• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.339-347
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• 2011

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate of various material of pillows by using biomechanical variables such as the cervical stability, head pressure distribution, and muscle activity. Method: Eight subjects participated in the experiment. Three different materials such as polyester sponge, memory foam and the buckwheat shell used for Korean traditional pillow were tested. Electro-goniometer, six channels of electromyography(EMG), ten channels of the head pressure sensors were used to measure the biomechanical responses. Surface electrodes were attached to the right/left semispinals capitis(RSC, LSC), the right/left sternocleidomastoid(RSM, LSM), the right/left upper trapezius(RUT, LUT). The cervical stability was evaluated by the angle deviated from the standing neck position. The head pressure distribution was evaluated by the pressure per unit area recorded on the sensors and the intensity of peak pressure. Electromyography(EMG) data were analyzed by using root mean square(RMS) and mean power frequency(MPF). Results: The buckwheat shell material showed a higher stability in the cervical spine then the other pillows during spine position. In terms of head pressure distribution, the memory form indicated the lowest pressure at supine position, buckwheat shell material indicated the lowest pressure during lying down to side, and polyester cushion recorded the highest pressure at all postures. Conclusion: The buckwheat shell material has a biomechanical advantage to maintain a healthy neck angle and reduce the pressure on the head, which means the buckwheat shell is a potential material for ergonomic pillow design. The pillow with memory form showed second best biomechanical performance in this study. Application: The shape of the buckwheat shell pillow and the characteristics of materials can be used to design the pillow preventing neck pain and cervical disk problems.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.308-313
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• 2016

Purpose: This study investigated the effects of sex hormones across menstrual cycle phases on knee muscle activity during one-leg landing in non-athletic females. Methods: Twenty-six healthy females who reported normal menstrual cycles for the previous three months were tested when estrogen levels were highest (ovulation) and lowest (menstruation). Knee muscle activity was analyzed based on electromyography (EMG) data recorded during landing on a 30-cm box. Before data collection, each subject was trained in single-leg landing tasks ten times. Landing was analyzed by measuring the average of three landing tasks. EMG data were collected between the moment of ground contact and the point of knee maximum flexion. The maximum voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC) for normalization that was recorded as the EMG root-mean-square (RMS) during landing was tested, with paired t-tests used to assess differences in knee muscle activity according to menstrual cycle phases. Results: The results showed that the soleus, semitendinosus, and lateral gastrocnemius muscle activity during landing was differed significantly during ovulation compared to that during menstruation (p<0.05). No significant differences in vastus medialis activity were found between menstrual and ovulatory phases during landing (p>0.05). Conclusion: Changes in the menstrual cycle in response to sex hormones changed the activity of muscles around the knee during landing. Females utilize different muscle activity control strategies during different phases of the menstrual cycle, which may contribute to increased ACL injury risk.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.1231-1239
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• 2010

The aim of this study was developing the non-invasive focused magnetic stimulation system(NI_FMSS) that can stimulates acupoints which are small parts and knotted muscular tissues. To evaluate pain treatment effect of the NI_FMSS, we caused muscle fatigue to 25 subjects in biceps of the arm. Then, we stimulated acupoints(trigger points) HT2 using low frequency stimulator(10 subjects) and NI_FMSS(10 subjects). The other 5 subjects had not been stimulated. We analyzed muscle fatigue recovery with median frequency, RMS and median power in frequency domain for 5 days. We checked the magnetic stimulation effect on acupoint by evaluation of muscle fatigue recovery. Therefore, we identified that the NI_FMSS was more efficient system to relieve muscle pain than electric-stimulation system.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.123-131
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• 2021

Background: Only 2% of falls in older adults result in serious injuries (i.e., hip fracture). Therefore, it is important to differentiate injurious versus non-injurious falls, which is critical to develop effective interventions for injury prevention. Objects: The purpose of this study was to a. extract the best features of surface electromyography (sEMG) for classification of injurious falls, and b. find a best model provided by data mining techniques using the extracted features. Methods: Twenty young adults self-initiated falls and landed sideways. Falling trials were consisted of three initial fall directions (forward, sideways, or backward) and three knee positions at the time of hip impact (the impacting-side knee contacted the other knee ("knee together") or the mat ("knee on mat"), or neither the other knee nor the mat was contacted by the impacting-side knee ("free knee"). Falls involved "backward initial fall direction" or "free knee" were defined as "injurious falls" as suggested from previous studies. Nine features were extracted from sEMG signals of four hip muscles during a fall, including integral of absolute value (IAV), Wilson amplitude (WAMP), zero crossing (ZC), number of turns (NT), mean of amplitude (MA), root mean square (RMS), average amplitude change (AAC), difference absolute standard deviation value (DASDV). The decision tree and support vector machine (SVM) were used to classify the injurious falls. Results: For the initial fall direction, accuracy of the best model (SVM with a DASDV) was 48%. For the knee position, accuracy of the best model (SVM with an AAC) was 49%. Furthermore, there was no model that has sensitivity and specificity of 80% or greater. Conclusion: Our results suggest that the classification model built upon the sEMG features of the four hip muscles are not effective to classify injurious falls. Future studies should consider other data mining techniques with different muscles.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.583-592
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• 2013

PURPOSE: This study aimed to investigate muscles activation relate to core stability during 5 therapeutic exercise in children with spastic diplegia. METHODS: The subjects of this study were 8 children with typical development and 12 children with spastic diplegia who have been treated in Bobath children's hospital, all of whom agreed to participate in the study. All subjects were measured to see their muscles activation of rectus abdominalis, external oblique abdominalis, elector spinae, gluteus maximus, rectus femoris, and semitendinosus with surface EMG. RESULTS: The results of this study were as follows : 1) There were statistically significant difference in the root mean square(RMS) of all muscles according to 5 therapeutic exercise in children with spastic diplegia. 2) There were statistically significant difference in the RMS of all muscles according to 5 therapeutic exercise in children with typical development. 3) Significant differences of the RMS between diplegic children and normal children were found in elector spinae and rectus femoris only curl-up exercise. CONCLUSION: As the above results, we suggest that 5 therapeutic exercises could be used for a core stability or core strengthening program. Depending on the individual needs of children with cerebral palsy, some of exercises may be more beneficial than others for achieving strength.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.16-23
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• 2009

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects postural changes on respiratory muscles and acoustic parameters of the children with spastic cerebral palsy. Nine children with spastic cerebral palsy who required assistance when walking were selected. The ages of the children ranged from 6 to 9 years old. The phonation of the sustained vowel /a/ and the voice qualities of each child such as fundamental frequency($F_0$; Hz), pitch variation (Jitter; %), amplitude variation (Shimmer; %) and noise to harmonic ratio (NHR) were analyzed by Multi-Dimensional Voice Program (MDVP). The muscle activity of three major respiratory muscles: pectoralis major muscle, upper trapezius muscle and rectus abdorminalis muscle, were measured by examining the root mean square (RMS) of the surface EMG to investigate the impact of changes in the adjusted sitting posture of each subject. However, the RMS of pectoralis major muscle showed a significant differences (p<.05). Secondly, there were no significant differences in $F_0$, Jitter and Shimmer between pre and post posture change, but there was a significant difference in NHR (p<.05). The data were collected in each individual; once prior and once after the sitting posture change. The data were analyzed by Wilcoxon signed ranks-test using SPSS version 14.0 for Windows. The findings of this study were as follows; Firstly, the RMS of upper trapezius and rectus abdorminalis muscle were not significant different between pre and post sitting posture changes. From the result, it is concluded that changes in the adjusted sitting posture decreases the abnormal respiratory patterns in the children with spastic cerebral palsy which is characterized by the hyperactivity of the respiratory muscles in breathing. Also, there is increased on the voice qualities in children with spastic cerebral palsy.

• The Journal of Korea Institute of Information, Electronics, and Communication Technology
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.152-160
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• 2023

After the recent COVID-19 outbreak, more and more people are paying attention to health care. Many people feel uncomfortable in life due to muscle pain after sports or exercise as a hobby and often take a break from exercise. After exercising for a long time or exercising excessively, pain appears throughout the body within 24 to 48 hours after exercise. This pain is called delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). In this study, the effectiveness of the pain relief of delayed onset myalgia was verified by using a high-frequency pain therapy device that generates deep heat. EMG was measured before and after pain treatment at ordinary times, RMS values were obtained through analysis, statistical analysis was performed using the SPSS program, and it was judged to be statistically significant. In addition, statistical analysis of the RMS value between normal and after pain treatment was conducted to confirm that there was no significance, and to confirm how much it returned to normal after pain treatment. In addition, since the standards for pain are different for each person even if the size of the same pain is the same, the NRS questionnaire for the size of pain was conducted, and the size of pain felt by the subjects was analyzed using the SPSS program and statistical significance was obtained. Therefore, as a result of this study, the high-frequency pain therapy device generated deep heat in the pain area to raise the temperature, and expanded the arteries and capillaries to increase blood flow, thereby increasing blood circulation and metabolism, and alleviating the pain of delayed onset muscle pain.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.829-837
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• 2001

Using Video Display Terminals(VDT) in the working environment often causes health complaints in the neck and shoulder region. This study was conducted on ten subjects, in order to investigate the change of electromyographic activities in the neck region(sternocleidomastoid muscle, upper trapezius muscle and erector muscle of cervical spine)with regards to the screen height and document holder position. A total of six different conditions of screen height and document holder position were measured during subjects performed a text-entry task for a duration of 10min. The raw EMG signal was transmuted into the root mean square(RMS). Two-way ANOVA for repeated measures was used to analyse the effects of the two factors. As a result, changing the screen height and document holder position has no effect on electromyographic activities in the neck region.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2007.04a
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• pp.46-48
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• 2007

In this study, we determined the optimum electrode pair for measuring the abdominal pressure using bio-impedance method. Because impedance changes differ from a weight, a height, contractile force, volume of muscle and blood other or whatever of individuals, it was quantified using values of impedance change, correlation coefficient and SNR. Our results showed the optimum electrode pair (1, 9) which could detect impedance changes due to an increase of the intensity of the abdominal pressure. The correlation coefficient and quadratic function between the RMS values of EMG and the impedance changes were 0.87 and $y=0.0014x^2$+0.0620x+0.6958, respectively. It demonstrated that the abdominal pressure could be measured non-invasively and simply using bio-impedance method. We propose that this optimum electrode configuration would be useful for future studies involving the convenient measurement of abdominal pressure by ambulatory urodynamics monitoring study.

• The Journal of Korea Institute of Information, Electronics, and Communication Technology
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.219-225
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• 2020

With the aging population, the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders in the elderly continues to increase. In addition, musculoskeletal disorders are the third most common social and economic loss among occupational illnesses in Workers' compensation insurance benefits as of 2015 standard and are also common among workers. In this study, a vest that can assist in the prevention and treatment of musculoskeletal disorders of the waist was produced, and it is intended to confirm the presence or absence of the effect through experiments. Diseases of the waist are closely related to core muscles. Therefore, the produced vest was made in a form that supports the core muscles. Before and after wearing the vest for effectiveness verification, the While performing 10-times of the Mackenzie exercises, a waist extension exercise, collected the EMG data of the internal oblique, Rectus abdominis, and Erector spinae, which correspond to the core muscles. The collected data were analyzed through the electromyography analysis program RM-3 to obtain RMS values for 10-times measurements of each muscle and to compare the average values. After comparing the data, to verify the significance, the technical statistical value of the measurement result was calculated and the average difference was verified through PASW ver18.0, And the paired t-test is performed on the experimental results to perform statistical processing. and Statistical processing was performed by setting the significance level to α=.05.