• Health Policy and Management
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.26-36
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• 2020

Background: The purpose of this study was to analyze the relationship between the regional characteristics and the age-adjusted cardio-cerebrovascular disease mortality rates (SCDMR) in 229 si·gun·gu administrative regions. Methods: SCDMR of man and woman was used as a dependent variable using the statistical data of death cause in 2017. As a representative index of regional characteristics, health behavior factors, socio-demographic and economic factors, physical environment factors, and health care factors were selected as independent variables. Ordinary least square (OLS) regression and geographically weighted regression (GWR) were performed to identify their relationship. Results: OLS analysis showed significant factors affecting the mortality rates of cardio-cerebrovascular disease as follows: high-risk drinking rates, the ratio of elderly living alone, financial independence, and walking practice rates. GWR analysis showed that the regression coefficients were varied by regions and the influence directions of the independent variables on the dependent variable were mixed. GWR showed higher adjusted R² and Akaike information criterion values than those of OLS. Conclusion: If there is a spatial heterogeneity problem as Korea, it is appropriate to use the GWR model to estimate the influence of regional characteristics. Therefore, results using the GWR model suggest that it needs to establish customized health policies and projects for each region considering the socio-economic characteristics of each region.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapy
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.65-73
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• 2005

Osteoarthritis has been considered a disease of the elderly because it is uncommon before the age of 40 years and is seen in approximately 80% of United States citizens older than 65 years. general population on kuri city in korea revealed that prevalence of knee osteoarthritis is 10.2%, increasing with age. High level of physical activity in men and age, post-menopause and obesity in women can be risk factor. Osteoarthritis is no evidence that a acquired process initiated much earlier in life through mechanical, metabolic, genetic, or other origins. A high tibial osteotomy alters static lower extremity alignment thereby decreasing medial compartment loading. As well, conservative treatment strategies, such as knee braces and valgus heel wedges, affect lover limb mechanics and attempt to reduce medial compartment loading. It was hypothesized that valgus heel wedges and modified orthoses would shift the center of pressure laterally on the foot during level walking, reducing the moment arm of the adduction moment in the frontal plane, thereby resulting in a decrease in the knee adduction moment. In the 1980s, the effect of wearing a laterally wedged insole on osteoarthritic patients with a varus deformity of the knee was firsted, and since then, kinematic and kinetic analyses concerning this condition have mainly focused on a static standing position. Since the early 1990s, the beneficial effect of wearing a laterally wedged insole to treat osteoarthritis of the knee has also been reported in dynamic conditions, but these studies did not answer the question of the kinematic and kinetic mechanisms that resulted in the reduced symptoms in patents with knee osteoarthritis. therefore, the effect of wearing laterally wedged insole has not been sufficiently studied.

• Journal of rehabilitation welfare engineering & assistive technology
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.177-185
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• 2014

In this study, the exoskeleton orthosis for the assistance of dorsiflexion torque in ankle joint to prevent foot-drop was developed. It was consist of three part; 1) the power part using artificial pneumatic actuator, 2) wearing part of ankle and knee joints to fix the orthosis, and 3) control part to detect the gait phase using physiological signal. The dorsiflexion torque was generated by the artificial pneumatic actuator connected with wearing part between ankle and knee joint. The accurate timing to assist dorsiflexion torque is made up of physiological signal in foot sole part that detect the gait phase, that is, stance and swing phase in each foot. We conduct the experiment to investigate the effect of exoskeleton orthosis to the 7 elderly people and 10 healthy people. The result showed that the muscular activities in tibialis anterior muscle were reduced because of the assistance of dorsiflexion torque in ankle joint using the exoskeleton orthosis.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.79-86
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• 2006

The purpose of the current experiment was to describe interlimb coordination when swing limb conditions are being manipulated by constraining step length or by adding a 5 or 10 pound weight to the swing limb distally. Subjects were asked to begin walking with the right limb to land on the primary target (normal step length) that is 10 cm in diameter. However, if, during movement, the light was illuminated, then the subject had to step on one of the secondary targets (long and short step length). These three step length conditions were repeated while wearing a 5 pound ankle weight and then when wearing a 10 pound ankle weight. Ground reaction force (GRF) data indicated that there were changes in the forces and slopes of the swing and stance Fx GRFs. Long stepping subjects had to increase the propulsive force required to increase step length. Consequently, swing and stance toe-off greatly increased in the long step length condition. Short step length subjects had to adequately adjust step length, which decreased the speed of gait initiation. Loading the swing limb decreased the force and slope of the swing limb. Swing and stance toe-off was longest for the long step length condition, but there was a small difference of temporal events between no weight and weight condition. It appears that subjects modulated GRFs and temporal events differently to achieve the peak acceleration force of the swing and stance limb in response to different tasks. The findings from the current study provide preliminary data, which can be used to further investigate how we modulate forces during voluntary movement from a quiet stance. This information may be important if we are to use this or a similar task to evaluate gait patterns of the elderly and patient populations.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Fundamentals of Nursing
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.334-342
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• 2010

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of Tai Chi exercise on flexibility, balance, walking ability, muscle strength, bone mineral density, and fracture risk in institutionalized elders. Method: A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design with a nonequivalent comparison group was utilized, and 53 older adults living in one institution were recruited and assigned to one of two groups, experimental group (18) or comparison (20). Both groups completed posttest measures at 6 months. There was a 31% rate of dropouts. Tai Chi exercise was provided twice a week for 24 weeks. Outcome measurements were conducted by a physiotherapist at a university hospital health promotion center who did not know the group assignment. Results: At 6 months, the experimental group had significantly greater grip strength(t=2.12, p=.04), back muscle strength (t=2.42, p=.02), balance (t=5.31, p<001), and flexibility (t=3.57, p<.001). They also showed significantly greater bone mineral density of lumbar spine and femur, and reduced fracture risk. Conclusion: Tai Chi exercise was safely and effectively used with institutionalized elders for 6 months and significantly improved physical fitness, bone mineral density along with a reduction in fracture risk. Whether Tai Chi exercise would lead to prevention of fall episodes and fall related fractures in this population will require further study.

• Journal of Korean Society of Industrial and Systems Engineering
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.184-192
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• 2015

Korea has already entered into an aging society. In recent decades, the health problems for seniors has received considerable interest. We often see the elderly who have been struggled from discomfort or illness of the foot. Those foot related problems mainly cause from the use of improper shoes. Recently, shoe makers sell the shoes for seniors, so called comfort shoes, but the shoes are too expensive for seniors to buy easily. In this paper, we develop cheap insoles for seniors as an alternative of the comfort shoes and suggest the systematic process for the insoles development. This systematic process is as follows: 1) Survey the literature about the market of insole, 2) Investigate the standard size of body and foot for the seniors in Korea, 3) Analyze the customer needs by survey, 4) Study the walking pattern by experiments, and 5) Develop the novel insole for the seniors to relieve the inconveniences related with foot. From the newly developed insoles, the company B gains the sales increasing effect approximately 30% over through the increase in consumer satisfaction and company reputation and secures for intellectual property rights. Using the database from Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science, the reliability of developing technology of the functional insole has been obtained. The seniors are also enable to choose an alternative of comfort shoes for foot health. In the future, the insoles developed from this study have wide applications in the medical, cosmetic fields, and leisure sports fields. Accordingly, it seems to require more systematic studies utilizing Walk Analyzer and Foot Pressure Meter.

• Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Science
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.54-60
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• 2018

Objective: Persons with chronic stroke fall more often than healthy elderly individuals. The Timed Up and Go test (TUG) is used as a fall prediction tool, but only provides a result for the total measurement time. This study aimed to determine the optimal cut-off values for each of the 6 components of the TUG. Design: Retrospective study. Methods: Thirty persons with chronic stroke participated in the study. TUG evaluation was performed using a wearable miniaturized inertial sensor. Sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values were calculated using the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve analysis for the measured values in each section. Optimal values for fall risk classification were determined. Logistic regression analysis was used to investigate the risk of future falls based on TUG. Results: The cut-off values of the 6 sections of the TUG were determined, as follows: sit-to-stand >2.00 seconds (p<0.05), forward gait >4.68 seconds (p<0.05), mid-turn >3.82 seconds (p<0.05), return gait >4.81 seconds (p<0.05), end-turn >2.95 seconds (p<0.05), and stand-to-sit >2.13 seconds (p<0.05). The risk of falling increased by 2.278 times when the mid-turn value was >3.82 seconds (p<0.05). Conclusions: The risk of falls increased by 2.28 times when the value of the mid-turn interval exceeded 3.82 seconds. Therefore, when interpreting TUG results, the predictive accuracy for falls will be higher when the measurement time for each section is analyzed, together with the total time for TUG.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.372-380
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• 2021

In this study, data from the 7th (2016~2018) and 8th (2019) Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys were used, which included 5,325 subjects. Health behavior, dietary and nutrient intake status, physical measurement and biochemical characteristics, and risk factors for elderly related chronic diseases were classified and analyzed according to the changing composition of single households and other households in the current society. As a result, the ratio of current smokers and drinkers in young adult single households, walking less than 30 minutes per day, subjective health status was poor, breakfast rate less than three times per week, eating out frequency more than once a day, lipid intake ratio to total calories, saturation fatty acid intake were significantly higher. In addition, waist circumference, and diastolic blood pressure were significantly higher. However, dietary fiber intake level was significantly lower. The results for hypertension, which is the representative chronic disease that causes old age-related chronic diseases, were significantly higher in single households (ORs=1.400 (95% CI: 1.095, 1.791), p=0.007). Although young adults may not have showed particularly serious health problems yet, education is believed as important to recognize and prevent age-related disease risk factors.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Integrative Medicine
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.9-17
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• 2019

Purpose : This study assessed the effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on balance, fall efficacy, and fall-related fitness in stroke patients, using a cohort of 30 stroke patients divided into two groups. Methods : The experimental group (was given transcranial direct current stimulation in a virtual reality program) and the control group was given false tDCS in virtual reality. there were 15 patients in each group, receiving appropriate treatment over 30 sessions (30 minutes per session per week over a six-week period). In order to assess the change in balance before and after the intervention, the Berg Balance scale was utilized. Fall efficacy was evaluated using the Korean Falls Efficacy Scale for the Elderly (FES-K), The following exercises were performed by patients to assess fall-related fitness : sitting down in a chair and standing up : walking a 244 cm round= trip, and standing on one foot. Results : After the intervention, the experimental group exhibited significantly increased fall efficacy and fall-related fitness, while the control group exhibited no change. These findings suggest that tDCS has positive effects on balance, fall efficacy, and fall-related fitness in stroke patients. Conclusion : Using tDCS as an intervention would bring positive effects on balance, fall efficacy, and fall-related fitness in stroke patients undergoing rehabilitation.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.433-443
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• 2022

Purpose: In this paper, we propose a study of deep learning algorithms that estimate and predict sarcopenia by exploiting the high penetration rate of smart devices. Method: To utilize deep learning techniques, experimental data were collected by using the inertial sensor embedded in the smart device. We implemented a smart device application for data collection. The data are collected by labeling normal and abnormal gait and five states of running, falling and squat posture. Result: The accuracy was analyzed by comparative analysis of LSTM, CNN, and RNN models, and binary classification accuracy of 99.87% and multiple classification accuracy of 92.30% were obtained using the CNN-LSTM fusion algorithm. Conclusion: A study was conducted using a smart sensoring device, focusing on the fact that gait abnormalities occur for people with sarcopenia. It is expected that this study can contribute to strengthening the safety issues caused by sarcopenia.