• Journal of The Korean Society of Integrative Medicine
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.233-246
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• 2022

Purpose : The study aims to determine the effects of virtual and non-virtual realities in a normal person's mirror walk on gait characteristics. Methods : Twenty male adults (Age: 27.8 ± 5.8 years) participated in the study. Reflection markers were attached to the subjects for motion analysis, and they walked in virtual reality environments with mirrors by wearing goggles that showed them the virtual environments. After walking in virtual environments, the subjects walked in non-virtual environments with mirrors a certain distance away after taking a 5 min break. To prevent the order effect caused by the experiential difference of gait order, the subjects were randomly classified into groups of 10 and the order was differentiated. During each walk, an infrared camera was used to detect motion and the marker positions were saved in real time. Results : Comparison between the virtual and non-virtual reality mirror walks showed that the movable range of the leg joints (ankle, knee, and hip joints), body joints (sacroiliac and atlantoaxial joints), and arm joints (shoulder and wrist joints) significantly differed. Temporal characteristics showed that compared to non-virtual gaits, the virtual gaits were slower and the cycle time and double limb support time of virtual gaits were longer. Furthermore, spacial characteristics showed that compared to non-virtual gaits, virtual gaits had shorter steps and stride lengths and longer stride width and horizontally longer center of movement. Conclusion : The reduction in the joint movement in virtual reality compared to that in non-virtual reality is due to adverse effects on balance and efficiency during walking. Moreover, the spatiotemporal characteristics change based on the gait mechanisms for balance, exhibiting that virtual walks are more demanding than non-virtual walks. However, note that the subject group is a normal group with no abnormalities in gait and balance and it is unclear whether the decrease in performance is due to the environment or fear. Therefore, the effects of the subject group's improvement and fear on the results need to be analyzed in future studies.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.314-319
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• 2004

Objective : This study was designed to evaluate the effects of oriental medicine therapy on a normal pressure hydrocephalus patient. Methods : The clinical data was analyzed on a patient with normal pressure hydrocephalus whose main symptoms were dementia, gait disturbance and urinary incontinence. The patient was admitted to the internal medicine department of Dong-shin University Oriental Hospital from December 7, 2002, and remaind until January 20, 2003. He was treated with herbal medicine(Yukmijiwhangtang), acupuncture and moxa therapy. Results : After treatment, improvement was seen in dementia, gait disturbance, and urinary incontinence. Conclusions : The study suggests that oriental medicine therapy is significantly effective on the treatment or normal pressure hydrocephalus.

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.77-83
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• 2013

The purpose of this study was to compare kinematic variables and stiffnesses of ankle joints between normal person and transfemoral amputee gait in order to develop or fit prosthetic leg. Twenty subjects (ten normal persons and ten transfemoral amputees) participated in this experiment, and walked three trials at a self-selected pace. The gait motions were captured with Vicon system and variables were calculated with Visual-3D. The velocity, stride length, stride width, cycle time, double limb support time and right swing time of gaits were statistically significant. Because coefficients of variability of normal persons on velocity, double limb support time and swing time were greater than transfemoral amputees, normal persons controlled these gait variables effectively. The stiffnesses of ankle joints were not statistically significant, but patterns of stiffnesses of ankle joints during three rockers were absolutely different. The negative correlations between stiffnesses of ankle joints and cycle time and swing time were presented. These differences suggest that developing and fitting prosthetic leg were demanded. Further studies should develop fitting program and simulator of prosthetic leg.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.245-249
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• 2006

The aim of this study is to design and develop the gait rehabilitation equipment that judge patient's movement of his/her center of gravity using pressure sensors, and to aid hemiplegic patients to balance themselves using an automatic stepper that changes the patient's center of gravity. It is hard to bear the weight on the affected side for hemiplegic patients. The gait rehabilitation equipment detects the footing phase of hemiplegic patient during training and moves the unaffected footing side of the stepper up and moves the affected footing side down simultaneously so that the patient's center of gravity can shift from unaffected side to affected side. The gait rehabilitation system was developed and applied for hemiplegic patients during exercise. Eight hemiplegic patients and one normal adult were studied. The developed gait rehabilitation system could judge not only the normal adult's intention but also the patient's intention to move his/her center of gravity. Even though the most of hemiplegic patients exercised in automatic mode and a few hemiplegic patients exercised in manual mode, the developed gait rehabilitation system can aid the hemiplegic patients to train more easily.

• Annals of Clinical Neurophysiology
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.197-201
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• 2003

Background: The aim of this study is to present the basic reference data of kinematic gait analysis of normal Korean adults with 3 dimensional electrogoniometer, $Domotion^{(R)}$. Method: The basic kinematic gait parameters of hip, knee and ankle joints on the sagittal plane were obtained from 10 healthy adults with 5 repetition for each. Three-dimensional gait analysis was performed with $Domotion^{(R)}$ electrogoniometer in 10 meters long flat floor. Each data collected was processed with IBM PC equipped with gait analysis program. Results: Mean maximal hip flexion was $23.05^{\circ}{\pm}4.62^{\circ}$and mean maximal hip extension was $6.46^{\circ}{\pm}1.30^{\circ}$. Knee flexion was observed with two peak values. The first peak knee flexion was $6.50^{\circ}{\pm}2.07^{\circ}$ at 20.4% of gait cycle and the second peak flexion was $50.34^{\circ}{\pm}2.23^{\circ}$ at 75.8% of gait cycle. Mean maximum ankle dorsiflexion was $5.57^{\circ}{\pm}1.19^{\circ}$ at 44% of gait cycle and mean maximum ankle plantar flexion was $15.51^{\circ}{\pm}1.73^{\circ}$ at 68.5% of gait cycle. Conclusion: We concluded three dimensional gait analysis with electrogoniometer $Domotion^{(R)}$ offers a valid and reliable kinematic data and the application of this tools for clinical gait evaluation will be helpful in management of pathological gait.

• International Journal of Control, Automation, and Systems
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.152-158
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• 2005

Commercial lower limb prostheses or orthotics help patients achieve a normal life. However, patients who use such aids need prolonged training to achieve a normal gait, and their fatigability increases. To improve patient comfort, this study proposed a method of predicting gait angle using neural networks and EMG signals. Experimental results using our method show that the absolute average error of the estimated gait angles is $0.25^{\circ}$. This performance data used reference input from a controller for the lower limb orthotic or prosthesis controllers while the patients were walking.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.74-80
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• 2010

This paper presents the three dimensional gait analysis of the patients with osteoarticular knee allograft reconstruction. The gait analysis has been performed in some medical fields such as orthopedics and neurosurgery for the purpose of the rehabilitation of patients. However, to the author's knowledge, the analysis of gait for the patients with osteoarticular knee allograft reconstruction caused by tumor has not been reported. In this work, In this work, we confirmed the validity of this method by analyzing 50 samples per one gait cycle obtained from each of 3 patients and 3 normal persons. The motion capture was performed using six infrared cameras. The symmetry and stability of the gait patterns are investigated (patients' r=0.39, p<0.05, normal persons' r=0.65, p<0.05) respectively using the correlation coefficients and the standard deviations of the joint angles of the left and right legs. It also would be applied to the comparison analysis where artificial knee joint is transplanted.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.131-136
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• 2007

In this study, we developed an active ankle-foot orthosis(AAFO) which can control dorsi/ plantar flexion of the ankle joint to prevent foot drop and toe drag during walking. 3D gait analyses were performed on five healthy subjects under three different gait conditions: the normal gait without AFO, the SAFO gait with the conventional plastic AFO, and the AAFO gait with the developed AFO. As a result, the developed AAFO preeminently induced the normal gait compared to the SAFO. Additionally, AAFO prevented foot drop by proper plantarflexion during loading response and provided enough plantarflexion moment as a driving force to walk forward by sufficient push-off during pre-swing. AAFO also could prevent toe drag by proper dorsiflexion during swing phase. These results indicate that the developed AAFO may have more clinical benefits to treat foot drop and toe drag, compared to conventional AFOs, and also may be useful in patients with other orthotic devices.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.351-356
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• 2006

The purpose of this study is to investigate the gait characteristics in Parkinson's disease patients. Specifically, the total stance time and the ratio of each stance phase (heel strike, mid-stance, propulsion) are analyzed from the foot-pressure measurement system which requires low cost and small space compared to the conventional gait analysis system. The gait characteristics were analyzed in 23 Parkinson's disease patients (before and after L-dopa medication), 34 elderly (sixties) normal subjects and 21 young (twenties) normal subjects. Bradykinesia global score (self-developed score of slowness of body movement) of patients before medication was determined to see the relationship between the score and the gait characteristics. The total stance time was greater in the erde. of patients, elderly, youngs (p<0.05). The phase ratio of heel strike and propulsion was smaller and that of mid-stance was greater in the order of patients, elderly, youngs (p<0.05). However, there was no significant difference in the above gait characteristics of patients before and after medication. There was a tendency, though statistically non-significant, that the total stance time is longer and the propulsion phase ratio is shorter in patients with greater Bradikinesia global scale, and this tendency was relieved after medication.

• The Journal of the Society of Stroke on Korean Medicine
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.45-54
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• 2016

A case of a 75-year-old Korean female with gait disturbance due to Normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) is presented. She was treated with acupuncture, electroacupuncture and herbal medicine - 柴苓湯(Shirhyung-Tang, Chai-ling-tang, Sairei-to) We used iNPH grading scale, and specified further the grade of gait disturbance category. After Korean medical treatment, there was notable improvement in gait disturbance on our specified scale. Cognitive impairment, tremor and rigidity were improved on each scale alongside. Korean medical treatment may be effective in treating NPH patients.