The dependent variables were measured three times: before the intervention (pre-test), 2 weeks after the intervention (mid-test), and 4 weeks after intervention (post-test). One-way repeated measures ANOVA and Friedman test were used for statistical analysis. Results: Although there was no change in the body composition (p>0.05), thickness of the transversus abdominis and internal and external oblique muscles, endurance of the trunk flexors and extensors and core muscles, and psychological condition showed significant differences after the intervention (p<0.05). Conclusion: Our findings will help develop exercise programs for normal-weight obese individuals that utilize the beneficial effect of core exercises.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.227-235
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• 2005

It has been reported that endurance performance is influenced by various environmental and genetic factors. In view of an important role of human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) as a candidate for endurance performance, this study focused on the relationships between $VO_{2max}$ value as a measure of endurance performance or other associated phenotypes and four mtDNA restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) (Bam HI, Hinc II1, Hinc II2 and Nci I) in the NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5 and one (Kpn I) in the D-loop region of mtDNA. MtDNA was purified from buffy coat in human peripheral blood, and PCR-RFLP analysis was performed to estimate the allele frequencies of each polymorphism in the mtDNA. There were no significant differences in allele distributions of all polymorphisms studied between male athletes and controls, respectively (P>0.05). However, the Kpn I polymorphism was significantly associated with diastolic blood pressure level in male athletes, respectively (P<0.05). Therefore, our results suggest that this polymorphism might be one of the factors modifying inter-individual difference in cardiovascular risk. Further studies using larger sample size will be required to generalize these results from the study described herein.

• 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.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.384-397
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• 2003

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of Treadmill Training on WISCI level, walking velocity, walking endurance, motor score and gait cycle of spinal cord injury patient with incomplete. Four subjects with spinal cord injury participated in this study. They took walking excercise 5 times per week for 8 weeks. One time excercise spent 30minutes. The theraputic effect was evaluated by WISCI level, walk 10 meters test, walk for 12 minutes test, motor score and gait cycle. Four subjects were examined before, after 8 week, walking training. Collected data were statistically analyzed by SPSS PC for Wilcoxon signed rank test. The results of this study are as follows; 1) In WISCI level, walking velocity, walking endurance and motor score, post - treatment score were higher compared to pre-treatment score with statistical significance(p<0.05). 2) In Rt SLS, DLSII and Lt SLS, post-treatment percentage were higher compared to pre-treatment percentage with statistical significance(p<0.05). but DLSI were not statistical significance(p>0.05). The findings suggest that spinal cord injury patients with incomplete can improve their WISCI level, walking velocity, walking endurance, motor score and gait cycle through Treadmill gait training.