• Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Science
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.55-59
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• 2015

Objective: This study aimed to elucidate the effects of thoracolumbar fascia release (TLFR) on the degree of pain and disability in patients with shoulder pain. Design: Randomized control trial. Methods: Thirty subjects with shoulder pain participated in this study. They were allocated to TLFR group (n=15) and manual physical therapy (MPT) group (n=15). Shoulder pain and disability index (SPADI) and the score on the visual analogue scale (VAS) were measured before and after TLFR. Results: In the TLFR group, the degree of shoulder pain as indicated by SPADI measured after the intervention significantly differed from that before the intervention (p<0.05); moreover, in the MPT group, the degree of shoulder pain was significantly lower (p<0.05). The data of the 2 groups before the intervention significantly differed from those after the intervention (p<0.05). SPADI significantly differed within the groups (p<0.05), but not between the groups. The sum of SPADI did not differ significantly between the groups. The VAS scores of shoulder pain measured before the intervention significantly differed from those measured after the intervention (p<0.05) in the both groups. After the intervention, shoulder pain decreased significantly in the TLFR group as compared to that in the MPT group. Conclusions: TLF release was effective in reducing shoulder pain. The results of this study can be applied in clinical practice for TLFR performed to reduce shoulder pain. Further studies will need to be performed to elucidate the effects of TLFR on functional recovery.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.863-871
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• 2007

Spectroscopic characteristics of river water from four major watersheds in the Ulsan area were measured to examine their potential for estimating water quality parameters. The total 176 river samples were collected from 44 sites of small streams within the watersheds during the year 2006. Spectroscopic characteristics investigated included protein-like fluorescence (FLF) intensity, fulvic-like fluorescence (FLF) intensity, terrestrial humic-like fluorescence (TLF) intensity, UV absorbance at 254 nm, and UV absorbance difference at 220 nm and 254 nm. Protein-like fluorescence intensity showed linear relationships with biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total phosphorous (TP) concentrations of the samples with the correlation of 0.784, 0.779, and 0.733, respectively. Due to the UV absorption characteristics of nitrate at 220 nm, UV absorbance difference at 220 nm and 254 nm was selected to represent total nitrogen (TN) concentration. Exclusion of some samples with PLF intensity higher than 5.0 improved the correlation between the UV absorbance difference and TN as demonstrated by the increase of the correlation coefficient from 0.392 to 0.784. Instead, for the samples with PLF intensity lower than 5.0, the highest correlation of TN was achieved with UV absorbance at 254 nm. The results suggest that PLF intensity could be used as the estimation index for BOD, COD, and TP concentration of river water, and as the primary screening index for the prediction of TN using UV absorbance difference. Some BOD-based water quality levels among the river water were statistically discriminated by the PLF intensity. Low p-values were obtained from the t-tests on the samples with the first level and the second level (p=0.0003) and the samples with the second and the third levels (p=0.0413). Our combined results demonstrated that the selected spectroscopic characteristics of river water could be utilized as a tool for on-site real-time monitoring and/or the primary estimation of water quality.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.111-119
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• 2005

The purpose of this study was to compare the differences of hip and thigh muscle activities between subjects with increased and decreased femoral anteversion during stair ascent. Twelve healthy female volunteers participated in this study. The subjects were divided into two groups (group 1 with increased anteversion of the hip, group 2 with decreased anteversion of the hip). This study analyzed differences in each mean peak gluteus maximus (GM), gluteus medius (GD) and tensor fascia lata (TLF) EMG amplitude: composite mean peak hip muscles (GM, GD, TFL) EMG amplitude ratios and in each mean peak vastus medialis oblique (VMO), vastus lateralis (VL), biceps femoris (HM) and semitendinosus (HL) EMG amplitude: composite thigh muscles (VMO, VL, HM, HL) EMG amplitude ratios among subjects with decreased or increased relative femoral anteversion. EMG ratios were compared in the stance and swing phase of stair ascent. Group 1 showed an increased standardized mean GM and GD EMG amplitude and decreased standardized mean TFL to composite mean hip muscles EMG amplitude ratios in stair ascent during both stance and swing phase. Also, group 1 showed an increased standardized mean HL EMG amplitude and decreased standardized mean VL and HM to composite mean thigh muscles EMG amplitude ratios in stair ascent during both stance and swing phases. There was no statistically significant difference in vastus medialis oblique between subjects with increased or decreased relative femoral anteversion. In order to provide rehabilitation professionals with a clearer picture of the specific requirements of the stair climbing task, further research must be expanded to include a wider range of age groups that represent the general public, such as including middle-aged healthy persons.