The current perception threshold test differentiates categories of mechanical neck disorder.

Study Design: Cross-sectional discriminative analysis.

Objective: To determine whether current perception threshold (CPT) can differentiate between categories of patients with mechanical neck disorders (MNDs).

Background: Neck pain is the third most common musculoskeletal disorder and affects a third of all adults each year.

The Current Perception Threshold Test Differentiates Categories of Mechanical Neck Disorder.

Study Design Cross-sectional discriminative analysis. Objective To determine whether current perception threshold (CPT) can differentiate between categories of patients with mechanical neck disorders (MNDs). Background Neck pain is the third most common musculoskeletal disorder, affecting a third of all adults each year.

A theoretical perspective on running-related injuries.

The etiology of running-related injuries remains unknown; however, an implicit theory underlies much of the conventional research and practice in the prevention of these injuries. This theory posits that the cause of running-related injuries lies in the high-impact forces experienced when the foot contacts the ground and the subsequent abnormal movement of the subtalar joint. The application of this theory is seen in the design of the modern running shoe, with cushioning, support, and motion control.

Reliability and validity of spinal coordination patterns during treadmill walking in persons with thoracic spine pain--a preliminary study.

Background: Persons with low back pain fail to show the same transition as healthy individuals from in-phase to anti-phase rotation of the thorax and pelvis as walking speed increases. The purpose of this study was to determine if the relative phase of the thorax and pelvis during walking was a reliable (within day test-retest) and valid measure for persons with thoracic pain.

Methods: The time series motion of the spine over C7, T8 and sacrum were measured at five treadmill walking speeds (0.

On the derivation of a tensor to calculate six degree-of-freedom, musculotendon joint stiffness: implications for stability and impedance analyses.

Major joints, such as the knee, shoulder, and spine, can buckle along the translational degrees-of-freedom (DoF), causing injury to ligaments and other passive tissues. Despite this, stability and impedance analyses have focused primarily on the rotational DoF. As such, mathematical models quantifying musculotendon translational stiffnesses remain limited and, to our knowledge, there are no published works that explicitly describes the interactions between DoF.

Fear and Avoidance of Movement in People with Chronic Pain: Psychometric Properties of the 11-Item Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia (TSK-11).

Purpose: To determine the psychometric properties of the 11-item Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia (TSK-11) in patients with heterogeneous chronic pain.

Methods: The study evaluated test-retest reliability (intra-class correlation coefficient), cross-sectional convergent construct validity (Pearson product-moment correlation between TSK-11 and the Pain Catastrophizing Scale [PCS] scores at admission), and sensitivity to change of the TSK-11 (area under the receiver operating characteristic [ROC] curve) in patients (n=74) with heterogeneous chronic pain. We used two data sets (retrospective, n=56; prospective, n=18).

Calculating individual and total muscular translational stiffness: a knee example.

Research suggests that the knee joint may be dependent on an individual muscle's translational stiffness (KT) of the surrounding musculature to prevent or compensate for ligament tearing. Our primary goal was to develop an equation that calculates KT. We successfully derived such an equation that requires as input: a muscle's coordinates, force, and stiffness acting along its line of action.

The development of rhythm regularity, neuromuscular strategies, and movement smoothness during repetitive reaching in typically developing children.

Introduction: This study examined the development of paced coordinated reaching characterized by the successful entrainment of the movement to an external pacer, synchronous muscle activations and movement smoothness.

Methods: Thirty children, 5-10 years of age, and ten adults were instructed to repeatedly reach for and move an object from a lower shelf to an upper shelf in time to a metronome. Surface electromyography data were recorded.

Exploring children's movement characteristics during virtual reality video game play.

There is increasing interest in the use of commercially-available virtual reality video gaming systems within pediatric rehabilitation, yet little is known about the movement characteristics of game play. This study describes quantity and quality of movement during Nintendo Wii and Wii Fit game play, explores differences in these movement characteristics between games and between novice and experienced players, and investigates whether motivation to succeed at the game impacts movement characteristics. Thirty-eight children (aged 7-12) with and without previous game experience played Wii (boxing and tennis) and Wii Fit (ski slalom and soccer heading) games.

Motion in response to the hypnotic suggestion of arm rigidity: a window on underlying mechanisms.

Among hypnotized subjects passing a challenge suggestion of arm rigidity, how might patterns of motor activity (strategies) contribute to the illusion that the elbow cannot be bent? Kinematic analyses of upper limb and trunk were performed. Nonhypnotized subjects carefully enacted a set of prescribed strategies typifying responses possibly adopted by a hypnotized subject. Profile analysis showed striking heterogeneity of response in hypnotic subjects.

Patients with osteoarthritic knees have shorter orientation and tangent indicatrices during gait.

Background: This study introduces two novel outcomes that could be used to identify people with knee osteoarthritis from healthy controls. These outcomes examine the lengths of paths on a sphere derived from knee angle and knee position during gait.

Methods: Participants with moderate knee osteoarthritis (n=47) and no knee pathology (n=51) walked overground.

Oppugning the assumptions of spatial averaging of segment and joint orientations.

Movement scientists frequently calculate "arithmetic averages" when examining body segment or joint orientations. Such calculations appear routinely, yet are fundamentally flawed. Three-dimensional orientation data are computed as matrices, yet three-ordered Euler/Cardan/Bryant angle parameters are frequently used for interpretation.

Changes in gait economy between full-contact custom-made foot orthoses and prefabricated inserts in patients with musculoskeletal pain: a randomized clinical trial.

Background: Specific kinematic and kinetic outcomes have been used to detect biomechanical change while wearing foot orthoses; however, few studies demonstrate consistent effects. We sought to observe changes in walking economy in patients with musculoskeletal pain across 10 weeks while wearing custom-made foot orthoses and prefabricated shoe inserts.

Methods: In this crossover randomized controlled trial, 40 participants wore custom-made orthoses and prefabricated inserts for 4 weeks each, consecutively.

The short-term effectiveness of full-contact custom-made foot orthoses and prefabricated shoe inserts on lower-extremity musculoskeletal pain: a randomized clinical trial.

Background: Foot orthoses are commonly dispensed for musculoskeletal complaints of the foot and lower limb. Few randomized clinical trials evaluate the clinical effectiveness of foot orthoses.

Methods: In this randomized clinical trial with a crossover design, 42 participants wore custom orthoses and prefabricated inserts in their regular footwear for 4 weeks each, consecutively.

Ability of foot care professionals to cast feet using the nonweightbearing plaster and the gait-referenced foam casting techniques.

Background: We examined the ability of foot care professionals to consistently capture the forefoot-to-rearfoot angular relationship of a single-cast foot.

Methods: Eleven Canadian certified pedorthists each cast a single foot twice using the plaster of Paris and foam box techniques. Three independent raters subsequently measured the resultant casts.

Women with fibromyalgia walk with an altered muscle synergy.

Most individuals can use different movement and muscle recruitment patterns to perform a stated task but often only one pattern is selected which optimizes an unknown global objective given the individual's neuromusculoskeletal characteristics. Patients with fibromyalgia syndrome (FS), characterized by their chronic pain, reduced physical work capacity and muscular fatigue, could exhibit a different control signature compared to asymptomatic control volunteers (CV). To test this proposal, 22 women with FS, and 11 CV, were assessed in a gait analysis laboratory.

Influence of treadmill design on rearfoot pronation during gait at different speeds.

Understanding the dynamic function of the rearfoot is necessary for recognizing and treating several types of mechanical foot dysfunction. Although the motion of the rearfoot is often measured during treadmill locomotion, the effect of different types of treadmills on the motion of the foot is unclear. In this study, the kinematics of the right subtalar joint in 24 volunteers walking at three speeds on two motorized treadmills were examined.

Reliability of the long-range power-law correlations obtained from the bilateral stride intervals in asymptomatic volunteers whilst treadmill walking.

Stride intervals measured during steady-state walking are irregular. These stride interval fluctuations are not random but exhibit long-range power-law correlation (alpha) such that a given stride interval is 'influenced' by earlier variations in the stride intervals. To estimate alpha, one requires a minute long sequence of right or left side stride interval data.

Physical activity level is associated with the O2 cost of walking in cerebral palsy.

Purpose: To determine, in children and adolescents with cerebral palsy (CP), the relationship between physical activity level (PAL) and i) oxygen cost of walking, and ii) peak VO2.

Methods: In 11 subjects (10.6-16.

Habitual physical activity levels are associated with biomechanical walking economy in children with cerebral palsy.

Objective: To evaluate in children and adolescents with cerebral palsy the relationship between habitual physical activity and biomechanical treadmill walking economy and whether treadmill belt speed or walking time affect economy.

Design: Physical activity was measured in 11 subjects (10.6-16.

Relationship between the subtalar joint inclination angle and the location of lower-extremity injuries.

This study hypothesized that individuals who have a history of knee pain during repetitive weightbearing activities have a higher subtalar joint inclination angle than those with a history of foot pain. Study participants were selected on the basis of results of a written questionnaire that asked about the site and cause of injury and pain frequency and intensity. Pain items were graded on a 7-point Likert scale.

Relationship between pain and vertebral motion in chronic low-back pain subjects.

Objectives: To investigate the relationship between intervertebral motion, intravertebral deformation and pain in chronic low-back pain patients.

Design: This study measured vertebral motion of the lumbar spine and associated pain in a select group of chronic low-back pain patients as they performed a standard battery of motions in all planes.

Background: Numerous studies have demonstrated that individuals with low-back pain have impaired spinal motion, yet few studies have examined the specific relationship between pain and motion parameters.