OBJECTIVE This work intended to observe the effect of injecting botolinum toxin type A (BTX-A) for relieving spastic iliopsoas of cerebral palsy on children, and to investigate the improvement of this method for the motor function in these children. PATIENTS AND METHODS From July 2006 to August 2012, 37 children with spastic iliopsoas cerebral palsy were received rehabilitation therapy. The a...

The turtle generates a variety of coordinated hindlimb movements, including different forms of locomotion and scratching. The intact turtle produces forward step, forward swim, and backpaddle. Following spinal cord transection, rostral, pocket, and caudal scratches can be evoked by mechanical stimulation of the shell. Comparisons of the kinematics and motor patterns of these six behaviors provi...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Although stroke survivors often display abnormal joint torque patterns, studies of torque-coupling in the lower limb are lacking, despite their potential impact on gait abnormalities. METHODS Twenty-two chronic ambulating stroke subjects and 11 age-matched control subjects produced isometric hip torques in the frontal and sagittal planes with the hemiparetic leg (or ran...

The purpose of the study is to establish absolute reliability and concurrent validity between hand-held dynamometers (HHDs) and isokinetic dynamometers (IDs) in lower extremity peak torque assessment. Medline, Embase, CINAHL databases were searched for studies related to psychometric properties in muscle dynamometry. Studies considering standard error of measurement SEM (%) or limit of agreemen...

[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of an abdominal drawing-in maneuver (ADIM), measured using a pressure bio-feedback unit, on the activities of the hamstring, gluteus maximus, and erector spinae muscles during prone hip extension. [Subjects and Methods] Thirty healthy adult subjects (14 male, 16 female), were recruited. Subjects' lumbar lordosis and pelvic tilt angl...

PURPOSE To determine whether the handheld dynamometer (HHD) is an appropriate tool to assess and quantify peak hip extension strength in prone standing position by (1) evaluating the concurrent validity of the HHD versus an isokinetic dynamometer (IKD), (2) establishing the minimal detectable change (MDC), and (3) determining the validity of single-trial versus multi-trial measures. METHOD A ...

The rapid decrease in firing of load-sensitive group Ib muscle afferents during unloading may be particularly important in triggering the swing phase of gait. However, it still remains unclear whether load-sensitive muscle afferents modulate reflex activity in human spinal cord injury (SCI), as suggested by studies in the cat. The right hip of 12 individuals with chronic SCI was subjected to ra...

[Purpose] The present study examined the effects of knee flexion angle on hip extensor muscle activity. [Subjects and Methods] Twenty healthy subjects maintained knee flexion angles of 0°, 30°, 60°, 90° and 110° in the prone position and performed maximal voluntary contraction in hip extension. Maximum torque in hip extension at the different angles was measured, and surface electromyogram acti...

BACKGROUND Patients with hip osteoarthritis (OA) typically suffer joint pain, and often experience muscular weakness. We hypothesized that substantial atrophy would manifest in multiple muscle groups along the affected limb, resulting in severe muscle dysfunction. PATIENTS AND METHODS We assessed 22 elderly patients with unilateral OA for maximal voluntary isometric strength of hip and knee m...