Falling is a common problem in the growing elderly population, and fall-risk assessment systems are needed for community-based fall prevention programs. In particular, the timed up and go test (TUG) is the clinical test most often used to evaluate elderly individual ambulatory ability in many clinical institutions or local communities. This study presents an improved leg tracking method using a...

This study examined how the central nervous system organizes mediolateral (ML) "anticipatory postural adjustments" (APAs) for stepping initiation (SI) to take into account the postural perturbation induced by voluntary lateral arm raising. Subjects purposely stepped in isolation ("isolated stepping") or in combination with lateral raising of dominant arm ("motor sequence"). SI was carried out w...

Uninterrupted sitting blunts vascular endothelial function in the lower extremities; however, the factors contributing to this impairment remain largely unknown. Herein, we tested the hypothesis that prolonged flexion of the hip and knee joints, as it occurs during sitting, and associated low shear stress and disturbed (i.e., turbulent) blood flow caused by arterial bending, impairs endothelial...

Humans and birds both walk and run bipedally on compliant legs. However, differences in leg architecture may result in species-specific leg control strategies as indicated by the observed gait patterns. In this work, control strategies for stable running are derived based on a conceptual model and compared with experimental data on running humans and pheasants (Phasianus colchicus). From a mode...

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the influence of acute fatigue of the hip flexor muscles on scores attained in tests frequently used in literature to measure hamstring muscle extensibility, namely the passive straight leg raise (PSLR), active straight leg raise (ASLR), passive knee extension (PKE), active knee extension (AKE), sit-and-reach (SR) and toe-touch (TT) tests. A tota...

OBJECTIVES The weight bearing lunge test is increasing being used by health care clinicians who treat lower limb and foot pathology. This measure is commonly established accurately and reliably with the use of expensive equipment. This study aims to compare the digital inclinometer with a free app, TiltMeter on an Apple iPhone. DESIGN This was an intra-rater and inter-rater reliability study....

The aims of this study were: 1) to determine the differences in hamstring extensibility between kneeling and forward legs in a group of canoeists; 2) to compare hamstring extensibility between canoeists and kayakers; and 3) to compare the sagittal spinal posture and pelvic tilt in the maximal trunk flexion with knees extended in kayakers and canoeists. Ninety-nine young male paddlers (17.51±6.1...