Whole-body angular momentum during stair ascent and descent in individuals with and without knee osteoarthritis.

Given the higher fall risk and the fatal sequelae of falls on stairs, it is worthwhile to investigate the mechanism of dynamic balance control in individuals with knee osteoarthritis during stair negotiation. Whole-body angular momentum ([Formula: see text]) is widely used as a surrogate to reflect dynamic balance and failure to constrain [Formula: see text] may increase the fall risk. This study aimed to compare the range of [Formula: see text] between people with and without knee osteoarthritis during stair ascent and descent.

The effects of age and physical activity status on muscle synergies when walking down slopes.

Purpose: The aim of the current study was to determine whether gait control (muscle synergies) or gait stability (margin of stability (MoS)) were different between younger and older adults when walking on level or downhill slopes. Further, it sought to determine associations between either age or physical activity with muscle synergy widths.

Methods: Ten healthy younger (28.

Relationship Between Early and Established Rheumatoid Arthritis Vascular Change of the Dorsalis Pedis Artery Observed with Ultrasound Imaging.

Background: Despite early treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) being well established to prevent erosive joint damage, studies report persistent moderate to high disease activity. Other pathologies, for example, rheumatoid vasculitis (RV) may contribute symptoms that may not be captured by existing clinical assessment.

Objectives: To investigate ultrasound-observed changes in the proximal dorsalis pedis artery (DPA) between early (≤ 5 y) and established (>5 y) RA and the RA Disease Activity Index-5 (RADAI-5).

Inhibitory Components in Muscle Synergies Factorized by The Rectified Latent Variable Model from Electromyographic Data.

Non-negative matrix factorization (NMF), widely used in motor neuroscience for identifying muscle synergies from electromyographical signals (EMGs), extracts non-negative synergies and is yet unable to identify potential negative components (NegCps) in synergies underpinned by inhibitory spinal interneurons. To overcome this constraint, we propose to utilize rectified latent variable model (RLVM) to extract muscle synergies. RLVM uses an autoencoder neural network, and the weight matrix of its neural network could be negative, while latent variables must remain non-negative.

Identification and Quantification of Precursory Changes of Rheumatoid Vasculitis in the Dorsalis Pedis Artery.

Objective: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic connective tissue autoimmune disease that can infiltrate arterial walls. The delay in diagnosis and treatment of rheumatoid vasculitis (RV) in patients with RA may lead to irreversible damage to the arterial walls of small-to-medium vessels, which has serious and devastating consequences, most notably lung and cardiac damage. In this work an ultrasound image-based biomarker was developed to detect precursory changes in RV.

Minimalist school shoes improve intrinsic foot muscle size, strength, and arch integrity among primary school students.

Minimalist walking shoes have been shown to improve foot muscle size and strength in active adults, but not in our previous study involving children, which could relate to the more structured footwear used in our study. Hence, this study examined the effects of true minimalists on intrinsic foot muscle size and strength, foot arch integrity, and physical function among primary school children. After a baseline assessment, 30 primary school students aged between 9 and 12 were given a pair of minimalist shoes (minimalist index = 92%) as their regular school shoes for two school terms, followed by a re-assessment.

Effectiveness of Balance Exercise and Brisk Walking on Alleviating Nonmotor and Motor Symptoms in People With Mild-to-Moderate Parkinson Disease: A Randomized Clinical Trial With 6-Month Follow-up.

Objective: To investigate the effects of balance exercise and brisk walking on nonmotor and motor symptoms, balance and gait functions, walking capacity, and balance confidence in Parkinson disease (PD) at posttraining and 6-month follow-up.

Design: Two-arm, assessor-blinded randomized controlled trial SETTING: University research laboratory and the community PARTICIPANTS: Ninety-nine eligible individuals with mild-to-moderate PD INTERVENTIONS: Participants were randomized to balance and brisk walking group (B&B, n=49) or active control group (n=50). B&B received ten 90-minute sessions of balance exercises and brisk walking supervised by physical therapists for 6 months (week 1-6: weekly, week 7-26: monthly), whereas control practiced whole-body flexibility and upper limb strength exercise at same dosage (180 min/wk).

Ultrasound imaging of the dorsalis pedis artery as an early indicator of the precursory changes for rheumatoid vasculitis: A case series.

Introduction: Clinical verification of rheumatoid vasculitis (RV) persists as a mid-to-late diagnosis with medical imaging or biopsy. Early and subclinical presentations of RV, in particular, can remain underdiagnosed in the absence of adequate diagnostic testing. In this study, the research demonstrated the precursory changes for RV in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) using non-invasive ultrasound imaging of a peripheral vessel.

Motor patterns of patients with spinal muscular atrophy suggestive of sensory and corticospinal contributions to the development of locomotor muscle synergies.

Complex locomotor patterns are generated by combination of muscle synergies. How genetic processes, early sensorimotor experiences, and the developmental dynamics of neuronal circuits contribute to the expression of muscle synergies remains elusive. We shed light on the factors that influence development of muscle synergies by studying subjects with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA, types II/IIIa), a disorder associated with degeneration and deafferentation of motoneurons and possibly motor cortical and cerebellar abnormalities, from which the afflicted would have atypical sensorimotor histories around typical walking onset.

Analysing the contributions of lower limb muscles to eccentric cycling using musculoskeletal modeling and simulation.

Eccentric (ECC) cycling, compared to traditional concentric cycling, has been shown to improve muscle strength and neuromuscular control at a lower metabolic cost. Despite the popularity of this exercise in the sports and rehabilitation contexts, there is a gap in our knowledge of which muscles are behaving eccentrically during ECC cycling. To this end, we used a musculoskeletal model and computer simulations to calculate joint kinematics and muscle lengths during ECC cycling.

Tracking Bilateral Lower Limb Kinematics of Distance Runners on Treadmill Using a Single Inertial Measurement Unit.

Distance running related injuries are common, and many ailments have been associated with faulty posture. Conventional measurement of running kinematics requires sophisticated motion capture system in laboratory. In this study, we developed a wearable solution to accurately predict lower limb running kinematics using a single inertial measurement unit placed on the left lower leg.

Effect of surface inclination on vertical loading rate and footstrike pattern in trail and road runners.

Trail runners have been reported to be more injury prone than road runners. Limited past studies have examined the difference in the running biomechanics between the two groups of runners. More importantly, the effect of surface inclination has not been fully investigated.

Reliability of Ultrasound Imaging in Examining Integrity and Inflammation in the Dorsalis Pedis Artery.

Objective: Assessment of small vessel inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid vasculitis is challenging. Small arteries such as the dorsalis pedis artery (DPA) are difficult to assess for changes in the arterial wall with medical imaging. Ultrasound imaging is a viable tool for examining the integrity and inflammatory changes in the arterial wall; however, no empirical data on its reliability have been described.

Evaluation of a Restoration Algorithm Applied to Clipped Tibial Acceleration Signals.

Wireless accelerometers with various operating ranges have been used to measure tibial acceleration. Accelerometers with a low operating range output distorted signals and have been found to result in inaccurate measurements of peaks. A restoration algorithm using spline interpolation has been proposed to restore the distorted signal.

Personal belief on elastic tape and tape tension affect perceived performance, but not muscle activity and endurance.

Background: Previous studies reported inconsistent outcomes on elastic taping for three potential reasons: 1) poor control of placebo effect; 2) no consensus regarding the optimal tape tension; and 3) lack of investigation on muscle endurance, as the proposed tape recoiling force may not promote peak force generation but exert a consistently low force and improve submaximal contraction.

Purpose: This study compared the effects of elastic tape and its tension on muscle activity and endurance in people with extremely positive and negative personal belief on elastic tape.

Methods: Using a validated instrument, we identified 20 participants with extremely positive personal belief on elastic tape (+ belief), and 20 with extremely negative personal belief (- belief).

Age-Related Modifications of Muscle Synergies and Their Temporal Activations for Overground Walking.

Healthy ageing modifies neuromuscular control of human overground walking. Previous studies found that ageing changes gait biomechanics, but whether there is concurrent ageing-related modulation of neuromuscular control remains unclear. We analyzed gait kinematics and electromyographic signals (EMGs; 14 lower-limb and trunk muscles) collected at three speeds during overground walking in 11 healthy young adults (mean age of 23.

Strike index estimation using a convolutional neural network with a single, shoe-mounted inertial sensor.

Strike index is a measurement of the center of pressure position relative to the foot length, and it is regarded as a gold standard in classifying strike pattern in runners. However, strike index requires sophisticated laboratory equipment, e.g.

Effectiveness of gait retraining interventions in individuals with hip or knee osteoarthritis: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Osteoarthritis is a chronic synovial joint disease leading to pain, stiffness, and gait dysfunction, resulting in a significant health and economic burden. Gait retraining strategies and tools are used to address biomechanical gait dysfunction and symptoms in individuals with osteoarthritis. However, there is limited evidence relating to their effectiveness.

The influence of running shoes on familiarization time for treadmill running biomechanics evaluation.

This study investigated treadmill familiarisation time in different shoe conditions by comparing lower limb consecutive kinematics waveforms using a trend symmetry method to calculate trend symmetry index, range amplitude ratio and range offset. Eighteen young adults (26.6 ± 3.

Evaluation of COVID-19 Restrictions on Distance Runners' Training Habits Using Wearable Trackers.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused widespread disruption to many individuals' lifestyles. Social distancing restrictions implemented during this global pandemic may bring potential impact on physical activity habits of the general population. However, running is one of the most popular forms of physical activity worldwide and one in which it could be maintained even during most COVID-19 restrictions.

Impact Sound Across Rearfoot, Midfoot, and Forefoot Strike During Overground Running.

Context: Three foot-strike techniques are common in runners. If these techniques generate different sounds at the point of impact with the ground, lower limb kinetics may be influenced. No previous authors have determined whether such relationships exist.

Gait difference between children aged 9 to 12 with and without potential depressive mood.

Background: It has been reported that depression has an impact on both temporal spatial parameters and walking kinematics in adults. Given the difference in the walking biomechanics between adults and children, this study aimed to compare the gait difference in children aged 9-12 with and without potential depressive mood (PDM).

Methods: 49 children were recruited from local primary schools.

Sensor-Based Gait Retraining Lowers Knee Adduction Moment and Improves Symptoms in Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

The present study compared the effect between walking exercise and a newly developed sensor-based gait retraining on the peaks of knee adduction moment (KAM), knee adduction angular impulse (KAAI), knee flexion moment (KFM) and symptoms and functions in patients with early medial knee osteoarthritis (OA). Eligible participants ( = 71) with early medial knee OA (Kellgren-Lawrence grade I or II) were randomized to either walking exercise or gait retraining group. Knee loading-related parameters including KAM, KAAI and KFM were measured before and after 6-week gait retraining.

Footstrike angle cut-off values to classify footstrike pattern in runners.

Footstrike angle (FSA) has been widely used to classify footstrike pattern (FSP). However, inconsistent FSA cut-off values were adopted in previous studies. This study aimed to validate the FSA cut-off values in runners.