Arm weight effects on dynamic walking stability in individuals with hemiparetic stroke.

This study examined the effects of arm weights on dynamic stability during overground walking in individuals with hemiparetic stroke. Arm weights have been shown to improve mobility in stroke survivors, potentially at the cost of decreased dynamic stability and increased fall risk. Data from nine stroke survivors (8 males, 1 female; age: 58.

Immediate Improvements in Patellofemoral Pain Are Associated With Sagittal Plane Movement Training to Improve Use of Gluteus Maximus Muscle During Single Limb Landing.

Objective: The authors sought to examine the immediate effects of movement training aimed at improving use of gluteus maximus (GMAX) in the sagittal plane on hip internal rotation and self-reported patellofemoral pain (PFP) during single-limb landing.

Methods: Seventeen females with PFP participated. Lower extremity kinematics and kinetics, GMAX activation, and self-reported PFP were obtained before and after a single-session movement training program aimed at increasing the use of GMAX.

Volitional Preemptive Abdominal Contraction and Upper Extremity Muscle Latencies During D1 Flexion and Scaption Shoulder Exercises.

Context: The abdominal-bracing maneuver, a volitional preemptive abdominal contraction (VPAC) strategy, is commonly used during resisted shoulder exercises. How VPAC affects shoulder-muscle function during resisted shoulder exercise is unknown.

Objective: To identify the effects of VPAC on selected parascapular and glenohumeral muscles during specific shoulder exercises with or without resistance.

Effects of arm weight on gait performance in healthy subjects.

Previous studies have investigated how additional arm weights affect gait. Although light weights (0.45 kg) seemed to elicit performance improvements in Parkinsonian patients, it was not studied how light weights affect gait parameters in healthy individuals.

Changes in patellofemoral pain resulting from repetitive impact landings are associated with the magnitude and rate of patellofemoral joint loading.

Background: Although a relationship between elevated patellofemoral forces and pain has been proposed, it is unknown which joint loading variable (magnitude, rate) is best associated with pain changes. The purpose of this study was to examine associations among patellofemoral joint loading variables and changes in patellofemoral pain across repeated single limb landings.

Methods: Thirty-one females (age: 23.

Prediction of calcaneal bone competence from biomechanical accommodation variables measured during weighted walking.

Carrying weight while walking is a common activity associated with increased musculoskeletal loading, but not all individuals accommodate to the weight in the same way. Different accommodation strategies could lead to different skeletal forces, stimuli for bone adaptation and ultimately bone competence. The purpose of the study was to explore the relationships between calcaneal bone competence and biomechanical accommodation variables measured during weighted walking.

Carotid flow pulsatility is higher in women with greater decrement in gait speed during multi-tasking.

Aim: Central arterial hemodynamics is associated with cognitive impairment. Reductions in gait speed during walking while performing concurrent tasks known as dual-tasking (DT) or multi-tasking (MT) is thought to reflect the cognitive cost that exceeds neural capacity to share resources. We hypothesized that central vascular function would associate with decrements in gait speed during DT or MT.

Examination of stride-to-stride independence of selected lower extremity kinematic and temporal variables during treadmill walking.

The purpose of this study was to examine the nature of the intra-subject independence among strides during treadmill walking. We investigated the strength of the relationships among strides sampled in different ways from a population of observed strides. Eighteen asymptomatic subjects walked on a treadmill at 1.

Different cognitive functions discriminate gait performance in younger and older women: A pilot study.

Aim: Cognitive dysfunction is associated with slower gait speed in older women, but whether cognitive function affects gait performance earlier in life has yet to be investigated. Thus, the objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that cognitive function will discriminate gait performance in healthy younger women.

Methods: Fast-pace and dual-task gait speed were measured in 30 young to middle-aged (30-45y) and 26 older (61-80y) women without mild cognitive impairment.

Kinematic and ground reaction force accommodation during weighted walking.

Weighted walking is a functional activity common in daily life and can influence risks for musculoskeletal loading, injury and falling. Much information exists about weighted walking during military, occupational and recreational tasks, but less is known about strategies used to accommodate to weight carriage typical in daily life. The purposes of the study were to examine the effects of weight carriage on kinematics and peak ground reaction force (GRF) during walking, and explore relationships between these variables.

Effects of constrained arm swing on vertical center of mass displacement during walking.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of constraining arm swing on the vertical displacement of the body's center of mass (COM) during treadmill walking and examine several common gait variables that may account for or mask differences in the body's COM motion with and without arm swing. Participants included 20 healthy individuals (10 male, 10 female; age: 27.8 ± 6.