• Journal of Korean Society of Industrial and Systems Engineering
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.16-23
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• 2018

Postural instability can increase the likelihood of hazardous slip and fall accidents in workplaces. The present study intended to extend understanding of the effect of abnormal neck posture on postural control during quiet standing. The effect of body fatigue on the postural control was also of primary concern. Twelve healthy undergraduate students volunteered to participate in the experiment. Standing on a force platform with the neck neutral, flexed, extended, or rotated, subjects' center of pressures (COP) were measured under the two levels of body fatigue. For the fatigue condition, Subjects exercised in a treadmill to meet the predetermined level of body fatigue. Analyzing the position coordinates of COPs, the length of postural sway path was assessed in both medio-lateral (ML) axis and anterior-posterior (AP) axis. Results showed that, in AP direction, neck extension or rotation significantly increased the sway length as compared with neck neutral. Neck extension led to greater sway length compared to neck rotation. Neck flexion did not differ from neck neutral. The sway length in the AP direction also became significantly larger as the body fatigue accumulated after treadmill exercise. In ML direction, as compared to neutral posture, the neck extension, flexion, or rotation did not significantly affect the length of postural sway path. However, the sway length seemed to increase marginally with the neck extended during the fatigued condition. This study demonstrates that abnormal neck posture may interfere with postural control during standing. The ability to maintain postural stability decreases significantly with the neck extended or rotated. Body fatigue leads to postural instability further.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.292-298
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• 2015

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of dual tasks on balance and postural control during standing in patients with cerebellar ataxia (CA). It was hypothesized that CA patients would exhibit different sway characteristics of the center of mass (COM) depending on the complexity of the secondary cognitive tasks compared with normal control subjects. Methods: A total of 8 patients with CA and age-matched healthy control subjects participated in this study. They were instructed to perform two balance tasks (non-dual and dual movement) with 3 different complexity of dual tasks. Range, variability, and velocity of COMs were measured. Results: According to the results CA patients showed deficits in balance and postural control with increased dual-task complexity during the static balance task in saggital sway movements. However, there was no significant difference in static balance in frontal sway. With higher difficulty in the cognitive task, CA patients took longer to stabilize their body center, while normal control subjects showed no change between conditions. In addition, CA patients had a greater COM resultant velocity during recovery in the dual-task condition compared with the single-task condition. These findings indicate that CA patients had defendable compensatory strategies in performing dual tasks. Conclusion: In conclusion, CA patients appeared to manage the priority to balance and postural control. Particularly in a situation with a postural threat such as when potential consequences of the loss of stability increase, they appeared to prioritize the control of balance and posture over the performance of the secondary task.

• Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Science
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.13-19
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• 2014

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of Augmented Reality-based Postural Control (ARPC) training on balance and gait function in patients with stroke. Design: Single-blind randomized controlled trial. Methods: Twenty participants who experienced a stroke were enrolled in the study and randomly assigned to the ARPC (n=10) or control group (n=10). Subjects in both groups received conventional physical therapy for 60 min per session, 5 days per week, for 4 weeks. In addition, subjects in the ARPC group received ARPC training for 30 min per day, 3 days per week, for 4 weeks. The participants watched established normal postural control patterns on a head-mounted display and repeated the movements in ARPC training. Outcome measurements were assessed using the Berg Balance Scale (BBS) and 10-Meter Walk Test (10MWT) before and after 4 weeks of training. Results: Of the 20 randomized participants, only 18 completed the 4-week training program. The ARPC group showed significant improvement in the BBS and 10MWT after training (p<0.05). Meanwhile, the control group did not exhibit improvement in either variable. In addition, the ARPC group showed significantly greater improvement than the control group in the 10MWT (p<0.05), whereas no significant difference was observed between the groups for the BBS. Conclusions: The results of this study confirmed the benefits of ARPC training on dynamic balance and functional gait ability. Additionally, this study may provide evidence supporting the use of an ARPC training program for improving balance and gait ability in patients after a chronic stroke.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.121-130
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• 2007

In this paper, we present the development of a new training system for equilibrium sense and postural control. This system consists of an unstable platform, a force plate, a computer, and training programs. The unstable platform provides 360 degrees of movement allowing for training in all directions. To evaluate the effects of the training system, we performed various experiments to train the ability of equilibrium sense and postural control of fifteen young healthy subjects. We measured the time a subject maintains his or her center of pressure on a target, the time a subject moves his or her center of pressure to a target, and the mean absolute deviation of the trace before and after the training. We analyzed these parameters obtained before and after the training using paried-sample T-test. The result shows that the subjects experienced distinctive enhancement in their ability of postural control through the training using our system.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.13 no.10
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• pp.9-18
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• 2013

In this paper, we analyzed the effects of game-based visual feedback training on postural balance control in young adults and older adults. We provided postural balance training by 23 young adults and 14 older adults and for four weeks in fifth minute a day and three days a week using IBalance(Cybermedic Inc., Korea). We evaluated the ability of postural balance using balance SD(Biodex, medicalscience Inc., USA) for the validation of game contents based on visual feedback training program. The results showed that postural stability and limits of stability of young adults and older adults were improved significantly before and after the training(p<0.05). Thus, the games of postural balance encouraged anterior, posterior, medial, lateral and multidirectional weight shifting regarding postural balance. Our study indicates that postural balance training of visual feedback based game could be adapted for improving postural balance. Moreover, we could develope of game contents for individuals and various ages for effective application of this game-based visual feedback training.

• Journal of Wellbeing Management and Applied Psychology
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.29-32
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• 2022

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to observe the immediate effects of elastic taping and isometric exercises on balance ability in the elderly. Research design, data and methodology: 15 elderlies were participated in this study and randomly assigned into two group. The intervention group was applied elastic taping on ankle joint while the control group performed isometric ankle exercise in three sets for 30 seconds per set. Anterior-posterior and medial-lateral postural sway speed were measured after the experiment. To compare the change in balance ability between groups after the experiment, independent t-test was used. To investigate the change in balance ability between pre- and post-experiment within the groups, paired t-test was used. Results: A significant difference in medial-lateral postural sway speed was found after elastic taping application only in the intervention group (p>0.05). However, there was no significant difference between the groups. Conclusions: In conclusion, this finding supported that elastic taping would be helpful to support ankle stability and increase balance ability for the elderly as well as performance for sports athlete that was demonstrated in previous studies. Further studies will be necessary to confirm the long-term effects of elastic taping application on motor control and the risk of falling.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.16-20
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• 2021

Purpose: This study examined the effects of the type of video contents used for action observations on the ability to control posture. Methods: The participants were 48 healthy adults. The two hands of the participants were crossed on both shoulders, and the other foot was placed in a straight line in front of the target to allow them to watch a video of the monitor. The videos were presented in random order with three video contents (natural, stable balance posture, and unstable balance posture) consisting of 30 seconds each. A 15-second resting time was given between each video. During action observation using various video content forms, the posture control ability was measured using a TekScan MetScan^® system. Results: The results revealed statistically significant differences in the area of movement and the distance by COP and distance by the type of action-observation videos, and the distance by the anteroposterior and mediolateral sides (p<0.05). The stable balance posture and unstable balance posture video showed significant differences in the distance by the COP, anteroposterior, and mediolateral distance. (p<0.05) Conclusion: This study suggests that choosing the contents of the videos is important during action-observation training, and action-observation training can help improve postural control.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2004.10a
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• pp.985-988
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• 2004

This paper proposes a new training system for equilibrium sense and postural control using unstable platform and force plate. This system consists of unstable platform, force plate, computer interface, software and the computer. Using this system and training programs, we perform the experiment to train the equilibrium sense and postural control of subject. To evaluate the effects of balance training, we measured some parameters such as the maintaining time in the target, the moving time to the target and the mean absolute deviation of the trace before and after training. The result shows that this system can improve the equilibrium sense and balance ability of subject. This study shows that proposed system had an effect on improving equilibrium sense and postural control and might be applied to clinical rehabilitation training as a new effective balance training system.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.348-354
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• 2012

Purpose: This study examined the effects of computerized feedback postural training on the balance and electromyography activity of subjects with stroke. Methods: A total of 30 chronic stroke patients were enrolled in this study. Subjects were divided into an experimental group (n=15) and a control group (n=15). Computerized feedback postural training was used in the experimental group. Both groups received intervention for six weeks, 5 times per 30 minutes period. Data analysis was performed using analysis of covariance for determination of statistical significance. Results: Significant difference in static and dynamic balance was observed in the experimental group, compared with the control group (p=0.05), and a significant difference in muscle activity was observed in the gastrocnemius muscle, quadriceps muscle, and elector spinae muscle. However, the hamstring muscle showed no significant difference. Conclusion: Computerized feedback postural training is more effective in improving the ability of balance and muscle activity than neurological physical therapy.

• Journal of rehabilitation welfare engineering & assistive technology
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.271-277
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• 2017

The purpose of this study was to develop a balance chair for improving pelvic correction and postural balance through postural balance training using tactile feedback by a vibration motor provided in real time according to the user's attitude. We built a body frame using mono cast(MC) Nylon, Touch thin film transistor(TFT) for user interface, a main control module using Arduino, a 9-axis acceleration sensor for user's posture determination, and a vibration module for tactile feedback. The prototype of the Balance Chair which surrounds the outside was made with cushion for sitting conformability. In order to verify the effectiveness of the postural balance training system using the built prototype, the muscle activity (% MVIC) of the left and right iliocostalis lumborum those are the main muscles of the spinal movement was measured with ten female subjects. And the balance ability before and after training was measured using Spine Balance 3D, a posture balance ability evaluation device. The muscular activities of the left and right iliocostalis lumborum showed the balance activation according to vibration feedback during exercise protocol and postural balance improved after balance exercise training using balance chair. This study could be apply to use the fundamental research for developing the various postural balance product.