Postural Control Strategies and Balance-Related Factors in Individuals with Traumatic Transtibial Amputations.

Mechanisms behind compromised balance control in people with transtibial amputation need to be further explored, as currently little is known specifically about postural control strategies in people with traumatic transtibial amputation (tTTA). The aim of this study is to assess automatic and voluntary postural control strategies in individuals with unilateral tTTA compared to those in control subjects and to define the effect of balance-related factors on these strategies. Automatic posture reactions and volitional motion toward given direction using standardized posturographic protocols (NeuroCom) of the Motor Control Test (MCT) and Limits of Stability (LOS) were assessed in eighteen participants with tTTA and eighteen age-matched controls.

Gender and Age Related Differences in Leg Stiffness and Reactive Strength in Adolescent Team Sports Players.

The aim of the present study was to identify potential gender differences in leg stiffness and reactive strength during hopping tasks in 13 to16-year old team sports players. Reactive strength index (RSI) and leg stiffness were obtained in two consecutive seasons from 51 girls (U14: n = 31, U16: n = 20) and 65 boys (U14: n = 32, U16: n = 33). A significant main effect on absolute (U14: p = 0.

Electrical stimulation of hyoid muscles in post-stroke dysphagia.

Aims: The purpose of this study was to evaluate swallowing changes in post-stroke patients with dysphagia after four weeks of suprahyoid muscles electrical stimulation.

Methods: This was a prospective randomized study of early stage stroke patients with dysphagia. Electrical stimulation of suprahyoid muscles was given to a group of 54 patients (26 men, average age 70 years) for 20 minutes a day, 5 days a week.

Evaluation of Explosive Power Performance in Ski Jumpers and Nordic Combined Competitive Athletes: A 19-Year Study.

Between 1992 and 2010, a total of 334 males participated in this study that assessed the differences and relationships between anthropometric variables and lower limb muscle strength in young and adult ski jumpers (n = 207) and Nordic combined (NC, n = 127) athletes. All athletes completed a maximal vertical jump from an in-run position and a maximal relative isometric force (MRIF) of the knee extensor measurement in a laboratory setting. The body mass index (BMI) in young competitors was lower than in adult groups (NC: p < 0.

Ski-jumpers' performance in a laboratory setting: a 29-year longitudinal study.

This study assesses the longitudinal changes in anthropometric and motor parameters of ski jumpers. Male ski jumpers (n = 329) at various competitive levels participated in this study. These competitors were divided into two groups by age (18 years and younger, and over 18 years), and then divided into seven even intervals within those groups.

Kinematic Chains in Ski Jumping In-run Posture.

The concept of kinematic chains has been systematically applied to biological systems since the 1950s. The course of a ski jump can be characterized as a change between closed and open kinematic chains. The purpose of this study was to determine a relationship between adjacent segments within the ski jumper's body's kinematic chain during the in-run phase of the ski jump.

Limits of stability in persons with transtibial amputation with respect to prosthetic alignment alterations.

Objectives: To evaluate the limits of stability (LOS) in persons with transtibial amputation (TTA), and to determine the effects of prosthetic alignment alterations on motor control strategies.

Design: Before-and-after trial.

Setting: A kinesiology laboratory at a university hospital.

Central facial paresis and its impact on mimicry, psyche and quality of life in patients after stroke.

Aim: Using functional scales and face video analysis, changes in central facial paresis are monitored in patients with stroke after orofacial therapy and correlations between changes in mimicry, mental function and overall quality of life of patients after stroke are made.

Materials And Methods: A prospective randomized study of patients after stroke with facial paresis. The functional status of the experimental group of 50 cases with orofacial regulation therapy and 49 control cases without mimicry therapy is observed after four weeks of rehabilitation.

Variability of kinetic variables during gait in unilateral transtibial amputees.

Background: Prosthetic gait increases demands on stability. Some variability measures can be used to investigate the stability of movement for prosthetic feet.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of the prosthetic foot on ground reaction force variability for transtibial amputee gait.

Kinetic analysis of ski turns based on measured ground reaction forces.

The objective of this study was to devise a method of kinetic analysis of the ground reaction force that enables the durations and magnitudes of forces acting during the individual phases of ski turns to be described exactly. The method is based on a theoretical analysis of physical forces acting during the ski turn. Two elementary phases were defined: (1) preparing to turn (initiation) and (2) actual turning, during which the center of gravity of the skier-ski system moves along a curvilinear trajectory (steering).

Evaluation of postural asymmetry and gross joint mobility in elite female volleyball athletes.

The purpose of the study was to evaluate marked postural asymmetry and gross joint mobility in elite female volleyball athletes. Sixty-two Czech and Slovak elite female volleyball athletes (age 20.7±2.

Facial paresis after stroke and its impact on patients' facial movement and mental status.

Objective: The aims of this study were: (i) to monitor changes in central facial paresis in patients with stroke after orofacial therapy, using functional scales and video analysis of the face; and (ii) to investigate correlations between changes in facial movement and mental function of patients after stroke.

Methods: A prospective blind randomized study of patients after stroke with facial paresis. The functional status of the experimental group of 50 cases treated with regulation orofacial therapy was compared with 49 control cases after 4 weeks of rehabilitation.

Kinematic characteristics of the ski jump inrun: a 10-year longitudinal study.

The athlete's inrun position affects the outcome for take-off in ski jumping. The purpose of this study was to examine the kinematic parameters between skiers' adjacent body segments during their first straight path of the inrun. Elite ski jumpers participated in the study at the World Cup events in Innsbruck, Austria, during the years 1992 through 2001.

An assessment of the pressure distribution exerted by a rider on the back of a horse during hippotherapy.

Hippotherapy employs locomotion impulses that are emitted from the back of a horse while the horse is walking. These impulses stimulate the rider's postural reflex mechanisms, resulting in training of balance and coordination. The aim of the present study was to assess the changes in magnitude and distribution of the contact pressure between the rider and the horse during a series of hippotherapy lessons.

Functional categorization of the individual morphology of the scapula.

The morphologic variations of the shoulder blade have not yet been evaluated in clinical medicine. We observed that subjects with less standard shapes of the shoulder blade often suffer from musculo-skeletal shoulder syndromes with concurrent intrinsic impingement syndromes or, more precisely, partial-thickness rotator cuff tears. This experience became a basis for an experiment, in which we categorized individual phenotypes of the shoulder blade.

The choice of on- or off-pump coronary bypass grafting--a surgeon's dilemma.

Background: Off-pump coronary bypass grafting (OPCAB) is a routine method of heart revascularization. This study was designed to compare the results of OPCAB and ONCAB performed by a single surgeon at our institution over a 3-year period.

Methods: The study enrolled 345 patients undergoing elective myocardial revascularization procedures, of which 173 (50.