The role of muscle synergies and task constraints on upper limb motor impairment after stroke.

This study explores the role of task constraints over muscle synergies expression in the context of upper limb motor impairment after stroke. We recruited nine chronic stroke survivors with upper limb impairments and fifteen healthy controls, who performed a series of tasks designed to evoke muscle synergies through various spatial explorations. These tasks included an isometric force task, a dynamic reaching task, the clinical Fugl-Meyer (FM) assessment, and a pinch task.

Effect of surface electromyography normalisation methods over gait muscle synergies.

This study investigates the effect of different normalisation methods on muscle synergy extraction from EMG data collected while walking in typically developing young people. Six methods were evaluated: Raw, Within-Trial Maximum, Inter-Trial Maximum, Task-Specific Maximum, Magnitude Percentile, and Unit Variance. Eighteen healthy children aged 8-15 participated, performing walking trials while their EMG signals were recorded and processed.

Effect of morphology and cortical thickness variations on tibial strains in different movements.

Morphology and cortical thickness of tibia bone influence the strength and strain distribution of bone and also influence fatigue fracture risk. However, current studies have not extensively explored the effect of morphology and cortical thickness on tibial strain distribution during different activities. This study aims to assess the effect of tibial morphology and cortical thickness on tibial strain during six different sports movements.

Effects of Arthroscopic Surgery and Non-Surgical Therapy on Hip Contact Forces in Femoroacetabular Impingement Syndrome.

Introduction: We compared the 12-months effects of arthroscopic surgery and physiotherapist-led care for femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) syndrome on the time-varying magnitude of hip contact force and muscle contributions to hip contact force during walking.

Methods: Secondary analysis was performed on thirty-seven individuals with FAI syndrome who received biomechanical assessment before and 12-months following either arthroscopic surgery (n = 17) or physiotherapist-led care (Personalised Hip Therapy, PHT) (n = 20). At both time points, three-dimensional whole-body motions, ground reaction forces, and surface electromyograms (n = 14) were acquired during overground walking.