Effects of increasing walking cadence on gait biomechanics in adults with knee osteoarthritis.

Gait retraining is a strategy to manage altered loading patterns and pain characteristic of knee osteoarthritis. Lower walking cadence is associated with higher knee joint loading, vertical ground reaction forces, and risk for cartilage worsening. Therefore, we determined the acute effects of increasing walking cadence on measures of lower extremity loading and knee pain in knee osteoarthritis.

Induced discomfort promotes executive function while walking with(out) an artificial neuromuscular impairment.

Neuromotor disorders can degrade one's ability to locomote and attend to salient stimuli in the environment. Many disorders are physiologically complex, making it difficult to tease apart interactions between motor adaptation and executive function processes. We address this challenge by giving participants a controlled artificial impairment, using electrical stimulation to produce an uncomfortable disruption in normal muscular coordination during locomotion.

Neurorehabilitation robotics: how much control should therapists have?

Robotic technologies for rehabilitating motor impairments from neurological injuries have been the focus of intensive research and capital investment for more than 30 years. However, these devices have failed to convincingly demonstrate greater restoration of patient function compared to conventional therapy. Nevertheless, robots have value in reducing the manual effort required for physical therapists to provide high-intensity, high-dose interventions.

Traumatic Humeral Diaphysis Extrusion and Replantation With Periosteal Involvement.

Open fractures that produce an extruded long bone diaphysis, such as this case, are an exceedingly rare incident, with even fewer cases documented, leading to difficult medical decision-making for the operative management of such situations. Options for operative management include replantation following sterilization of the extruded fragment, bone transport, a vascularized fibular graft, and even allograft reconstruction. Each option is associated with high and variable levels of risk.

Recurrence Quantification Analysis of Ankle Kinematics During Gait in Individuals With Chronic Ankle Instability.

Purpose: An investigation of the ankle dynamics in a motor task may generate insights into the etiology of chronic ankle instability (CAI). This study presents a novel application of recurrence quantification analysis (RQA) to examine the ankle dynamics during walking. We hypothesized that CAI is associated with changes in the ankle dynamics as assessed by measures of determinism and laminarity using RQA.