• Journal of Korean Physical Therapy Science
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.29-40
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• 2011

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyze the changes of parameters of foot contact by various carrying a pack methods during walking. Method: The subjects were consisted of normal forty four persons (males 30, females 14, mean age 23). The carrying a pack methods were classified into five conditions: carrying no bag(Con 1), carrying a backpack(Con 2), carrying a shoulder bag(Con 3), carrying a cross bag(Con 4), carrying a one-hand bag(Con 5). All subjects were participated in these five condition and measured foot pressure by F-scan system during walking. Then foot contact time, foot contact area, foot contact length and width were measured and analyzed. The repeated one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to get difference between conditions and independent t-test was used to get difference between left and right foot within condition. Result: In the comparison of parameters of foot, contact time, contact area and mid foot width were significantly different between conditions(p<.05), and in both foot contact time at condition 5 showed the most significant reduction(p<.05). In the comparison of parameters of foot between left and right foot within condition, every conditions were not significantly different(p>.05). Conclusion: In this study various carrying methods changed the parameters of foot contact and showed significant difference in some articles between carrying methods. However, asymmetric load of pack by carrying methods didn't affected symmetry of parameters of foot contact between left and right foot.

• Journal of Korean Physical Therapy Science
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.29-37
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• 2004

Measurements of plantar pressure provide an indication of foot and ankle function during gait and other functional activities because the foot and ankle provide necessary support and flexibility for weight bearing and weight shifting while people are performing these activities. Plantar pressure is being increasingly used in both research and clinical practice to measure the effects of various footwear and physical therapy intervention. The influence of walking speed and ground inclination on plantar pressure parameters However has not been evaluated in detail. So, in this study to determine the effect of changes in walking speed and ground inclination on plantar pressure treadmills with different walking speeds and inclination were used. Plantar pressure parameters were measured with the Parotec system using the walking and running in 20 healthy participants(10 male, 10 female) aged $20{\sim}28$(mean 22.22, S.D.2.26 years) when slow walking and running. The result of this study with increased die walking speed, the peak pressure of 1st, 5th metatarsal head and total contact time and impulse total at the forefoot was affected by walking speed; however, die peak pressure, contact time and impulse total at the forefoot was not affected by ground inclination.

• Journal of Korean Foot and Ankle Society
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.17-23
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• 2023

Purpose: Toe-in gait is defined as a style of walking in which the foot turns inward. It may be caused by an increase in femoral bone anteversion, tibia torsion, and metatarsus adductus. There are some conservative treatment approaches used to correct this condition. This review aimed to determine the effects of the toe-in gait on joint loading, kinematics, and kinetic parameters while walking. Moreover, it sought to determine the efficiency of various conservative treatments used to correct the condition. Materials and Methods: A literature search was conducted in the following databases: PubMed, Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), Web of Science database, EBSCO, and Embase, using the following keywords in toe, toe-in, toeing, in-toe, pigeon toe, and conservative treatment published between 1950 and 2021. The quality of the studies was evaluated using the Down and Black tool. Results: A total of 13 papers on the impact of toe-in gait on joint contact force, kinematics, kinetic parameters, and conservative approaches to management were found. The quality of the studies varied between a score of 11 and 22. The toe-in gait influences the joint contact forces and kinematics of the joints, especially the hip and pelvis. The effects of conservative treatment on the toe-in gait appear to be controversial. Conclusion: As the toe-in gait influences the joint contact force, it may increase the incidence of degenerative joint diseases. Therefore, treatment is recommended. However, there is no strong evidence on the efficacy of conservative treatments, and there are no recommendations for the use of these treatments in subjects with toe-in gait.

• Journal of Korean Foot and Ankle Society
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.21-26
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• 2024

Purpose: Foot pressure measurement devices are used widely in clinical settings for plantar pressure assessments. Despite the availability of various devices, studies evaluating the inter-device reliability are limited. This study compared plantar pressure measurements obtained from HR Mat (Tekscan Inc.) and EMED-n50 (Novel GmbH). Materials and Methods: The study involved 38 healthy male volunteers. The participants were categorized into two groups based on the Meary's angle in standing foot lateral radiographs: those with normal feet (angles ranging from -4° to 4°) and those with mild flatfeet (angles from -8° to -15°). The static and dynamic plantar pressures of the participants were measured using HR Mat and EMED-n50. The reliability of the contact area and mean force was assessed using the interclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Furthermore, the differences in measurements between the two devices were examined, considering the presence of mild flatfoot. Results: The ICC values for the contact area and mean force ranged from 0.703 to 0.947, indicating good-to-excellent reliability across all areas. EMED-n50 tended to record higher contact areas than HR Mat. The mean force was significantly higher in the forefoot region when measured with EMED-n50, whereas, in the hindfoot region, this difference was observed only during static measurements with HR Mat. Participants with mild flatfeet exhibited significantly higher contact areas in the midfoot region for both devices, with no consistent differences in the other parameters. Conclusion: The contact area and mean force measurements of the HR Mat and EMED-n50 showed high reliability. On the other hand, EMED-n50 tended to record higher contact areas than HR Mat. In cases of mild flatfoot, an increase in contact area within the midfoot region was observed, but no consistent impact on the differences between the two devices was evident.

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.189-195
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• 2017

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the effect of foot landing type (forefoot vs. rearfoot landing) on kinematics, kinetics, and energy absorption of hip, knee, and ankle joints. Method: Twenty-five healthy men performed single-leg landings with two different foot landing types: forefoot and rearfoot landing. A motion-capture system equipped with eight infrared cameras and a synchronized force plate embedded in the floor was used. Three-dimensional kinematic and kinetic parameters were compared using paired two-tailed Student's t-tests at a significance level of .05. Results: On initial contact, a greater knee flexion angle was shown during rearfoot landing (p < .001), but the lower knee flexion angle was found at peak vertical ground reaction force (GRF) (p < .001). On initial contact, ankles showed plantarflexion, inversion, and external rotation during forefoot landing, while dorsiflexion, eversion, and internal rotation were shown during rearfoot landing (p < .001, all). At peak vertical GRF, the knee extension moment and ankle plantarflexion moment were lower in rearfoot landing than in forefoot landing (p = .003 and p < .001, respectively). From initial contact to peak vertical GRF, the negative work of the hip, knee, and ankle joint was significantly reduced during rearfoot landing (p < .001, all). The contribution to the total work of the ankle joint was the greatest during forefoot landing, whereas the contribution to the total work of the hip joint was the greatest during rearfoot landing. Conclusion: These results suggest that the energy absorption strategy was changed during rearfoot landing compared with forefoot landing according to lower-extremity joint kinematics and kinetics.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.213-218
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• 2000

Pressure distributions of the soft tissue are valuable for understanding and diagnosing the disease characteristics due to the mechanical loading. Our system measures dynamic pressure distributions in real-time under the general PC environment, and analyzes various foot disorders. Main features of the developed system are as follows: (1) With the resistive pressure sensor matrix of 40${\times}$40 cells, the data is sent to the PC with the maximum sampling rate of 40 frames/sec. (2) For each frame, contact area, pressure and force are analyzed by graphic forms. Thus, various biomechanical parameters are easily determined at specific areas of interests. (3) A certain stance phase can be chosen for the analysis from the continuous walking, and the detailed biomechanical analysis can be done according to an arbitrary line dividing anterior/posterior or medial/lateral plantar areas. (4) The center of pressure (COP) is calculated and traced from the pressure distribution data, and thus the movement of the COP is monitored in detail. A few experiments revealed that our system successfully measured the dynamic plantar distribution during normal walking.

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.159-164
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• 2018

Objective: The aims of this study were to determine the impact peak force and kinematic variables in running speed and investigate the relationship between them. Method: Thirty-nine male heel strike runners ($mean\;age=21.7{\pm}1.6y$, $mean\;mass=72.5{\pm}8.7kg$, $mean\;height=176.6{\pm}6.1cm$) were recruited in this investigation. The impact peak forces during treadmill running were assessed, and the kinematic variables were computed using three-dimensional data collected using eight infrared cameras (Oqus 300, Qualisys, Sweden). One-way analysis of variance ANOVAwas used to investigate the influence of the running speed on the parameters, and Pearson's partial correlation was used to investigate the relationship between the impact peak force and kinematic variables. Results: The running speed affected the impact peak force, stride length, stride frequency, and kinematic variables during the stride phase and the foot angle at heel contact; however, it did not affect the ankle and knee joint angles in the sagittal plane at heel contact. No significant correlation was noted between the impact peak force and kinematic variables in constantrunning speed. Conclusion: Increasing ankle and knee joint angles at heel contact may not be related to the mechanism behind reducing the impact peak force during treadmill running at constant speed.

• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.285-292
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• 2023

Small-scale ground mobile robots can access confined spaces where people or larger robots are unable. As the scale of the robot decreases, the relative size of the environment increases; therefore, maintaining the mobility of the small-scale robot is required. However, small-scale robots have limitations in using a large number of high-performance actuators, powerful computational devices, and a power source. Insects can effectively navigate various terrains in nature with their legged motion. Discrete contact with the ground and the foot enables creatures to traverse irregular surfaces. Inspired by the leg motion of the insect, researchers have developed small-scale robots and they implemented swing and lifting motions of the leg by designing leg linkages that can be adapted to small-scale robots. In this paper, we propose a leg linkage design for insect-inspired small-scale ground mobile robots. To use minimal actuation and reduce the control complexity, we designed a 1-DOF 3-dimensional leg linkage that can generate a proper leg trajectory using one continuous rotational input. We analyzed the kinematics of the proposed leg linkage to investigate the effect of link parameters on the foot trajectory.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.127-138
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• 1998

This study was carried out tn invstigate and compare biomechanical characteristics during free speed gait in hemiplegic patients after stroke who took therapeutic exercise by analyzing kinematic and kinetic data in the sagital plane and electromyographic data. Six patients($41\~69$ years old) and age-matched six volunteers in good health(51-61 years old) wire studied. The patients were sorted into two groups, depending on their self-speed of walking : fast speed group(3 patients) and slow speed group(3 patients). The results were as fellows. : 1. In spatio-temparal parameters, affected and unaffected side of fast group showed symetry but blew group showed asymetry of single limb support, opposite foot contact and stance phase (p<0.05). Compared with normal group, patient group showed slower velocity, shoter stride length and longer double limb support (p<0.05). 2. In the pelvic anterior tilt, patient group showed lower valued than normal group. It. In the ground reaction force-vertical force, fast group showed similar double peak gragh compared with normal group, butvslow group showed lower values without double peak (p<0.05).

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.529-542
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• 2023

Wave propagation with high transverse deflection could affect the stability of the ball in its trajectory. For low stiffness balls similar to soccer and volleyball balls, the waves are more noticeable in comparison to other balls like ping-pong ball. On the other hand, the soccer balls are under heavy impact loads from shoots and contacting different objects in the field. The maximum recorded speed of a soccer ball after kicking is the 211 km/hr and the average maximum speed is around 112 km/hr. Therefore, in such speeds the aerodynamic forces become important which are directly related to geometrical shape of the ball. In this regard, the wave propagation in soccer ball is examined in the current study using large deformation shear deformable formulations. Classical relations of stress-strain components are taken into consideration along with minimum total energy principle. The final derived relations were solved by using harmonic differential quadrature method. The results are generally presented ion term of phase velocity as function of different influencing parameters of the materials, geometry and mass of the ball.