• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.23-28
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• 2013

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of a handrail (presence and position) on treadmill gait and balance in stroke patients during gait training. Methods: 39 patients with stroke (male 31, female 8) participated in this study. The training groups were classified into a no-handrail group (NHG), front handrail group (FHG), and bilateral handrail group (BHG). Each group comprised 13 subjects. The subjects were trained to walk in a straight path 30 minutes per day for 8 weeks. The Good Balance System was used to measure static balance and dynamic balance. To measure walking ability, timed up and go (TUG) was also assessed. Results: The NHG showed no significant differences in static balance, dynamic balance, and TUG. The FHG was significantly different in their medial-lateral speed of static balance, dynamic balance, and TUG. The BHG was significantly different in their static balance, dynamic balance, and TUG. Conclusion: These findings consider the effects of holding handrails concomitantly with changes in postural stability. We conclude that for training stroke patients, treadmill walking while holding handrails improves balance and gait more than treadmill walking without holding handrails. The resulting changes in muscle activity patterns may facilitate the transfer to a gait pattern. The results of this study suggest methods for training treadmill walking in stroke patients.

• PNF and Movement
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.417-430
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• 2022

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of weight-bearing training with an elastic band during functional electrical stimulation (FES) on walking and balance functions in stroke patients. Methods: Twenty patients with chronic stroke were divided into an experimental group assigned to weight-bearing training with an elastic band during functional electrical stimulation (FES; n=10) and a control group assigned to weight-bearing training alone during FES (n=10). The patients in both groups attended physical therapy sessions five times a week for four consecutive weeks. The experimental group underwent weight-bearing training with an elastic band during FES five times a week for four weeks. The control group underwent weight-bearing training during FES. Balance parameters were measured before and after the intervention using the Balancia program. Moreover, all patients were evaluated using the Berg Balance Scale (BBS), the Time Up and Go Test (TUGT), and the Wisconsin Gait Scale (WGS) before and after each intervention. Results: The results showed that weight-bearing training with elastic bands during FES and weight-bearing training during FES had a significant effect on the affected side's weight-bearing ratio, BBS, TUGT, and WGS in both groups (p <0.05). Additionally, the results showed that the changes observed in the two groups indicate significant differences in path length, average speed, BBS score, TUGT time, and WGS score between the groups (p < 0.05). Conclusion: In patients with stroke, weight-bearing training with an elastic band during FES affected on walking and balance. Therefore, it is an optional intervention for the balance and walking ability of stroke patients.

• Journal of Korean Physical Therapy Science
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.25-35
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• 2020

Background: There are many situations where walking in an actual community needs to change direction along with walking on a straight path, and this situation needs to be reflected in assessing walking ability of the community. Therefore, in this study, we tried to determine whether the assessments can distinguish the level of walking in the community. Design: Retrospective cohort study. Methods: Fifty-two survivors with chronic stroke have participated in the study. According to the evaluation result of 10mWT, the subjects of 0.8m/s and above were classified as the group who could walk in the community (n=22), and the subjects of 0.4m/s~0.8m/s were classified into the group who could not walk in the community (n=30). Modified Rivermead Mobility Index, Postural Assessment Scale for Stroke, Fugl-Meyer Assessment, Berg Balance Scale, 10-meter Walk Test (10mWT) were used to evaluate the motor skills. Furthermore, Activities-specific Balance Confidence Scale was used to evaluate psychological factors, and Timed Up & Go Test (TUG), Figure-of-Eight Walk Test (F8WT), Four Square Step Test (FSST), Step Test (ST) were applied to evaluate dynamic balance and mobility. Results: As a result for distinguishing walking levels in the community, TUG was 14.25 seconds, F8WT was 13.34 seconds, FST was 19.43 seconds, and ST of affected side and non-affected side were 6.5 points and 7.5 points, respectively. TUG (AUC=0.923), F8WT (AUC=0.905), and FST (AUC=0.941) were highly accurate, but the ST of affected side and non-affected side (AUC=0.806, 0.705) showed the accuracy of the median degree, respectively. Conclusion: To distinguish walking levels in the community of survivors with chronic stroke, TUG and FSST have been found to be the best assessment tool, and in particular, FSST could be very valuable in clinical use as the most important assessment tool to distinguish walking levels in the community.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.57-65
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• 2010

Physical activity of the people has decreased due to a sedentary lifestyle according to developing the economy throughout the world. It is thought to increase the risk of chronic diseases, including obesity, diabetes, etc. People are interested in walking, which is an easy activity to engage in as an antidote to chronic diseases. The aim of this study is to increase the diminishing physical activity of modem society by inducing walking as part of everyday life through building a walking-based activity-friendly city where people can live merrily, safely and pleasantly. For this purpose, this study conducted a satisfaction survey to dwellers of Jinhae on the physical pedestrian environments which affect determining walking participation and intentions of people, and also provided a valid model to evaluate the effects of the physical environmental factors on walking satisfaction using factor analysis and multiple linear regression analysis. The results are summarized as follows. The 18 variables of the physical pedestrian environments were selected based on pre-literature reviews. The results of the satisfaction surveys showed that the satisfaction of crossing aids in segments was highest, while the building feature was the lowest. Factor analysis was run through a two-step process. The first analysis was conducted to examine the adequacy of this factor analysis on the selected 18 variables. As a result, two variables were removed and the remaining 16 variables were extracted to the four factors by second analysis. Each factor was named function of path, effect of traffic, amenity and safety based on the each factor's commonality. Each factor score of the extracted four factors was set as the independent variable, while the overall walking satisfaction was set as the dependent variable. Then, the multiple linear regression analysis was conducted and showed that all four factors had a positive influence on the overall satisfaction of walking, especially the 'function of path' and 'amenity' factors, followed by 'effect of traffic' and 'safety'. The results of this research will be used as foundational data for creating a walking-based activity-friendly city.

• 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 Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.497-502
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• 2015

One of the goals in the field of mobile robotics is the development of personal service robots for the elderly which behave in populated environments. In this paper, we describe a security robot system and ongoing research results that minimize the risk of the elderly and the infirm to access an area to enter restricted areas with high potential for falls, such as stairs, steps, and wet floors. The proposed robot system surveys a potential falling area with an equipped laser scanner sensor. When it detects walking in elderly or infirm patients who in restricted areas, the robot calculates the velocity vector, plans its own path to forestall the patient in order to prevent them from heading to the restricted area and starts to move along the estimated trajectory. The walking human is assumed to be a point-object and projected onto a scanning plane to form a geometrical constraint equation that provides position data of the human based on the kinematics of the mobile robot. While moving, the robot continues these processes in order to adapt to the changing situation. After arriving at an opposite position to the human's walking direction, the robot advises them to change course. The simulation and experimental results of estimating and tracking of the human in the wrong direction with the mobile robot are presented.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.236-241
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• 2008

This paper presents a method to recognize the plane regions for movement of walking robots. When the autonomous agencies using stereo camera or laser scanning sensor is under unknown 3D environment, the mobile agency has to detect the plane regions to decide the moving direction and perform the given tasks. In this paper, we propose a very fast method for plane detection using normal vector of a triangle by 3 vertices defined on a small circular region. To reduce the effect of noises and outliers, the triangle rotates with respect to the center position of the circular region and generates a series of triangles with different normal vectors based on different three points on the boundary of the circular region. The vectors for several triangles are normalized and then median direction of the normal vectors is used to test the planarity of the circular region. The method is very fast and we prove the performance of algorithm for real range data obtained from a stereo camera system.

• Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Science
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.124-133
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• 2021

Objective: In order to secure the right to walk for the weak, such as the disabled, this study aims to suggest ways to improve the pedestrian environment by identifying factors that cause obstacles to walking. Design: Data Analysis and Perception Survey. Methods: The questionnaire was conducted separately between users of personal mobility vehicle and non-users. A total of 207 effective questionnaires were collected, and the analysis analyzed the perception of personal mobility vehicle by conducting frequency analysis using SAS 9.4. The survey focused on basic information on respondents, walking conditions, understanding of personal mobility vehicle, awareness of pedestrian space passage and parking, and awareness of the possibility of securing pedestrian rights due to new regulations. Results: First, when moving a pedestrian path by personal mobility vehicle, it shall be limited to less than the walking speed of pedestrians. Second, the parking location of the personal mobility vehicle is located at the boundary of the pedestrian road and the lane. Third, pay a fair price to park in a pedestrian space. Conclusions: It is necessary to improve the system to strengthen the contents of education to take into account the safety of pedestrians in education on how to use personal mobility vehicle.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.31 no.11
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• pp.1115-1123
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• 2007

The foot plays an important role in supporting the body and keeping body balance. An abnormal walking habit breaks the balance of the human body as well as the function of the foot. The foot orthotics which is designed to consider biomechanics effectively distributes the load of the human body on the sole of the foot. In this paper, gait analysis was performed for three male subjects wearing the orthotics. In this study, three male subjects were selected. The experimental apparatus consists of a plantar pressure analysis system and digital EMG system. The gait characteristics are simulated by ADAMS/LifeMOD. The COP (Center of Pressure), EMG and ground reaction force were investigated. As a result of gait analysis, the path of COP was improved and muscle activities were decreased with orthotics on the abnormal walking subjects.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.8 no.10
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• pp.890-897
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• 2002

This paper deals with the reduction of trajectory tracking error by changing the initial postures of a biped robot. Gait of a biped robot depends on the constraints of mechanical kinematics and the initial states including the posture. Also the dynamic walking stability in a biped robot system is analyzed by zero moment point(ZMP) among the stabilization indices. Path trajectory, in which knee joint is bent forward like human's cases, is applied to most cases considered with above conditions. A new initial posture, which is similar to bird's gait, is proposed to decrease trajectory tracking error and it is verified through real experimental results.