• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.35 no.11
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• pp.1243-1248
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• 2011

The purposes of this study were to develop a dynamic model of a human and to investigate the effect of a walker on an elderly subject's motions, such as sit-to-stand (STS) motion and normal gait, by using this model. A human model consisting of 15 segments and 14 joints was developed, embedded in $RecurDyn^{TM}$, and connected through a Simulink$^{(R)}$ interface with collected motion data. The model was validated by comparisons between joint kinematic results from inverse dynamics (Matlab$^{(R)}$-based in-house program) and from $RecurDyn^{TM}$ simulation during walking. The results indicate that the elderly walker induced a longer movement time in walking, such that the speed of joint flexion/extension was slower than that during a normal gait. The results showed that the muscle activities of parts of the ankle and hamstring were altered by use of the elderly walker. The technique used in this study could be very helpful in applications to biomechanical fields.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.25-39
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• 1999

Among older persons falls are the leading cause of death resulting from injury. The research was conducted to investigate the effects of transitional floor surfaces and visual field obstruction on gait mechanisms in the elderly. Ten college students and ten elderly individuals participated in the experiment. The results indicated that walking on transitional floor surfaces and carrying a light load changed the elderly individuals biomechanical parameters of gait mechanisms more significantly than their younger counterparts in terms of slip severity. The result implies that the types of floor material placed in the homes of elderly individuals and in public places should minimize transitional floor surfaces and the elderly individuals should be made aware of the danger of slipping even when carrying a light load.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.298-302
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• 2017

With an increasing aging population and improved standards of living, more attention has been paid to health. Although walking exercise is known as an aerobic exercise, it imposes repeated and continuous impacts on the joints of the lower extremities. Therefore, when overweight gives a burden to the lower extremity or there is a joint disease, exercise limit occurs. The articular cartilage, weakened with age, also makes it difficult for the elderly to perform walking exercises. Accordingly, this study conducted a comparative analysis between regular walking using only the lower extremity and Nordic walking, which has been known as stable. For analysis, electromyography (EMG) was performed and the ground reaction force of the upper and lower extremities were measured in the same exercise. Integrated EMG (iEMG) revealed that the upper extremity muscles were more active in Nordic walking than in regular walking, where lower extremity muscles were relatively more inactive. In addition, when EMG measurements were performed at each measurement point during walking exercise, the pattern was different. Nevertheless, the result was the same as in iEMG. The load that occurs in each exercise was measured using the ground reaction force system. As a result, Nordic walking had a lower load than regular walking. Therefore, it was found that Nordic walking minimized the load on the lower extremities owing to the effect of whole-body exercise and was a safer and more efficient exercise method.

• Review of Korea Contents Association
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.65-69
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• 2015

• Transportation Technology and Policy
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.29-37
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• 2015

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.19-26
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• 2011

Korea is rapidly becoming an aging society. As a basic research on increasing evacuation safety design at silver facilities, the study was conducted in consideration of different foot's pace according to the number of seniors and their locations in a crowding of ordinary people and seniors all together. When the seniors were located at the front, the pace reduced to 0.81m/s on average. With 10 seniors which covered 50% of the crowd, the pace decreased to 0.85m/s. It is true that Korea has no existing researches on evacuation behaviour, and functions mentioned in its evacuation safety design is lack of practicality. Therefore, it is certainly necessary to secure any data of the evacuation behavior through various studies on seniors' evacuation behaviors.

• Journal of muscle and joint health
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.203-214
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• 2011

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to identify the effects for 4-weeks muscle strengthening exercise program on pain, fatigue, and physical function(muscle strength of leg, walking competence, balance, flexibility of patella) in elderly women with total knee arthroplasty(TKA). Method: Utilizing a quasi-experimental design, 30 TKA patients consisted of the experimental group (n=15) and control group (n=15). The experimental group participated in the muscle strengthening exercise program, twice a day for 4 weeks. Data were analyzed with SPSS WIN 18.0 program, using repeated measure ANOVA. Result: As time goes by, There were significant differences in muscle strength of leg (F=6.60, p<.001), walking competence(F=7.15, p<.001), and balance(F=17.55, p<.001) between the experimental and the control groups. Conclusion: The findings of this study revealed the positive effects of muscle strengthening exercise program in elderly women with TKA.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.223-228
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• 2011

In this paper, we proposed a technique to recognize three states in stance phase of gait cycle. Walking assistive devices are used to help the elderly people walk or to monitor walking behavior of the disabled persons. For the effective assistance, they adopt an intelligent sensor system to understand user's current state in walking. There are three states in stance phase; Loading Response, Midstance, and Terminal Stance. We developed a foot pressure sensor using 24 FSRs (Force Sensing/Sensitive Resistors). The foot pressure patterns were integrated through the interpolation of FSR cell array. The pressure patterns were processed to get the trajectories of COM (Center of Mass). Using the trajectories of COM of foot pressure, we can recognize the three states of stance phase. The experimental results show the effective recognition of stance phase and the possibility of usage on the walking assistive device for better control and/or foot pressure monitoring.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.171-185
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• 2003

The eight hundred fourteen male and female elderly living in urban and rural area of Incheon were compared in terms of anthropometric indices and health related factors. Mean height, weight, BMI, WHR, MAC, TSF, %body fat and systolic blood pressure of male elderly were 162.7cm and 162.0cm, 61.8kg and 58.3kg, 23.2 and 22.0, 0.91 and 0.89, 24.4cm and 24.0cm, 9.9mm and 11.5mm, 23.9% and 23.2%, 152.1mmHg and 150.0mmHg in the urban and rural respectively. In female elderly, mean height, weight, BMI, WHR, MAC, TSF, %body fat and systolic blood pressure were 150.3cm and 149.2cm, 55.9kg and 53.1kg, 24.4 and 23.4, 0.87 and 0.86, 25.4cm and 24.4cm, 20.2mm and 18.9mm, 37.2% & 35.4%, 142.2mmHg and 151.7 mmHg in the urban and rural respectively. As the age increasing, most of the anthropometric indices are decreased while systolic blood pressure are increased in both gender. The proportion of the subject with normal hearing were 73.1% in the urban, 61.4% in the rural and 61.8% in the male, 73.1% in the female. Hearing and tooth status became deteriorated as increasing the age and the more elderly felt themselves unhealthy as increasing the age. Aerobic(25.7%) and walking/jogging(18.4%) in the urban, walking/jogging (22.1%) and climbing(3.5％) in the rural were the preferred exercise in the elderly. Frequency of health promoting substance intake were very low and not significantly different between the urban & the rural, and the male and the female elderly. Neuralgia, diabetes, indigestion and cerebral stroke showed relatively higher morbidity in the elderly. Neuralgia was significantly higher in the female(23.3%) than in the male(13.1%). Diabetes was significantly higher in the female(22.4%) and the urban(21.9%) elderly than in the male(16.1%) and the rural(13.5%) elderly respectively. In conclusion, as the age increasing the height and weight of the elderly decreased significantly and BMI, WHR and body fat toned to decrease. Hearing and tooth status deteriorated significantly as the age increasing, especially in female elderly.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.45-54
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• 2014

Fall is one of the most intimidating health conditions in elders. Comprehensive assessment is necessary to understand the individual and environmental aspects of the falls such as balancing abilities, depression, and quality of life. The purpose of this study was to compare the balancing ability, depression, and quality of life between elderly fallers and elderly non-fallers. Thirty-two community-dwelling elders (fifteen males and seventeen females between 65 and 83 years old), who have experienced fall on walking during last twelve months, were involved in the elderly fallers group. And twenty-four males and twenty-two females between 65 and 83 years old of community-dwelling elders, who have no experienced fall on walking during last twelve months, were involved in the elderly non-fallers group. Berg balance scale (BBS), timed up and go test (TUG), and functional reach test (FRT), were used to evaluate the ability of the physical balance. 'Beck depression scale in Korean' questionnaire was used to assess the depression. 'Korean version of World Health Organization Quality of Life Assessment Instrument-Bref' questionnaire was used to assess the quality of life. The results were as follows: 1) Balancing abilities measured by the BBS, TUG in the elderly fallers group were meaningfully lower than that of the elderly non-fallers group (p<.05), whereas no significant difference in the FRT was found (p>.05). 2) Depression level in the elderly fallers group was significantly higher than that of the elderly non-fallers group (p<.05). 3) Quality of life in the elderly fallers group was significantly lower than that of the elderly non-fallers group, excluding environment domain (p<.05). Therefore, in order for clinical evaluation of the community-dwelling elders those with reduced balancing ability, it is necessary to evaluate and understand the fall experience, depression, and quality of life.