Gait & posture
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Observational Study
The Effect Of Visual Dual-Tasking Interference On Walking In Healthy Young Adults.
Visual dual-task skills are essential for stable ambulation in everyday life such as walking while reading text. Gait analysis in a virtual environment can provide insight into altered walking performance while visual dual-tasking. ⋯ A visual dual-task influences gait through altered optical flow and a cognitive load effect. Altered optical flow increased walking speed whilst the visual attention to read text affected foot placement and upright trunk posture, together with greater mediolateral CoM displacement. Thus, dual-tasking of reading text in a virtual environment substantially affected walking stability in healthy young people. This paradigm is therefore useful for assessment of walking stability in daily life and in the clinical setting.
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There is considerable debate as to which parameters to include in the assessment of paediatric flatfeet. Dynamic pedobarography is an objective, dynamic method to measure foot function. Information about its associations to patient-reported measures may help to focus on the most relevant parameters. ⋯ When using pedobarography for the assessment of flexible flatfeet of children and adolescents, less attention should be paid to area related measurements which do not provide information about self-perceived function or disability. Instead, peak pressures or forces in the hind- or midfoot or beneath the hallux may be focussed. Weight reductions are potentially an effective strategy to reduce or prevent symptoms.
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Sit-to-stand (STS) movement is an important transition movement for daily life. STS movement is typically seen in children aged 1 year and older. According to the motor development process, the ability of children in different age groups to perform STS movement would be different before they meet the mutuality. However, it is still unclear whether there are changes in the STS movement of growing children and adults. ⋯ Different strategies to achieve the STS task were found among children aged 4-12 years in terms of total movement time, joint angle, and joint moments. Adult-like kinematic and kinetic STS patterns were not seen in children up to 12 years old.
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Observational Study
Hip external rotation stiffness and midfoot passive mechanical resistance are associated with lower limb movement in the frontal and transverse planes during gait.
Hip external rotation stiffness, midfoot passive mechanical resistance and foot alignment may influence on ankle, knee and hip movement in the frontal and transverse planes during gait. ⋯ These findings demonstrated that individuals with reduced hip and midfoot stiffness have higher hip and knee internal rotation and higher ankle eversion during the stance phase of gait. On the other hand, individuals with increased midfoot torque and stiffness have higher knee external rotation. These relationships can be explained by the coupling between ankle movements in the frontal plane and knee and hip movements in the transverse plane. Finally, this study suggests that midfoot passive mechanical resistance and hip stiffness should be assessed in individuals presenting altered ankle, knee and hip movement during gait.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Effect of sensorimotor training on balance measures and proprioception among middle and older age adults with diabetic peripheral neuropathy.
The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of sensorimotor training on balance measures, and proprioception, among middle-aged and older adults with diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN). ⋯ Sensorimotor training improved static and dynamic balance as well as proprioception measures after eight weeks of exercise intervention. Static balance showed greater improvement in the middle-aged than older aged adults, while dynamic balance and proprioception showed similar results for both.