• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.108-119
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• 2024

In this study, we aimed to propose enhancements to the dimensions and design of walking aids tailored for elderly women. Specifically, we focused on wheeled walking assistance devices and aligned each structural component with the appropriate human body dimensions to suggest appropriate product dimensions organized by size clusters, aiming to maximize the practicality of the results. We extracted essential factors required for product design, including human body size elements. The dimension extraction method was clustered to establish connections between key human body parameters-such as height, weight, and age groups-and product dimensions. We conducted a comparative analysis of walking aid product dimensions according to the design elements and sizes of models currently available in the market. The outcomes of this study offer objective, data-driven insights into areas where existing models on the market could benefit from improvement and we anticipate that the findings of this study will provide a solid, quantitative foundation for individuals when selecting the most suitable model for their needs.

• Journal of Korean Society of Transportation
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.348-356
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• 2015

In 2026, in ten years from now, Korea is expected to enter into a super aged society. By facing this social phenomenon, analyzing the elderlies and preparing measures are needed among society. In the transportation field, the traffic accidents which are related to the elderly pedestrians have drastically increased so that R&D projects and policy supplementations are introduced. However very few base studies on which focused on the behavior, capability, impact factors analysis of for elderly pedestrians are conducted. To determine the walking capability, this study divided the walking capability into 3 three categories - general, health and exercise. It carries out the comprehensive survey targeting 52 elderlies with the average age of 72.6 years and this survey is made up of total 12 factors in the 3 three categories. This survey also is conducted with various measuring devices and methods such as interview, National Fitness Award, SPBB, Cybex and the like for. From the 12 detailed factors, the general factors such as age, physical shape and so forth have little impact on the walking speed. However the factors that have the greatest impact on the walking speed are extensor muscle on lower limbs in the health factors and balance, coordination, and SPPB in the exercise factors. With these results, this study develops the independent walking model which can measure the walking capability of the elderly people. The developed model is expected to be utilized as the base study for elderly's walking patterns in the transportation field by examining the walking capability of the older people.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.1-8
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• 2018

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to analyze the effects of carrying weight on the gait of elderly women using a walking-assistant vehicle (WAV) as the weight increased. METHODS: A total of 30 elderly women living in the local community were included as subjects and instructed to walk 50 m using a WAV loaded with sandbags corresponding to 0%, 5%, 10%, or 15% of their mean weight. The subjects' gait was analyzed using a gait analyzer to measure stride length, step length, step width, and gait time. RESULTS: Stride and step lengths were longest when carrying 5% of their weight and shortest when carrying 15% of their mean body weight. Step width and gait time were lowest when carrying weights corresponding to 5% and highest for 15% of their mean body weight. When observing gait with a WAV, the gait time was greatly affected by weights, with carrying weight equivalent to 5% of the body weight positively affected the gait with a WAV, whereas carrying weights of >15% resulted in slower gait speed. CONCLUSION: When walking with a WAV, an appropriate carrying weight of approximately 5% of the body weight stabilizes gait, while a weight of 15% leads decreased gait efficiency. Therefore, when using a WAV during outdoor activities, elderly women should add some weight to the WAV; however, the carrying weight should be <15% of the body weight.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Integrative Medicine
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.29-38
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• 2020

Purpose : The purpose of this research was to investigate the effects of barefoot walking on the sandy beach on pain intensity, disability, motor function, sleep satisfaction, and quality of life in the elderly with low back pain (LBP). Methods : A single-blinded randomized controlled trial was conducted involving 32 elderly with LBP who underwent sand walking barefoot (intervention, n=16) or with sneakers (control, n = 16). Both walking methods were carried out for 30 minutes per day, three times a week for four weeks. Pain intensity and disability were assessed using the visual analog scale and Oswestry disability index, respectively. Balance and gait were evaluated using the Berg balance scale and timed up and go test, respectively. Sleep satisfaction was quantified with the Verran and Snyder-Halpern sleep scale. Finally, quality of life was assessed through the WHO quality of life scale's abbreviated Korean version. Results : Compared with the control group, the intervention group showed significant differences in pain intensity (p=.005), disability due to LBP (p=.002), static balance ability (p=.003), dynamic balance ability (p=.002), and sleep satisfaction (p=.017). There was no significant difference in the quality of life between the two groups. Conclusion : Barefoot walking on a sandy beach is significantly effective in improving pain, disability due to LBP, balance ability, and sleep satisfaction in the elderly with LBP. Further studies with larger sample sizes and longer intervention periods must to be conducted to generalize using barefoot walking in LBP management.

• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.61-69
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• 2006

Purpose: The study was done to identify the perceived health status of elderly women and men, and define the difference between the two groups. Method: The subjects of this study were 209 elderly people over 60 years living in urban areas. The data was collected through personal interviews using questionnaires from September to October 2002. Data was categorized by content analysis and then data was analyzed with the SPSS program by frequency and Chi-square tests. Result: Elderly women complained of types of pain(leg pain, arthritis, lumbago, headache) more than elderly men. Elderly men complained about decreased levels of activities such as walking and general weakness. Elderly men and women have discomforts in daily living such as walking and doing household chores. First, elderly men and women want good health and improvement of health status. Second, women want happiness for their offspring, but men want to improve the government and the laws. Conclusion: Elderly women want relief from pain, but elderly men want an increased level of activity. The findings of this study give useful information to conduct health education and care for elderly women.

• The Journal of the Korea institute of electronic communication sciences
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.9-16
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• 2017

In this paper, we introduce a warning message providing methodology by considering the elderly's walking behavior in V2P(: Vehicle-to-Pedestrian) communication systems. Using the elderly's accident records in Kyounggi-do area from 2011 to 2014, the elderly's accident behaviors are analyzed by categorizing accidents as road type (single road/ crossing road), existence of traffic signal (with signal/ without signal), existence of crosswalk (crosswalk/ jaywalk), cause of accident (jaywalk/ signal violation/ carelessness accident/ Etc.). In addition, the elderly's behavior variable and vehicle speed are applied, then some threshold values are utilized in a warning message providing in conflict area. Finally, we propose a distance which can protect an accident depending on the elderly's walking speed, safety margin and vehicle speed. By applying the results of this research to the V2P/P2V communication based road safety message providing system with the elderly's walking behavior, it may be helpful to reduce accident rate of the elderly.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.139-148
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• 2018

PURPOSE: This study compared the effects of indoor and outdoor environmental changes on the activity of the major lower limb muscles and walking factors in people 40-50 years and those aged older than 70 years. METHODS: Ten middle-aged people in their forties (age:$44.2{\pm}2.7$, BMI:$21.8{\pm}1.8$) and 10 elderly aged more than 70 years (age:$76.4{\pm}5.9$, BMI:$22.2{\pm}1.9$) with a normal walking ability were included. The participants walked 100 m both indoors and outdoors at their own speed. Using a 3D motion analyzer and EMG, the walking speed, angle of the ankle and activity changes of the lower limb muscles were compared. RESULTS: Significant differences in walking speed and peak-plantar flexion angle were observed between the two groups (p<.05). The muscular activity of the gastrocnemius muscle (GCM) was significantly different outdoors in the swing phase between the two groups (p<.05). In the people aged in their forties, the muscular activity of the rectus femoris (RF) was significantly higher outdoors than indoors (p<.05). In the elderly, however, the muscular activity of the RF was lower outdoors than indoors (p<.05). When compared to those in there forties, the muscular activity of the outdoor RF significantly decreased in the elderly group (P<.05). The muscular activity of the biceps femoris (BF) in the elderly decreased significantly outdoors compared to indoors (p<.05). CONCLUSION: For the elderly, increasing the exposure to the new environments or focusing on the performance of repeated movements for gradual speed control and precise movements is required to maintain normal gaits and movements that are less affected by environmental changes.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.372-386
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• 1996

Recently, the ratio of elderly in the population are fast growing due to socio-economical development and the better medical service. Proportionally, the health problems in elderly are increasing, too. Medical professionals must try so that the elderly have the better life through health promotion and disease prevention as well as disease treatment. This study evaluated the effect of walking exercise program on the cardiorespiratory function and the flexibility in the elderly women. The design of research was one group pretest-posttest design. The subjects were eleven elderly women over sixty years old to live in K-city, Kyonggi-do. The type of exercise was walking, which was the most popular exercise in questionnaire. The exercise intensity was 40％∼60％ of the target heart-rate by Karvonen's method and maintained by the heart-rate monitor. The exercise period was five weeks and the exercise frequency was three times per week. The exercise duration was forty minutes at first and gradually increased up to an hour. In order to evaluate the effect of walking exercise, we measured VO/sub₂ max, resting heart -rate, systolic/diastolic blood pressure, FVC, FEV/sub₁, the flexibility before and after the five week's exercise program. The data are analyzed by the paired t-test and Wilcoxon signed rank test using SAS package. The results are as follows : 1) The hypothesis that cardiorespiratory function will be improved was partly supported. In VO/sub₂ max（p＝0.0001）, resting heart-rate（p＝0.0030）, systolic/diastolic blood-pressure（p＝0.0387／ p＝0.0024）, there was significant difference. FVC and FEV/sub₁ were increased after the exercise, but there were no significant difference. 2) The hypothesis that the flexibility will be improved was supported. There was significant difference in the flexibility（p＝0.0140）. As the further study, it is necessary to reevaluate the effect with more refined design. We also need to try meta-analysis about the results of previous studies obtained in the experimental setting and compare our result obtained in the field setting with them.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.2660-2664
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• 2003

In this study, the concept of autonomous mobility is applied to a medical service robot. The aim of the development of the service robot is for the elderly assisting walking rehabilitation. This study aims that the service robot design parameter is proposed in ergonomic view. The walking assistant path pattern is derived from analyzing the elderly gait analysis. A lever is installed in the AMR in order to measure the pulling force and the leading force of the elderly. A lever mechanism is applied for walking assistant service of the AMR. This lever is designed for measuring the leading force of the elderly. The elderly adjusts the velocity of the robot by applying force to the lever. The action scope and the service mechanism of the robot are developed for considering and analyzing the elderly action patterns. The ergonomic design parameters, that is, dimensions, action scope and working space are determined based on the elderly moving scope. The gait information is acquired by measuring the guide lever force by load cells and working pattern by the electromyography signal.

• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.33-40
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• 2009

This study aims to plan connecting living facilities considering on the Barrier Free Walking of the disabled and the elderly in the residential area. We had found several physical problems on the pedestrian's way that becomes the major factor of disturbing the barrier free movement for using living facilities in the local area by investigations and enquetes. We had suggested the arrangement method for these physical problems on the pedestrian's way and building the ideal area for living facilities by the disposition stages with the result of investigations and enquetes. After these process, we had planned connecting living facilities considering on the Barrier Free Walking of the disabled and the elderly in the residential area.