Quantification of Equine Sacral and Iliac Motion During Application of Manual Forces and Comparison Between Motion Capture With Skin-Mounted and Bone-Fixated Sensors.

Diagnosis of sacroiliac dysfunction in horses includes manual motion palpation of the equine ilium and sacrum. Motion of the ilium and sacrum during manual force application to the equine pelvis has been measured previously in vitro. The aim of this study was to measure the amount and direction of motion in vivo, including comparison of bone-fixated and skin-mounted inertial sensors.

Movement Path Tortuosity Predicts Compliance With Therapeutic Behavioral Prompts in Patients With Traumatic Brain Injury.

Objective: Rehabilitation of patients with traumatic brain injury typically includes therapeutic prompts for keeping appointments and adhering to medication regimens. Level of cognitive impairment may significantly affect a traumatic brain injury victim's ability to benefit from text-based prompting. We tested the hypothesis that spatial disorientation as measured by movement path tortuosity during ambulation would be associated with poorer compliance with automated prompts by veterans actively being treated for traumatic brain injury.

Decreased Movement Path Tortuosity Is Associated With Improved Functional Status in Patients With Traumatic Brain Injury.

Objective: To determine if movement path tortuosity in everyday ambulation decreases in Veterans being treated in a residential setting for traumatic brain injury. Elevated path tortuosity is observed in assisted living facility residents with cognitive impairment and at risk for falls, and tortuosity may decrease over the course of cognitive rehabilitation received by the Veterans. If observed, decreased tortuosity may be linked to improved clinical outcomes.

Path tortuosity in everyday movements of elderly persons increases fall prediction beyond knowledge of fall history, medication use, and standardized gait and balance assessments.

Objectives: We hypothesized that variability in voluntary movement paths of assisted living facility (ALF) residents would be greater in the week preceding a fall compared with residents who did not fall.

Design: Prospective, observational study using telesurveillance technology.

Setting: Two ALFs.

Effectiveness of a video-based exercise programme to reduce falls and improve health-related quality of life among older adults discharged from hospital: a pilot randomized controlled trial.

Objective: Falls, loss of health-related quality of life and physical capacity, reduced participation in activities of daily living, and increased fear of falling are all potential outcomes for older adults discharged from hospital. A low-cost video based exercise programme may address this.

Design: This study was a randomized controlled trial with blinded outcomes assessment and a six-month follow-up.

Telephone reliability of the Frenchay Activity Index and EQ-5D amongst older adults.

Background: Older adults may find it problematic to attend hospital appointments due to the difficulty associated with travelling to, within and from a hospital facility for the purpose of a face-to-face assessment. This study aims to investigate equivalence between telephone and face-to-face administration for the Frenchay Activities Index (FAI) and the Euroqol-5D (EQ-5D) generic health-related quality of life instrument amongst an older adult population.

Methods: Patients aged >65 (n = 53) who had been discharged to the community following an acute hospital admission underwent telephone administration of the FAI and EQ-5D instruments seven days prior to attending a hospital outpatient appointment where they completed a face-to-face administration of these instruments.

Wireless orientation sensors: their suitability to measure head movement for neck pain assessment.

The purpose of this study was to verify the performance and suitability of new generation 3D wireless orientations sensors to measure cervical range of movement against a criterion standard instrument, an electromagnetic motion analysis system (Fastrak-Polhemus). The wireless orientation sensor (InertiaCube 3) consists of 9 motion-sensing elements: 3 accelerometers, 3 angular velocity rate transducers and 3 magnetometers. Measurements of cervical range of motion in each primary plane, left-lateral flexion, flexion and left rotation were directly compared from both systems in 10 normal asymptomatic subjects.

The development, validity, and reliability of a manual muscle testing device with integrated limb position sensors.

Objective: To report the development and validation of a new hand-held muscle strength-testing device that is integrated with orientation sensors and designed to test the strength of major muscle groups at a given limb or joint position.

Design: Design description and validation study.

Setting: University-based human movement facility.

Gait event detection using linear accelerometers or angular velocity transducers in able-bodied and spinal-cord injured individuals.

We report on three different methods of gait event detection (toe-off and heel strike) using miniature linear accelerometers and angular velocity transducers in comparison to using standard pressure-sensitive foot switches. Detection was performed with normal and spinal-cord injured subjects. The detection of end contact (EC), normally toe-off, and initial contact (IC) normally, heel strike was based on either foot linear accelerations or foot sagittal angular velocity or shank sagittal angular velocity.