• 대한의용생체공학회:의공학회지
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• 제31권5호
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• pp.344-350
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• 2010

The aim of this study was to investigate the characteristics of the flexion withdrawal reflex modulated during Lokomat treadmill walking in people with spinal cord injury. The influence of the limb position and movement were tested in 5 subjects with chronic spinal cord injury. EMG activities from tibialis anterior and moments of the hip joint elicited by the foot stimulation were examined during Lokomat treadmill walking. To trigger the flexion withdrawal reflex during Lokomat treadmill walking, a train of 10 stimulus pulses was applied at the skin of the medial arch. The TA EMG activity was modulated during gait phase and the largest TA reflex was obtained after heel-off and initial swing phase. During swing phase, TA EMG was 40.9% greater for the extended hip position (phase 6), compared with flexed hip position (phase 8). The measured reflex moment of the hip joint was also modulated during gait phase. In order to characterize the neural contribution of flexion reflex at the hip joint, we compared estimated moments consisted of the static and dynamic components with measured moment of the hip joint. The mean static gains of reflex hip moments for swing and stance phase are -0.1, -0.8, respectively. The mean dynamic gains of reflex hip moments are 0.25 for swing, 0.75 for stance phase. From this study, we postulate that the joint moment and muscle response of flexion withdrawal reflex have the phase-dependent modulation and linear relationship with hip angle and angular velocity for swing phase during Lokomat treadmill walking.

• 대한물리의학회지
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• 제16권4호
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• pp.125-137
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• 2021

PURPOSE: The growing number of people exposed to a static sitting posture has resulted in an increase in people with a poor posture out of the optimally aligned posture because of the low awareness of a correct sitting posture. Learning the correct sitting posture by applying sensory feedback is essential because a poor posture has negative consequences for the spine. Therefore, this study examined the effects of the sensory feedback types on learning correct sitting posture. METHODS: Thirty-six healthy adult males were assigned to a visual feedback group, a tactile feedback group, and a visuotactile feedback group to learn the correct sitting posture by applying sensory feedback. The spine angle, muscle activity, and muscle thickness were measured in the sitting position using retro-reflexive markers, electromyography, and ultrasound immediately after, five minutes, and 10 minutes after intervention. RESULTS: The intervention time was significantly shorter in the visuotactile feedback group than the visual feedback group (p < .05). Compared to the pre-intervention, the repositioning error angles of the thoracic and lumbar vertebrae of all groups were reduced significantly immediately after intervention and after five minutes. After 10 minutes, there was a significant difference in the thoracic and lumbar repositioning error angles of the tactile feedback group and the visuotactile feedback group (p < .05). No significant difference was noted at any time compared to the pre-intervention in all groups (p > .05). CONCLUSION: The use of tactile and visuotactile feedback in intervention to correct the sitting posture is proposed.