• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.159-164
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• 2003

Results : 1. The most important concept of IMS is chronic pain illness that may develop into hypersensitivity of the nerves, i.e., neuropathy. 2. Muscle shortening may be triggered by stress, including emotional, physical, external, and internal factors. 3. Muscle shortening increases mechanical tension on the muscles as well as inducing abrasion of the tissues by stretching ligament, tendon, cartilage, bone, and etc. 4. Pain from neuropathy is normally manifested on musculoskeletal system and spasm or shortening play as the central axis of this pain. 5. Neuropathy often appears at the nerve root level and the most important decisive factor of radiculopathy is muscle shortening. 6. Spondylosis is the most common cause of radiculopathy. 7. The most significant treatment principle of IMS is to relieve muscle shortening and remove stimulating determinant from the vertebrae. 8. Dry needling is quite effective for treating various pain caused by muscle shortening.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.241-253
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• 2016

Depending on the researcher, the effect of prestressing on the natural frequency of a PSC (prestressed concrete) structure appear to have been interpreted differently. Most laboratory tests on PSC beams available showed that the natural frequency is increased appreciably by prestressing. On the other hand, some other references based on field experience argued that the dynamic response of a PSC structure does not change regardless of the prestressing applied. Therefore, the deduced conclusions are inconsistent. Because an experiment with and without prestressing is a difficult task on a full size PSC bridge, the change in natural frequency of a PSC bridge due to prestressing may not be examined through field measurements. The study examined analytically the effects of prestressing on the natural frequency of PSC bridges. A finite element program for an undamped dynamic motion of a beam-tendon system was developed with additional geometric stiffness. The analytical results confirm that a key parameter in changing the natural frequency due to prestressing is the relative ratio of prestressing to the total weight of the structure rather than the prestressing itself.

• Archives of Reconstructive Microsurgery
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.95-101
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• 1998

From march 1993 to march 1998, twenty consecutive transmetacarpal replantations and revascularizations were reviewed retrospectively. Nine patients sustained severe and diffuse crush injuries, four patients had local crush injuries, and seven suffered guillotine type amputation. Six replantations and fourteen revascularizations were performed. 76 of 81 replantable digits(93%) were salvaged. 15 patients required secondary surgery, 10 patients for tendon and joint scarring and 5 for nonunions or malunions. Intrinsic muscle function and pinch and grip strengths were weak or absent. According to Chen's grading system of functional return, 2(10%) were grade I, 6(30%) were grade II, 10(50%) were grade III, and 2(10%) grade IV. The follow-up period ranged from 6months to 46 months. Only 3 patients resumed his prior occupation(one as a supervisor); 2 were permanently disabled, 4 pursued new occupations as a manual worker, 1 were still in therapy. Only two of the manual laborers were able to return to their preinjury occupation. Despite these unacceptable functional results, all patients were satisfied with the surgery.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.521-528
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• 2009

This study is about to evaluation of postural stability according to characteristics of electrical stimulation on the ankle muscles. We measured body sway(center of pressure, COP) when various parameters of electrical stimulation was applied to ankle muscles in stable and unstable posture. Subjects consisted of 10 young adults, and electrical stimulation was delivered on right and left of tibialis anterior and Achilles tendon. The body sway was measured during electrical stimulation of three duty cycle and frequencies in stable posture and three amplitudes of sensory threshold in unstable posture. Consequently, the COP Shift is higher during electrical stimulation of 1/30(duty ratio) and 100Hz(frequency) in stable posture. In unstable posture, 100% amplitude of sensory threshold induced postural stability. These findings are important for the rehabilitation system of postural stability and the use of electrical stimulation as somatosensory information.

• Clinics in Shoulder and Elbow
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.27-33
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• 2006

Purpose: To investigate early complications after repair of massive rotator cuff tears and to find out factors that compromise the results. Materials and Methods: Fourteen patients who had two or more cuff tendons involved were included. All patients were operated by open acromioplasty and rotator cuff repair. At 3 months after operation, we investigated whether there were any early complications or not. We used ASES scoring system for preoperative and follow up evaluation. In addition, various preoperative factors, such as duration of symptom, degree of tendon retraction, degree of fatty degeneration, and acromio-humeral distance, were compared between the complicated patients and non-complicated patients. Results: At 3 months after operation, the ASES score and pain were improved in any degree in all patients. But 5 patients complained persisting pain, and three of them showed major complications such as re-rupture of rotator cuff or deltoid rupture. But no preoperative factors in complicated patients were significantly different from those in non-complicated patients. Conclusion: None of the preoperative factors were related to the complications. There was a tendency of overestimation of fatty degeneration in MRI. Some factors in surgical technique and rehabilitation were highly suspected to be related to the complications.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.319-328
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• 2010

Bonded tendons have been used in reactor buildings at some operating nuclear power plants in Korea. Assessing prestress force on these bonded tendons has become an important pending problem in efforts to assure continued operation beyond their design life. The System Identification (SI) technique was thus developed to improve upon the existing indirect assessment technique for bonded tendons. As a first step, this study analyzed the sensitivity of the key parameters to prestress force, and then determined the optimal parameters for the SI technique. A total of six scaled post-tensioned concrete beams with bonded tendons were manufactured. In order to investigate the correlation of the natural frequency and the displacement to prestress force, an impact test, a Single Input Multiple Output (SIMO) sine sweep test, and a bending test using an optical fiber sensor and compact displacement transducer were carried out. These tests found that both the natural frequency and the displacement show a good correlation with prestress force and that both parameters are available for the SI technique to predict prestress force. However, displacements by the optical fiber sensor and compact displacement transducer were shown to be more sensitive than the natural frequency to prestress force. Such displacements are more useful than the natural frequency as an input parameter for the SI technique.

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.61-67
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• 2018

Objective: The human body is often modelled as a spring-mass system. Lower extremity stiffness has been considered to be one of key factor in the performance enhancement of running, jumping, and hopping involved sports activities. There are several different classification of lower extremity stiffness consisting of vertical stiffness, leg stiffness, joint stiffness, as well as muscle and tendon stiffness. The primary purpose of this paper was to review the literature and describe different stiffness models and discuss applications of stiffness models while engaging in sports activities. In addition, this paper provided a current update of the lower extremity literature as it investigates the relationships between lower extremity stiffness and both functional performance and injury. Summary: Because various methods for measuring lower extremity stiffness are existing, measurements should always be accompanied by a detailed description including type of stiffness, testing method and calculation method. Moreover, investigator should be cautious when comparing lower extremity stiffness from different methods. Some evidence highlights that optimal degree of lower extremity stiffness is required for successful athletic performance. However, the actual magnitude of stiffness required to optimize performance is relatively unexplored. Direct relationship between lower extremity stiffness and lower extremity injuries has not clearly been established yet. Overall, high stiffness is potentially associate risk factors of lower extremity injuries although some of the evidence is controversial. Prospective injures studies are necessary to confirm this relationship. Moreover, further biomechanical and physiological investigation is needed to identify the optimal regulation of the lower limb stiffness behavior and its impact on athletic performance and lower limb injuries.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.73 no.4
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• pp.447-454
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• 2020

Seismic isolation technology has a wide application to protect bridges from earthquake damage, a new designed bridge pier with seismic isolation are provided for railways in seismic regions of China. The pier with rocking isolation is a self-centering system under small and moderate earthquakes, and the unbonded prestressed tendons are used to prevent overturning under strong earthquakes. A numerical model based on pseudo-static testing results is presented to evaluate the seismic performance of isolation bridge piers, and is validated by the shaking table test. It is found that the rocking response and the loss of prestressing for the bridge pier increase with the increase of earthquake intensity. Besides, the intensity and spectral characteristics of input ground motion have great influence on displacement of the top and bottom of the bridge pier, while have less influence on the bending moment of the pier bottom. Experimental and numerical results show that the rocking-isolated piers presented in this study have good seismic performance, and it provides an alternative way for the railway bridge in the regions with high occurrence of earthquakes. Therefore, we provide the detailed procedures for seismic design of the rocking-isolated bridge pier, and a case study of the seismic isolation design with rocking piers is carried out to popularize the seismic isolation methods.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.517-532
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• 2000

A direct output feedback control scheme was recently proposed by the authors for single-story building structures resting on flexible soil body. In this paper, the control scheme is extended to mitigate the seismic responses of multi-story buildings. Soil-structure interaction is taken into account in two parts: input at the soil-structure interface/foundation and control algorithm. The former reflects the effect on ground motions and is monitored in real time with accelerometers at foundation. The latter includes the effect on the dynamic characteristics of structures, which is formulated by modifying the classical linear quadratic regulator based on the fundamental mode shape of the soil-structure system. Numerical result on the study of a $\frac{1}{4}$-scale three-story structure, supported by a viscoelastic half-space of soil mass, have demonstrated that the proposed algorithm is robust and very effective in suppressing the earthquake-induced vibration in building structures even supported on a flexible soil mass. Parametric studies are performed to understand how soil damping and flexibility affect the effectiveness of active tendon control. The selection of weighting matrix and effect of soil property uncertainty are investigated in detail for practical applications.

• Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Science
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.279-284
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• 2022

Objective: This study was conducted to confirm the effect of physiotherapy on the balance and walking in dog with sciatic nerve injury and degenerative arthritis of stifle joints. Design: Single case study Methods: The dog walked abnormally for six months and was administrated in S animal hospital. The dog's right hindlimb was operated for cranial cruciate ligament repair and the dog had been taking a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory analgesic before being refered. There was severe degenerated osteoarthritis in the right hindlimb. During stance and walking, the right hindlimb was often shown partial weight bearing. The dog's left hindlimb was shown plantigrade stance and walking. The radiograph was shown an intact calcaneal tendon in the left hindlimb. In the neurologic examination, sciatic nerve injury in the left hindlimb was confirmed. The dog was treated using muscle strengthening, proprioceptive exercise, underwater treadmill and Laser therapy two, or three times a week for 3 months. At the 10th and 17th treatment, it was evaluated through stance and gait analyzer system to measure dog's balance and walking. Results: 3 months following physiotherapy, the dog's balance was improved in center of pressure(COP). And peak vertical force(PVF), vertical impulse(VI) was increased in right hindlimb and double stance was decreased. Conclusions: Physiotherapy may have improved the prognosis in this dog with severe osteoarthritis and sciatic nerve injury. This study suggested that animal physiotherapy is a valuable way to improve balance and walking.