This study focused on adaptations during familiarization to resistive exercise. It was also determined if familiarization requires one or more sessions. Twenty-six sedentary, college-aged females were matched and randomly assigned to one of two groups. Measurements were obtained during the initial familiarization period (Group 1: 15 trials on 1 day, ...

OBJECTIVE: The agonist-antagonist strength relationship for shoulder external rotation and internal rotation was formerly described by the relatively more functional ratios of eccentric external rotator to concentric internal rotator moments, and eccentric internal rotator to concentric external rotator moments for the entire range of motion. The aim of this study ...

BACKGROUND: Osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee is common and disabling. Exercise is effective in reducing pain and disability, but long-term adherence to exercise regimens is disappointing, and motivation to exercise in those with OA knee is poorly understood. OBJECTIVES: To examine the views of primary care patients with OA knee ...

The aim of this study was to evaluate in vivo stability for mediolateral laxity in extension and anteroposterior laxity in 90 degrees of flexion and to correlate these and the range of motion (ROM) in 42 total knee arthroplasties (TKA) performed using a navigation system, with a minimum 1-year follow-up. ...

The goal of this study was to determine which activities in four domains, daily life, exercises, sports and occupational activities, should be recommended, in favor or against, for the patient suffering from knee or hip OA. METHODS: Scientific literature was searched in Medline, Embase and Cochrane databases for articles in ...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Performing nontraditional abdominal exercises with devices such as abdominal straps, the Power Wheel, and the Ab Revolutionizer has been suggested as a way to activate abdominal and extraneous (nonabdominal) musculature as effectively as more traditional abdominal exercises, such as the crunch and bent-knee sit-up. The purpose of ...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Central activation failure and muscular atrophy are common after knee joint injury. Thus, exercises that aim to stimulate muscular hypertrophy and increase neural drive to the muscle fibers should be used during rehabilitation. This study examined the level of knee joint neuromuscular activation during 4 conventional therapeutic ...

We compared the quantitative electromyographic activity of the elbow flexors during four exercises (forced inspiration, forced expiration, trunk flexion and attempted elbow flexion), following intercostal nerve transfer to the musculocutaneous nerve in 32 patients who had sustained root avulsion brachial plexus injuries. Quantitative electromyographic evaluation of the mean and maximum ...

The effect of exercise on adult haemophilic joints was investigated. Forty-six subjects with existing joint disease were evaluated and range of motion (ROM) in joints was measured. The effect of exercise of large joint ROM in haemophilia was evaluated by comparing the ranges of motion in subjects who exercised at ...

This study compared cardiovascular responses to static extension and flexion exercises at four upper and lower limb joints. Eight males performed a 2 min static contraction at 30% of maximal voluntary torque followed immediately by 2 min post-exercise muscle ischaemia (PEMI) using each of four joints: the wrist, elbow, ankle, ...

BACKGROUND: Doubts have been expressed about the performance of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) clinical classification criteria for osteoarthritis when applied in the general population. OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether the distribution of population subgroups and underlying disease severity might explain the performance of these criteria in the population setting. ...

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of balance exercise on some selected kinematic gait parameters in patients with knee joint osteoarthritis. Forty subjects (18 men and 22 women) participated in the study.They were divided into two groups: Group 1 (experimental) that was treated with balance exercises, ...

A fatiguing exercise protocol was combined with single-leg hop testing to improve the possibilities of evaluating the effects of training or rehabilitation interventions. In the first test-retest experiment, 11 healthy male subjects performed two trials of single-leg hops under three different test conditions: non-fatigued and following fatiguing exercise, which consisted ...

Following a brief description of the problem of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) in the meat industry and use of knives, this paper presents a study of the influence of the main intrinsic technical characteristics of a knife on its cutting performance. This study prompted design of a specific system for measuring ...

In order to elucidate the functional significance of excitatory spinal reflex arcs (facilitation) between musculus (M.) pronator teres (PT) and M. extensor carpi radialis (ECR, longus: ECRL, brevis: ECRB) in humans, activities of the muscles were studied with electromyography (EMG) and electrical neuromuscular stimulation (ENS). In EMG study, activities of ...

Forward head posture (FHP) and neck mobility were objectively assessed in 25 patients with chronic tension-type headache (CTTH) and 25 healthy controls. Side-view pictures were taken in a sitting position to measure the cranio-vertebral angle. A cervical goniometer was employed to measure the range of all cervical motions. Patients with ...

In rehabilitation from neuromuscular trauma or injury, strengthening exercises are often prescribed by physical therapists to recover as much function as possible. Strengthening equipment used in clinical settings range from low-cost devices, such as sandbag weights or elastic bands to large and expensive isotonic and isokinetic devices. The low-cost devices ...

BACKGROUND: Though considered more efficient and less constraining than the hand-rim wheelchair, the handbike has rarely been studied especially as regards its kinematic parameters. The hypothesis of this investigation is that the range of upper extremity motions are risk factors for joint pain during handbiking as is the case during ...

A biomechanical and hydrodynamic theoretical model has been developed in order to calculate the knee joint load during underwater knee extension exercises. The hydrodynamic force has been evaluated within the framework of a strip-theory approach, when a blunt rectangular resistive device is applied proximally to the shank to increase its ...

STUDY DESIGN: Biomechanical study of unembalmed human lumbar segments. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of tensioning the lumbar fasciae (transversus abdominis [TrA]) aponeurosis) on segment stiffness during flexion and extension. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: Animal and human studies suggest that TrA may influence intersegmental movement via tension in the middle ...

Since muscle coactivation increases the stiffness and stability of a joint, greater coactivation is likely during faster than slower movements. Very few studies, though, have been conducted to verify this hypothesis. Moreover, a large number of studies have examined coactivation of muscles surrounding the knee joint whereas there are few ...

STUDY DESIGN: A repeated-measures, counterbalanced design. OBJECTIVES: To test the effectiveness of 7 commercial abdominal machines (Ab Slide, Ab Twister, Ab Rocker, Ab Roller, Ab Doer, Torso Track, SAM) and 2 common abdominal exercises (crunch, bent-knee sit-up) on activating abdominal and extraneous (nonabdominal) musculature. BACKGROUND: Numerous abdominal machine exercises are ...

This study examined lower extremity joint moments during walk and turn with different turn angles and pivot feet. Seven young adults (age 21+/-1.3 yrs) were asked to walk at a self-selected speed (1.35+/-0.15 m/s) and to turn to the right using right (spin turn) and left (step turn) pivot feet ...

OBJECTIVE: The evaluation of variability of biological rhythmic activities through measures such as Approximate Entropy (ApEn) has provided important information regarding pathology in disciplines such as cardiology and neurology. This research lead to the "loss of complexity hypothesis" where decreased variability is associated with loss of healthy flexibility rendering the ...

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the direction of gaze influences the kinematics of the squat exercise. Ten men experienced in the squat exercise performed a total of 30 repetitions of the squat in the form of 2 sets of 5 repetitions under 3 different conditions. Conditions ...

The purpose of this study was to determine the reliability of three normalization methods for analyzing hip abductor activation during rehabilitation exercises. Thirteen healthy subjects performed three open kinetic chain and three closed kinetic chain hip abductor exercises. Surface EMG activity for the gluteus medius was collected during each exercise ...

The normal anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) can be generally divided into two main bundles, anteromedial bundle (AMB) and posterolateral bundle (PLB), and each bundle shared its function in response to external loads including anterior tibial drawer force. While we developed the anatomically oriented ACL reconstruction technique via two femoral tunnels ...

Mobility using the timed up and go (TUG) and perceived pain, stiffness, and physical function (Western Ontario McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index) were documented after total knee arthroplasty (TKA). The relationships between mobility and perceived function are limited post-TKA. The first purpose of this study was to determine and compare the ...

Constrained acetabular liners are utilized to deal with the infrequent but devastating problem of recurrent dislocation. While an encouraging treatment of last resort, the clinical performance of contemporary constrained liners has been somewhat mixed. There are multiple factors contributing to this variability, one of which is the limited understanding of ...

Resistance exercise has been widely reported to have positive rehabilitation effects for patients with neuromuscular and orthopaedic conditions. This article presents prototypes of smart variable resistance exercise devices using magneto-rheological fluid dampers. An intelligent supervisory control for regulating the resistive force or torque of the device is developed, and is ...

The irregularity of individual wear patterns of total hip prostheses seen during patient followup may result partially from differences in radiographic projection of the components between radiographs. A method to adjust for this source of error would increase the value of individual wear curves. We developed and tested a method ...

STUDY DESIGN: Controlled laboratory study. OBJECTIVES: The purposes of this paper were to investigate (d) whether vastus medialis obliquus (VMO), vastus lateralis longus (VLL) and vastus lateralis obliquus (VLO) EMG activity can be influenced by hip abduction performed by healthy subjects. BACKGROUND: Some clinicians contraindicate hip abduction for patellofemoral patients ...

We studied the biochemical characteristics of human knees with deficient anterior cruciate ligaments (ACL) and analysed their relationship to the time after ligamentous injury. Thirty-two patients with isolated ACL-injured knees and six healthy volunteers were enrolled. Synovial fluid samples were centrifuged after aspiration during arthroscopic examination, and aliquots of supernatant ...

BACKGROUND: In patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA), there is a prominent loss in proprioception and kinesthesia sensation compared with control subjects of the same age and gender. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study is the investigation of short-term clinical effects of kinesthesia and balance exercises in patients with knee OA. ...

This study was aimed at exploring the carryover effect of short range of motion (RoM) isokinetic conditioning on vastus medialis (VM) motor unit recruitment (MUR) across the full RoM. Fifty-five women were randomly assigned to one of four groups: G1 (n = 14) and G2 (n = 14) trained concentrically ...

STUDY DESIGN: Experimental 3-factor design with repeated measures on all factors. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of 3 prophylactic hyperextension elbow braces on limiting active and passive elbow extension before and after exercise. BACKGROUND: Prophylactic hyperextension elbow braces are used to protect the joint ...

The purpose of the present study was to develop an ankle-foot orthosis (AFO) that satisfies the requirements for an AFO for patients with hemiplegia as determined in a previous study. An oil damper has been introduced as an assistive device. The oil damper provides a resistive moment to plantar flexion ...

Individuals with weak or absent quadriceps who wish to walk independently are prescribed knee-ankle-foot orthoses (KAFOs). New stance control orthosis (SCO) designs automatically release the knee to allow swing phase flexion and extension while still locking the joint during stance. Twenty-one participants were fitted unilaterally with the Dynamic Knee Brace ...

BACKGROUND: Neuromuscular training that includes both plyometric and dynamic stabilization/balance exercises alters movement biomechanics and reduces ACL injury risk in female athletes. The biomechanical effects of plyometric and balance training utilized separately are unknown. HYPOTHESIS: A protocol that includes balance training without plyometric training will decrease coronal plane hip, knee, ...

BACKGROUND: Supraspinatus strengthening is an important component of shoulder rehabilitation. Previous work has determined that the full-can and empty-can exercises elicit the greatest amount of supraspinatus activity. However, scapular kinematics has not been considered when prescribing supraspinatus exercises. HYPOTHESIS: Scapular downward rotation, internal rotation, and anterior tipping during the empty-can ...

When the prestretch intensity and concentric work are increased in stretch-shortening cycle (SSC) exercises, the utilization of the elastic energy can increase during the concentric phase. In order to further understand this process during SSC exercises, the interaction between fascicle-tendinous tissues (TT) of the vastus lateralis (VL) muscle was examined ...

The purpose of this study was to document the early history of knee extensor torque production before and after total knee arthroplasty (TKA), explore the relationship between strength assessments, and describe an 8-week resistive-training protocol. Thirty-eight individuals (19 men, 19 women) with unilateral TKA volunteered to participate in this repeated-measures ...

The purpose of this study was to identify the differences that exist between collegiate (CS) and scholastic (SS) longsnappers. Six CS (21.4 +/- 1.37 years) and 7 SS (16.7 +/- 1.11 years) longsnappers were filmed performing 10 longsnaps each. The CS and SS longsnappers had 7.0 +/- 0.89 and 2.7 ...

The purpose of the present study was to investigate neuromuscular performance characteristics in open-wheel and rally drivers using the cross-sectional study design. The subjects (N = 28) consisted of experienced international-level open-wheel drivers (n = 9), experienced international-level rally drivers (n = 9) and a physically active nondriving male control ...

A novel 12-station hip joint simulator with an anatomic position of the prosthesis was designed and built. The motion of the simulator consists of flexion-extension and abduction-adduction. The load is of the double-peak type. The validation test was done with three similar 28 mm CoCr-polyethylene joints in diluted calf serum ...

Tibial forces were measured in vivo during the first year after total knee arthroplasty in a 66 kg, 80-year-old man. Forces were measured during activities of daily living, rehabilitation, and exercise. Peak tibial forces recorded during walking increased up to 12 months postoperatively (2.8 times body weight). Tibial forces correlated ...

BACKGROUND: Children with cerebral palsy and hamstring tightness often demonstrate limited terminal swing knee extension. The conventional clinical measure of popliteal angle describes static hamstring tightness, but is not consistent with dynamic limitation. We hypothesize hamstring tightness, determined via modification of the conventional popliteal angle measure, is directly related to ...

CONTEXT: Although isotonic and isokinetic exercises are commonly used in sports medicine and rehabilitation, studies comparing their effects on the neuromuscular system have provided conflicting results. OBJECTIVE: To compare responses of the neuromuscular system to isotonic and isokinetic contractions by controlling the total external amount of work performed and the ...

In this study we investigated the involvement of cutaneous versus knee joint afferents in the antihyperalgesia produced by transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) by differentially blocking primary afferents with local anesthetics. Hyperalgesia was induced in rats by inflaming one knee joint with 3% kaolin-carrageenan and assessed by measuring paw withdrawal ...

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the treatment effect of temporomandibular joint (TMJ) osteoarthritis using viscosupplementation and arthrocentesis on rabbit model. STUDY DESIGN: Bilateral TMJ osteoarthritis of 24 rabbits was established by intraarticular injection with matrix metaloproteinase-1. The subjects were randomly divided into 3 groups: arthrocentesis group (group A), viscosupplementation group (group B), ...