• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.1-5
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• 2011

Purpose: This study was designed to investigate the changes of postural sway and muscle activation while standing upright and performing a dual task. Methods: Nine healthy adults were recruited and provided their written informed consent. They performed a balance task with and without a cognitive task on a force flatform (Good balance, Metitur Ltd., Filand). Postural sway was measured as medio-lateral and anterior-posterior distance and the velocity of the center of pressure and muscle activations of the ankle dorsi- and plantar-muscle was measured. The recruits completed three trials and the data was analyzed by a paired t-test. Results: There were significant differences in the medio-lateral and anterior-posterior distance and the velocity of the center of pressure, and significant increases in the muscle activities of the tibialis anterior. Conclusion: These findings revealed that performing a dual task increases postural sway and muscle activation of the ankle when simultaneously maintaining balance and performing another cognitive task. Future studies should focus on balance training with a dual task for patients.

• Journal of Korean Physical Therapy Science
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.20-27
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• 2022

Background: The purpose of the present study was to determine whether balance training combined with light touch improves the postural sway and gait speed in stroke patients. Design: Randomized Controlled Trial Study Methods: The current study included 40 stroke patients, who were randomly divided into two groups: the balance training with light touch (LT) group (n=20) and the balance training with heavy touch (HT) group (n=20). Both groups performed balance training on a stable and unstable ground. Additionally, the LT group provided light touch stimulation, and the HT group provided heavy touch stimulation. All the participants underwent 20 sessions of STS training (thirty minutes, five days per week for four weeks). In this study, postural sway was measured using a force platform, and walking speed was measured using a 10 meter walk test. Results: The improvements in postural sway and gait speed were observed to be significantly greater in the LT group, compared to the HT group (p<0.05). Conclusion: The results of the current study imply that balance training combined with light touch is a beneficial and effective therapeutic modality that can be employed to improve the postural sway and gait speed in stroke patients.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.191-197
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• 2012

Purpose : The purpose of this study was to examine immediate effects of 15 minutes plantarflexor static stretching in quite stance. Methods : Twenty-nine subjects were measured static balance during 1 minute in quite stance with eye closed condition before and after 15 minutes plantarflexor static stretching. Static stretching range was limited from $15^{\circ}$ to $20^{\circ}$ dorsiflexion within comfortable range. Results : The result of this study showed that postural sway significantly increased during 1 minute quiet stance after 15 minutes static stretching(p<.05). Before stretching, postural sway significantly decreased during 41-60 seconds compared to 0-20, 21-40 seconds(p<.05). After stretching, postural sway was decreased significantly over time 0-20, 21-40, and 41-60 seconds(p<.05). Conclusion : The prolong plantarflexor static stretching may require biomechanical, neurological adaptations prior to walking or sport activities for safety.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.87-104
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• 1995

This research investigates the possibility of using the postural sway of patients as a reference for measruing the progress of the disease and healing of patients who received total hip replacement; the progress of the disease by X-ray pictures, the pain felt by the patients, and the difficulties encountered in moving the joints. The measurements on the force platform were taken during a 25 second period standing on both feet and during a 5 second period standing on one foot with both eyes open. The result of the research showed that the trace and area of the overall length of postural sway was a good indicator which represented the healing progress of the patients who received total hip replacement, and the weakening of the muscles and the recovery process for 3 or 4 month after receiving the operation, which did not appear on X-ray pictures, were exhibited on the postural sway. Finally, standing on a single foot represented the healing progress much better than standing on both feet.

• Journal of International Academy of Physical Therapy Research
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.1631-1635
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• 2018

Stroke can cause leg weakness, sensory abnormalities, and balance disorders. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of elastic taping on postural sway in patients with stroke. This study randomly applied elastic taping to 20 patients with stroke in two ways. The center of pressure (COP) distribution was measured before and after the elastic taping. The measurement variables were COP area and length, and measurements were performed immediately after taping. The elastic taping on tibialis anterior muscle showed a significant decrease in COP area and length compared to that without elastic taping. The elastic taping on gastrocnemius muscles showed a significant decrease in COP area and length compared to that without elastic taping. There was no significant difference in COP area and length between the elastic taping on tibialis anterior muscle and gastrocnemius muscles. Our results suggested that applying elastic taping on the ankle joints is effective in decreasing postural sway after in patients with stroke.

• Journal of Korean Society of Industrial and Systems Engineering
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.39-46
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• 2016

Loss of postural stability can possibly lead to slip and fall accidents in the number of workplaces and everyday life. This study was aimed to examine the effects of whole body fatigue and partially limited visual field on the ability of maintaining postural balance during quiet standing. A group of twelve healthy male subjects participated in the experiment. Before and after experiencing the whole body fatigue induced by bicycling exercises, the position coordinates of subject's center of pressure (COP) were obtained under the two levels of visual field condition (i.e., open visual field and limited visual field). Four levels of the whole body fatigue examined were rest, 300watt, 600watt, and 900watt. Position coordinates of COPs measured on a force plate were then converted into the total length of postural sway path in both the medio-lateral (ML) direction and the anterior-posterior (AP) direction. Two-way ANOVA result showed that the length of sway path in the AP direction became significantly larger as the whole body fatigue accumulated. Post-hoc test revealed statistically significant differences between rest and 900watt and between 300watt and 900watt. The significant increase of the sway length was also found when the visual field was partially obstructed by the boxes. In the ML direction, however, there was no statistically significant difference of the postural sway in both the AP and ML directions. The results imply that the ability of maintaining postural stability can be reduced significantly due to such tasks along with whole body fatigue. The postural balance can also be impaired by the limited visual field.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapy
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.5-22
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• 2001

The purpose of this study was to investigate the balancing training effect on weight bearing ratio and postural sway on the unstable surface for the CVA patients with balance disability. The inclusion criteria were walking independently 20m distances. Eighteen subjects, 4 with right and 14 with left hemiplegic patients were participated in this study. The range of age was from 35 to 75 and the duration from onset time was from 1 to 38 months. The intervention program including balancing training that they were introduced for 10 minutes every other day during 12 weeks to experimental group, and general therapeutic exercise to control group. The result of this study were as following; 1. The balancing training on the unstable surface showed that the postural sway of left/right distribution would appear more effective on sitting with eyes opened. 2. The balancing training on the unstable surface showed that the postural sway of forward/rear distribution, left/right distribution and distance would appear more effective on standing with eyes opened. 3. The balancing training on unstable surface would increase more effective on the weight-bearing ratio of left/right difference and frequency. 4. The balancing training on unstable surface was statistical significant on the postural sway of left/right distribution and area in experimental group. and it was statistical significant on the postural sway of forward/rear distribution, left/right distribution and distance in control group, too.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.181-185
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• 2012

Purpose: We investigated balance change in patients with low back pain (LBP) by comparing postural sway velocity between young LBP patients and healthy subjects. Methods: The cross-sectional study enrolled 37 young patients with over 3-month duration of LBP and 38 healthy subjects between the ages of 20 and 30 years old. All subjects were targeted by measuring their balance during quiet standing with open eye and closed eye conditions. The postural sway velocity between the LBP patients and healthy subjects was compared. As well, postural sway velocity was determined in the LBP patients with both eyes open and closed. Results: Significant differences were evident in the anteroposterior and mediolateral mean velocity of center-of-pressure between LBP patients and healthy subjects, and in LBP patients in the eye open and eye closed conditions. Conclusion: The balance of young LBP patients was worse than healthy subjects during quiet standing, and was especially lessened in the absence of vision.

• Journal of Korean Physical Therapy Science
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.18-26
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• 2004

The purpose of this study was to compare difference of the static and dynamic balance in normal subject and LBP subject and recognizes about postural sway. The subjects of this study included 30 normal subjects and 30 LBP subjects. By using Active balance system, the static balance was measured by unit path length, circumference area, weight bearing, stabilometry length, while the dynamic balance was measured by step evaluation. Statistically analyzed using independent t-test to search static balance and dynamic balance difference in two groups. Postural sway appeared greatly in patient group than normal group in analysis result of static balance and postural sway was big in patient group of when closed eye and normal group and patient group did show statistical significance in unit path length, circumference area. Weight support of normal group was shared equally in weight bearing rate, but weight support of patient group stewed less to pain side. Anterior step time and Task achieve time of dynamic balance were spent more in patient group than normal group. Desire to be used to useful information to lay treatment policy about set-up and action of when quantification result of valued postural balance treats low back pain patient by objective tool, in the fixture, more researches in postural estimation desire that is enforced abuzz.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2010.05a
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• pp.971-972
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• 2010