• PNF and Movement
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.137-144
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• 2019

Purpose: This study examined the effects of the abdominal drawing-in maneuver (ADIM) on muscle activity in the trunk and legs while subjects walk on a ramp. Methods: The subjects were healthy adult males (n=15) and females (n=8) in their twenties. The subjects were asked to maintain the ADIM contraction for 15 minutes using a pressure biofeedback unit. Their muscle activity was then measured while ascending or descending the ramp with or without the ADIM contraction maintained. Activity in the sternocleidomastoid, splenius capitis, rectus abdominis, external oblique abdominal, transversus abdominis, erector spinae, vastus medialis, and vastus lateralis muscles was measured using surface electromyography (TM DTS, Noraxon, USA). A paired t-test was conducted using SPSS 18.0 (IBM) for statistical data processing. Results: Maintaining the ADIM contraction during ascension led to a significant increase (p<0.05) in muscle activity for the rectus abdominis, transversus abdominis, vastus medialis, and vastus lateralis, but a significant decrease (p<0.05) in muscle activity for the erector spinae, when compared to the same activity without the ADIM maintained. Furthermore, maintaining the ADIM contraction during descent led to a significant increase (p<0.05) in muscle activity for the rectus abdominis, external abdominal oblique, transversus abdominis, vastus medialis, and vastus lateralis, but a significant decrease (p<0.05) in muscle activity for the erector spinae, when compared to the same activity without the ADIM maintained. Conclusion: As a result of this study, it maintains the ADIM and reduces lumbar muscle activity at the waist and increases muscle activity in the legs when walking on a ramp. Therefore, maintaining the ADIM contraction during ramp walking is recommended as training to improve the function of patients' muscular skeleton.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.385-390
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• 2021

This study aims to provide primary data for R&D on rollator-walking frame through researching the usability test of the rollator-walking frame and the effect of rollator-walking frames on the lives of senior citizens. This study surveyed 60 senior citizens living in Sungnam City in South Korea. As the result of the usability test, we can find users' dissatisfaction with the folding, weight, shape of backrest and material of chair. The survey shows that the frequency of outdoor activity is mostly increased by the convenience of product. However, the inconvenience while using facilities, such as elevators or public transportations, gave a significant impact on the decrease in going out experiences. Therefore, for better outside lifestyle of senior citizens, it is important to improve the function of the product, however, we need to make improvement of urban infrastructure.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.95-105
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• 2024

PURPOSE: This study aimed to utilize the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) tool to identify a problem list and explore intervention effects using proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) for improving the crosswalk performance of patients who have undergone a bilateral hip arthroplasty. METHODS: The subject of this study was a 43-year-old male who had undergone a bilateral hip arthroplasty. To address the subject's functional status, a clinical decision-making process was carried out in the order of examination, evaluation, diagnosis, prognosis, intervention, and outcome. Patient information during the examination was collected using the ICF core set. The evaluation involved listing the items of each problem using the ICF assessment sheet and identifying the interaction between activity limitations and the impairment level. The diagnosis explicitly described the causal relationships derived from the evaluation using ICF terminology. The prognosis presented activity goals, body function, and structured goals in terms of the activity and participation levels that needed to be achieved for an individual's functional status. The intervention approached problems through the four components of the PNF philosophy, namely basic principles and procedures, techniques, and patterns, in an indirect-direct-task sequence. Results were compared before and after the intervention using the ICF evaluation display. RESULTS: The results of the study showed that the primary activity limitation, which was the walking time across the crosswalk, showed improvement, and the trunk's counter rotation and the weight-bearing capacity of both the lower limbs, which were impairment level indicators, were enhanced. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that PNF intervention strategies will serve as a positive approach for improving crosswalk walking in patients with bilateral hip arthroplasty.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.28-38
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• 2009

Background : Peripheral nerve injuries are a commonly encountered clinical problem and often result in a chronic pain and severe functional deficits. Objective : The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of Gentianae Macrophyllae Radix (G. M. Radix) on the pain control and the recovery of the locomotor function that results from the sciatic crushed nerve injury in rats. Method : Using rats, we crushed their sciatic nerve, and then orally administered the aqueous extract of G. M. Radix. The effects of G. M. Radix on the recovery locomotor function were investigated by walking track analysis. The effects of G. M. Radix on pain control were investigated by brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) expression in the sciatic nerve, and c-Fos expression in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) of the hypothalamus and in the ventrolateral periaqueductal gray (vlPAG). Result : G. M. RADIX facilitates motor function from the locomotor deficit, and thereby increased BDNF expression and suppressed painful stimuli in the PVN and vlPAG after sciatic crushed nerve injury. Conclusion : It is suggested that G. M. Radix might aid recovery locomotor function and control pain after sciatic crushed nerve injury. Further studies on identifying specific the component in G.M. Radix associated with enhanced neural activity in the peripheral nerve injury may be helpful to develop therapeutic strategies for the treatment of peripheral nerve injury.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.18-23
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• 2006

The limited walking ability after a stroke restricts a patient's independent mobility at home and in the community. It also brings about significant social handicaps. Therefore, it is necessary to improve walking ability in community-dwelling persons with stroke. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of gait training and muscle strengthening exercise of lower extremities in persons with chronic stroke. Nineteen community-dwelling individuals with stroke participated in this program. The exercise program lasted for seven weeks, with a 1-hour program twice per week, and it consisted of balance training, gait training, and strengthening of lower extremities. The outcome of the program was assessed by the gait speed, Wisconsin Gait Scale (WGS), Berg Balance Scale (BBS), and Stroke Impact Scale (SIS). Significant effects were found for the WGS, BBS, and mobility and hand function domain of the SIS (p<.05). It was found that short-term gait training exercise could improve quality of gait, balance, and mobility. Therefore, a more effective exercise program is required for community-based persons with stroke.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.13 no.2 s.30
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• pp.109-116
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• 1989

Korean clothings are admired for their beauty and traditional value. On the other hand, many of Korean women complain of chest restriction. Korean skirts may give high garment pressure to the wearers because the Korean skirt-band do not resolve physical tensions in size or in stretch. This paper aims at the identification of the garment pressure caused by the Korean skirt-band and the cardiopulmonary change caused by garment pressure. The Korean skirt-band were made in 3 kinds of size, and 21 women were selected for wearing test. The garment pressure was measured in front, side, and back parts of the body. The measured cardiopulmonary parameters were vital capacity, respiratory rate, heart rate, and blood pressure. The results were as follows: 1. The smaller the size of the Korean skirt-band, the greater the garment pressure. The pressure during inspiration was significantly greater than the pressure during expiration. 2. The pressure in side part was the greatest of the three measurements and the pressure in back part was the smallest. 3. The small size of the Korean skirt-band revealed low vital capcity and great respiratory rate. 4. As the small size grement was dressed, the respiratory rate and the heart rate during walking and rest after walking were significantly high. 5. Subjects felt uncomfortable when they wore small sized garment.

• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.219-231
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• 2020

The objective of this study is to propose a Korean medical rehabilitation protocol for total knee replacement (TKR) and to report its effectiveness. This study was conducted as a retrospective study which analyzes the medical records of 4 patients undergoing Korean medical rehabilitation with protocol and continuous passive motion exercise for more than two weeks after TKR. We evaluated the outcome checking physical examination findings of the knee joint, numeric rating scale (NRS), Lysholm knee score (LKS) and walking state. After the treatment, we observed that the function of knee joint, NRS, LKS, walking state of patients were improved. This study showed that Korean medical rehabilitation protocol has effect on knee joint recovery after TKR. The limitation of this study was the insufficient number of cases and short-term follow up. Further studies should be done steadily to report the effectiveness of a Korean Medical rehabilitation protocol for TKR.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.165-169
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• 2021

A burst fracture refers to the fracture of the anterior and middle vertebral columns which are moving into the spinal canal causing neurological impairments, generally requiring surgical treatment. We herein report a rare case of burst fracture with kissing spine in a 90-year-old man who had severe lower back pain that worsened during back extension. Considering the surgical treatment risk, he was hospitalized at a Korean medicine hospital for 85 days and underwent combined Korean medicine treatments including pharmacopuncture, herbal medicine, chuna, deep-fascia meridian therapy, walking practice, and abdominal breathing. Based on patient-reported scales, his pain was alleviated, and his physical function improved. Furthermore, his range of motion and walking time increased. This case report suggests that combined Korean medicine treatments could be an effective alternative for patients with burst fracture who have surgery risks.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.68 no.3
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• pp.471-479
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• 2019

This research proposes a indoor magnetic map matching algorithm that improves the position accuracy by employing multiple magnetic sensors and probabilistic candidate weighting function. Since the magnetic field is easily distorted by the surrounding environment, the distorted magnetic field can be used for position mapping, and multiple sensor configuration is useful to improve mapping accuracy. Nevertheless, the position error is likely to increase because the external magnetic disturbances have repeated pattern in indoor environment and several points have similar magnetic field distortion characteristics. Those errors cause large position error, which reduces the accuracy of the position detection. In order to solve this problem, we propose a method to reduce the error using multiple sensors and likelihood boundaries that uses human walking characteristics. Also, to reduce the maximum position error, we propose an algorithm that weights according to their importance. We performed indoor walking tests to evaluate the performance of the algorithm and analyzed the position detection error rate and maximum distance error. From the results we can confirm that the accuracy of position detection is greatly improved.

• Composites Research
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.400-405
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• 2021

In this study, a composite material frame was designed to increase the energy harvesting efficiency of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) ribbon harvesters which are installed inside smart shoes. In order to minimize the amount of deformation in the load direction of the frame, it was designed using carbon continuous fiber composites and its complex shaped structure was manufactured using a 3D printer. In order to calculate the amount of deformation of the insole and midsole of the shoes under the condition of the load generated during walking, the insole and midsole were modeled using the distributed spring elements. Using finite element analysis, the elongation of ribbon-type harvesters mounted on smart shoes was calculated during walking. It is expected that the predicted elongation of the harvester can be utilized to increase the energy harvesting efficiency of smart shoes.