• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.285-291
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• 2014

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to propose clinical criteria to differentiate patients who are able to perform the step-through-step gait pattern in chronic stroke patients. METHODS: Sixty patients with chronic stroke patients participated this study. To differentiate patients who could perform the step-through-step gait pattern, age, gender, and causes of stroke were noted, a Chedoke-McMaster (CM) damage list, Fugl-Meyer (FM) assessment scales and the Berg Balance Scale (BBS) were determined. A 10 meter gait test and Timed Up and Go (TUG) test were conducted to determine the differences in gait speed and dynamic balance between patients walking with or without canes in the step-through-step gait pattern group. RESULTS: There was no significant statistical difference in age, gender, and stroke type between all subjects. There were significant differences in the CM scale for postural and lower extremities, and FM scale for lower extremities and BBS. The dynamic balance ability and gait speed showed significant differences between the subjects in the step-through-step gait pattern with or without a cane during gait. CONCLUSION: CM and FM scales for the lower extremities and postural control, as well as BBS scales, can be used as criteria to differentiate patients who are able to perform the step-through-step gait pattern. These results can also be used to provide beneficial information to patients that are walking with canes.

• PNF and Movement
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.125-134
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• 2022

Purpose: The aim of this study was to establish an association between grip strength and gait variability in the elderly. Methods: The participants in this experiment (n = 20) were aged 65 or older. Power grip and lateral pinch forces were obtained in grip strength tests, and spatiotemporal gait parameters were collected from IMU sensors during 6 min actual walking to test the gait of participants. The collected gait parameters were converted to coefficient of variation (CV) values. To confirm the association between grip strength and gait variability, a partial correlation analysis was conducted in which height, weight, and gait speed were input as controlling variables. Results: Grip power showed a significant negative correlation with the stride length CV (r = -0.52), and the lateral pinch force showed a significant negative correlation with the stance CV (r = -0.65) and swing CV (r = -0.63). Conclusion: This study reveals that gait variability decreases as grip strength increases, although height, weight, and gait speed were controlled. Thus, grip strength testing, a simple aging evaluation method, can help identify unstable gait in older adults at risk of falling, and grip strength can be utilized as a non-invasive measurement method for frailty management and prevention.

• ETRI Journal
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.522-530
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• 2018

In this study, we developed a robotic walker that actively controls its speed and direction of movement according to the user's gait intention. Sensor fusion between a low-cost light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensor and inertia measurement units (IMUs) helps determine the user's gait intention. The LiDAR determines the walking direction by detecting both knees, and the IMUs attached on each foot obtain the angular rate of the gait. The user's gait intention is given as the directional angle and the speed of movement. The two motors in the robotic walker are controlled with these two variables, which represent the user's gait intention. The estimated direction angle is verified by comparison with a Kinect sensor that detects the centroid trajectory of both the user's feet. We validated the robotic walker with an experiment by controlling it using the estimated gait intention.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapy
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.67-71
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• 2013

Background: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of somatosensory stimulations with joints mobilization in foot on balance and gait speed in elderly women. Methods: This study included 2 female participants aged 72 years. Participants received somatosensory simulations with joints mobilization on both foot for 30 minutes a day, 3 days a week, during a 4 week period. All subjects were assessed using a BT(balance trainer)-4 balance measurement and timed up and go test (TUG), 10m walk test (10MWT). Results: It has been found that static length and static area were reduced and limits of stability was increased in 2 females. TUG test was improved but gait speed was not significantly difference. Conclusion: Those results indicate that somatosensory stimulations with joints mobilization is effective in elderly women to promoting a static and dynamic balance ability.

• Journal of Internet Computing and Services
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.41-50
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• 2020

The consequences of wearing high heels can be different according to the heel height, gait speed, shoe design, heel base area, and shoe size. This study aimed to focus on the knee extension and flexion range of motion (ROM) during gait, which were challenged by wearing five different shoe heel types and two different self-selected gait speeds (comfortable and fast) as experimental conditions. Measurement standards of knee extension and flexion ROM were individually calibrated at the time of heel strike, mid-stance, toe-off, and stance phase based on the 2-minute video recordings of each gait condition. Seven healthy young women (20.7 ± 0.8 years) participated and they were asked to walk on a treadmill wearing the five given shoes at a self-selected comfortable speed (average of 2.4 ± 0.3 km/h) and a fast speed (average of 5.1 ± 0.2 km/h) in a random order. All of the shoes were in size 23.5 cm. Three of the given shoes were 9.0 cm in height, the other two were flat shoes and sneakers. A motion capture software (Kinovea 0.8.27) was used to measure the kinematic data; changes in the knee angles during each gait. During fast speed gait, the knee extension angles at heel strike and mid-stance were significantly decreased in all of the 3 high heels (p<0.05). The results revealed that fast gait speed causes knee flexion angle to significantly increase at toe-off in all five types of shoes. However, there was a significant difference in both the knee flexion and extension angles when the gait in stiletto heels and flat shoes were compared in fast gait condition (p<0.05). This showed that walking fast in high heels leads to abnormal knee ROM and thus can cause damages to the knee joints. The findings in this preliminary study can be a basis for future studies on the kinematic changes in the lower extremity during gait and for the analysis of causes and preventive methods for musculoskeletal injuries related to wearing high heels.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.135-144
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• 2008

Purpose : The purpose of this study was to identify the effect of body weight support treadmill training (BWSTT) and parallel bar gait training(P-bar) on gait and balance ability of subacute stroke patients. The subjects were consisted of 27 patients with subacute stroke, and they were randomly devided into two groups which were BWSTT group and P-bar group. Method : The timed up and go(TUG), 10m gait speed were used to measure gait speed, Bergs balance scale(BBS) was used to measure dynamic balance ability, and balance performance monitor(BPM) was used to measure sway area, sway path, max velocity. Result : 1. The TUG and 10m gait speed of BWSTT group and P-bar group were significantly decreased (p<.05). The TUG and 10m gait speed were different significantly between BWSTT group and P-bar group(p<.05). 2. The BBS and sway area of BWSTT group and P-bar group were significantly decreased (p<.05). The BBS and sway area were not different significantly between BWSTT group and P-bar group(p>.05). 3. The sway path and max velocity of BWSTT group and P-bar group were significantly decreased (p<.05). The sway path and max velocity were not different significantly between BWSTI group and P-bar group(p>.05). Conclusion : The outcomes suggest that patient with subacute stroke can improve their gait and balance through body weight support treadmill training.

• Journal of Korea Multimedia Society
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.787-795
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• 2008

Human recognition on camera is an interesting topic in computer vision. While fingerprint and face recognition have been become common, gait is considered as a new biometric feature for distance recognition. In this paper, we propose a gait recognition algorithm based on the knee angle, 2 feet distance, walking velocity and head direction of a person who appear in camera view on one gait cycle. The background subtraction method firstly use for binary moving object extraction and then base on it we continue detect the leg region, head region and get gait features (leg angle, leg swing amplitude). Another feature, walking speed, also can be detected after a gait cycle finished. And then, we compute the errors between calculated features and stored features for recognition. This method gives good results when we performed testing using indoor and outdoor landscape in both lateral, oblique view.

• PNF and Movement
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.435-440
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• 2021

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of older adult's head-turn gait on gait parameters by comparing with head oriented forward gait and to provide criteria for their risk of falling compared to young adult. Methods: The subjects were 19 young adults in their 20s and 18 older adults in their 60s or above residing in Daegu or Gyeongsangbuk-do. To evaluate their gait parameters, spatiotemporal gait parameters were measured using a gait analysis tool (Legsys, BioSensics, USA) under two conditions: 1) walking while keeping one's eyes forward and 2) walking while turning the head. The measurement for each test was performed after one practice session, and the mean value of three measurements was analyzed. The collected data were statistically processed using a two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) to compare any differences in gait parameters between the two groups under the two conditions. The statistical significance level was set at α=0.05. Results: According to the comparison of gait parameters in young adult and older adult between the head oriented forward gait and head-turn gait, statistically significant differences were observed in two parameters: stride length according to the height ratio and stride speed obtained by dividing the stride length according to the height ratio by time (p<0.05). Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that the head-turn gait causes greater differences in stride length and speed among older adult than in young adult and therefore can act as a cause of falling.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.156-164
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• 2017

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the level of pain, gait speed, and ROM (Range of motion) in community-dwelling older adults with knee joint pain. Methods: A convenience sample of 160 participants living in G city were recruited. Elderly people who suffer from knee joint pain with a pain level ${\geq}5$ during the last one year on a visual analogue scale were included in the study. The data were collected from June to August 2016. All statistical analyses were performed using IBM SPSS ver. 22.0. Results: Participants' pain was 6.81 by VAS. The mean gait speed was 13.9 sec/10m. The ROM of left knee and right knee were $54.06^{\circ}$ and $56.50^{\circ}$, respectively. The level of pain was different according to gender (t=-4.87, p<.001), economic status (t=3.51, p=.032), diseases (t=5.23, p<.001), diagnosis of arthritis (t=3.86, p<.001), region of knee joint pain (F=9.30, p<.001), duration of pain occurrence (F=13.82, p<.001), and limp (F=3.58, p<.001). The level of knee joint pain and gait speed had significant correlations. Conclusion: The gait speed in older adults is an important variable that should be taken into account in the assessment of their level of knee joint pain.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapy
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.9-17
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• 2022

Background: Functional massage is a therapeutic massage that incorporates joint motion in non-end-range to reduce pain and improve range of motion (ROM) in patients. This study was aimed at investigating the immediate effect of functional massage on pain, range of motion, balance ability and, gait speed of patients having undergone total hip replacement. Methods: Twenty patients were treated by one participating orthopedic manual physical therapist and randomly assigned to the control group (n=10) or the experimental group (n=10). To treat patients of each group, functional massage and range of motion exercises were used. The experimental group received a functional massage and the control group received range of motion exercise for minutes for one session. The visual analog scale was used for pain assessment. Balance ability was measured using a timed up and go test and a one-leg standing test for patients. The 10-meter walk test was used for the measurement of gait speed assessment of patients. Results: Significant improvements were observed in terms of balance ability (p<.05), gait speed (p<.05), and ROM (p<.05) after functional massage. There was no significant inter-group difference (p>.05). Conclusion: Application of the functional massage showed that statistically significant improvements in ROM, gait speed, and balance ability after a single treatment session. This technique may be a useful treatment in patients having undergone total hip replacement.