• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.471-480
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• 2012

PURPOSE: The object of the present study is to investigate the effects of the insole supporting medial longitudinal arch while walking in spastic cerebral palsy with pes planus. METHODS: Ten spastic bilateral cerebral palsy children with pes planus participated in this study. The insole were custom-made for the individual child. Muscle activity was measured by surface EMGs attached on tibialis anterior (TA), gastrocnemius (GA), vastus medialis oblique (VMO), biceps femoris long head (BF). temporal-spatial parameters such as velocity, step length, stride length, stance time, toe angle were collected while the subjects walked on the GAITRite system. RESULTS: The results of the present study were summarized as follows: 1. Muscle activities in mean EMGs while walking: Left VMO, Right TA, Left BF and GA revealed significant reductions after applying insole. 2. Muscle activities in peak EMGs while walking: Left TA and BF demonstrated reductions significantly after applying insole. 3. There were improvements in temporal-spatial gait parameters with insole: velocity, both step length, Right stride length and Right toe angle were increased(p<.05). CONCLUSION: Therefore the current study demonstrated that insole supporting the medial longitudinal arch would be effective on gait of the spastic cerebral palsy with pes planus.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.49-59
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• 2023

PURPOSE: This study examined the relationship between lumbar instability and shortening of the iliopsoas muscles in patients with chronic low back pain. METHODS: Forty-nine patients with chronic low back pain participated in this study. The modified Thomas test was used to examine the shortening state of the iliopsoas muscle. The length of the iliopsoas muscle was measured using the hip flexion angle, and those with a flexion angle of 10° or more were classified as positive. Five subtests were used for the lumbar instability test: testing for prone lumbar instability, passive lumbar extension, anterior-posterior mobility, passive straight leg raise, and age. Those who tested positive for at least three of these tests were classified as positive for the lumbar segment instability test. RESULTS: There was a significant association between the results of the lumbar instability test and the shortening of the iliopsoas test (p < .05). After analyzing the association between the iliopsoas length test and the five lumbar instability subtests, the results of the prone lumbar instability test (p < .001) and the anterior-posterior mobility test (p < .05) showed a significant association with the iliopsoas length test. CONCLUSION: The association between lumbar instability and shortening of the iliopsoas muscles was examined in 49 patients with chronic low back pain. Patients with shortened iliopsoas muscles tested positive in the lumbar instability tests more often. Hence, the length test of the iliopsoas muscle can be used to determine lumbar instability in patients with chronic low back pain.

• Journal of muscle and joint health
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.27-36
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• 2012

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the leg length Inequality, habitual posture, and pain in women's college students. Methods: The subjects were 281 students, in 8 women's college in Korea. The tapelines were used for measuring leg length Inequality and questionnaires were used for measuring habitual posture, and pain. The data were collected between August and October 2010 and analyzed using SPSSWIN 11.5. length Inequality(<1 cm). The subjects of 2.8% were the length differences of above 2cm. The worst habitual posture were leaning habits. Especially, the habits of crossing her legs were significantly different to leg length Inequality(F=3.342, $p$=.037). The subjects of 84% were felt a severe pain on the upper body such as waist, back, scapula, neck or shoulder. But there is no difference between pain and leg length Inequality. Habitual posture are related to pain(r=.212, $p$=.001). Conclusion: To protect the severe health problem of musculoskeletal system, this study results will be give aid to health education in women's college students.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Rural Health Nursing
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.49-58
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• 2006

Purpose: This study was done to investigate the effects of **the Thera-band exercise program on the lower extremities muscle strength and balance in rural female farmers. Method: The participants were 19 rural women age of 40 or over who were living in the area within the jurisdiction of a public health center in North Chung Province and who agreed to participate in the study. The Thera-band exercise program was implemented for 10 weeks from Jan 17. to Mar 31. 2005. Total time was 60 minutes, 5 times a week. Paired t-test was used to analyze the data using the SPSS program. Result: The results of study showed that thigh muscle strength(t= 6.718, p <.001) and the dynamic balance(t=4.934, p <.001) decreased significantly. Ankle muscle strength(t=-6.739, pp <.001) and static balance (t=-2.395, p=.025) increased significantly. Conclusion: The results suggest that the Thera-band exercise program could be effective in improving thigh muscle strength, ankle muscle strength, the static balance, and the dynamic balance of rural female farmers. Further study is needed to compare strength and balance before and after the exercise program and to use a control group for comparison. Also it is needed to do more study on the appropriate length of time that the intervention should be given in order to achieve maximum results.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapy
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.63-73
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• 2021

Background: This study was conducted to investigate the effects of pressure belt during proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation sprinter pattern training using a Thera-band on leg muscle strength and gait in stroke patients with stroke. Methods: Nine patients with stroke underwent training five times a week for four weeks, and changes in the muscle strength and walking ability of the paralyzed leg before and after training were measured. Muscle strength was measured using a Digital muscle tester, and walking ability was measured using a G-WAKER and the timed up and go (TUG) test. Results: Results showed that the quadriceps, hamstring, tibialis anterior, gastrocnemius, cadence, stride length, and stance phase significantly increased (p<.05). The swing phase, gait cycle duration, and TUG test results significantly decreased (p<.05). Conclusion: This study demonstrated that a pressure belt is a very useful tool for improving muscle strength and walking ability in patients with stroke.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapy
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.29-36
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• 2020

Background: The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of whole body vibration (WBV) exercise on lower extremity muscle activity and gait ability in stroke patients. Methods: For this study, 30 stroke patients participated in this study and they were divided into WBV exercise group and sham-WBV exercise group, each group in which consisted of 15 patients. WBV group and sham-WBV group was performed by the patients for five times a week, for six weeks. sEMG was used to measure lower extremity muscle activity. Changes in the activities of the muscles, such as the vatus lateralis (VL), vastus medialis (VM), bicep femoris (BF), gastrocnemius (GCM) muscle, were analysis. Motion analysis system was used to measure gait ability. Gait ability measured the stride length (SL) and walking velocity (WV). Results: According to the results of the comparisons between the groups, after intervention, lower extremity muscle activity of VL (p<.01), VM (p<.01), GCM (p<.01). SL, WV was significant between the group (p<.01). Conclusion: This study showed the WBV exercise is effective for improving increase of muscle activity and gait ability in stroke patients.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.190-200
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• 2023

Skeletal muscle, essential for metabolism, thermoregulation, and immunity, undergoes myogenic differentiation that results in myotube formation. Trans-anethole (TA), the major constituent in essential oil produced by anise, star anise, and fennel, whose function in skeletal muscle has not yet been elucidated. Therefore, we investigated whether TA influenced muscle differentiation in mouse C2C12 myoblasts. Cells were induced to differentiate using a differentiation medium with or without TA (50 or 200 mg/mL) daily for 5 days. We measured myotube length and diameter after differentiation days 1, 3, and 5 and analyzed the expression of myogenic markers (myoblast determination protein 1, myogenin, myocyte enhancer factor 2, muscle creatine kinase, and myosin heavy chain) and atrophy-related genes (atrogin-1 and muscle ring finger-1 [MuRF-1]) using quantitative real-time PCR. Additionally, we observed the expression of total protein kinase B (Akt) and phosphorylated Akt (p-Akt) using western blotting. Our data showed that TA significantly induced the formation of smaller and thinner myotubes and reduced the myogenic factor expression. Furthermore, the atrogin-1 and MuRF-1 expression markedly increased by TA. Consistent with these findings, TA significantly decreased the expression of total Akt and p-Akt. Taken together, these results indicate that TA inhibits myogenic differentiation of C2C12 cells via reduction of both total Akt and p-Akt. Our findings may provide valuable insights into the impact of PAA on individuals at risk of muscle atrophy.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.40 no.6
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• pp.957-968
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• 2020

The influence of muscle architecture on muscle fiber characteristics and meat quality has not been fully elucidated. In the present study, muscle fiber characteristics on the chop surface of pork loin (M. longissimus thoracis et lumborum, LTL), pennation angle degree, and meat quality were evaluated to understand the pork LTL architecture and its relationship with the loin chop quality. Muscle fiber pennation degree ranged from 51.33° to 69.00°, resulting in an ellipse-shaped muscle fiber on the surface of pork loin chop. The cross-sectional area (CSA) on the sections cut vertical to the muscle length (M-Vertical) was considerably larger (p<0.05) than that on the sections cut vertical to the muscle fiber orientation (F-Vertical) regardless of the fiber type. Pennation angle is positively correlated with CSAs of F-Vertical (p<0.05) and with Warner-Bratzler shear force (r=0.53, p<0.01). Besides the shear force, lightness and pH were positively correlated with the fiber composition and CSA of IIX fiber (p<0.05); however, the redness, yellowness, drip loss, and cooking loss were not correlated with the pennation angle and muscle fiber characteristics on the chop surface (p>0.05). These observations might help us in better understanding pork loin architecture and the relationship between the pennation angle, muscle fiber characteristics, and meat quality of pork loin chop.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.13 no.12
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• pp.5867-5874
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• 2012

The aim of this study was to find on muscle architectural and tissue compliance of biceps brachii in stroke patient based on elbow joint angle. The subjects of this study were twelve hemiplegic adults after stroke with passive range of motion in the elbow from $10^{\circ}$ to $90^{\circ}$ and Modified Ashworth Scale score 1 to 3 were recruited. Ultrasonography and Myotonometer was used to measure biceps brachii muscle pennation angle, fascicle length, and tissue compliance at the rest condition and pennation angle, fascicle length, and tissue compliance of the biceps brachii muscle were measured in the affected and unaffected sides of people after stroke at 9 different elbow angles ranging from $10^{\circ}$ to $90^{\circ}$ at the rest condition. The results of this study, comparisons found that the pennation angles of the affected biceps brachii muscle were significantly larger(p<.05) than the unaffected muscle in the most extended positions($<40^{\circ}$), whereas the affected fascicle lengths were significantly shorter(p<.05) than the unaffected muscle in most flexed positions($>20^{\circ}$), and the affected tissue compliance were significantly lower(p<.05) than the unaffected muscle in most extended positions($<50^{\circ}$) Therefore, pennation angles, fascicle lengths, and tissue compliance were found to be joint-angle-dependent in both the affected and unaffected sides at the rest condition. Suggest that, the results data can be used as a muscle architectural changes and clinical treatment research in stroke patients.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.379-388
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• 2012

Objective: This study developed a new shower carrier prototype to reduce caregivers' muscle burden and to increase use convenience by reflecting the needs of domestic long-term care institutions. Background: In the long-term care institutions, one of the ADL(Activities of Daily Life) factors is bathing/showering. Recently, bath/shower-assisting equipment is actively being introduced in care institutions to reduce the caregivers' care cost, but most of the domestic equipment was designed to imitate foreign products and rarely reflected the needs of care institutions. Method: Based on Korean elderly people's body information, the bed size(length: 1,900mm, width: 650mm) was set-up, and a variable headrest with a newly designed headform was developed to provide the comfort for the elderly and convenience for caregivers. To reduce caregivers' muscle burden on transferring and showering activities, a 3-step column lifting module equipped with dual actuators(lowest/highest levels from the ground: 600/1,100mm, Stroke: 500mm) was developed, and the wheelbase parameter(length: 1,250mm, width: 580mm) was defined securing the turn-over safety of the shower carrier. The drivability tests were performed for the prototype and foreign product, and the male and female subject's muscle activities were measured through the tests. Results: The structural stability of the shower carrier prototype was secured by finite element analysis, and the muscle activities of the subjects through the drivability tests largely decreased in the prototype, compared to the foreign product. Conclusion: In this study, a new shower carrier prototype was developed to possibly reduce caregivers' muscle burden and to increase use convenience based on the needs of long-term care institutions. It was expected that the drivability performance of the prototype could be relatively superior to that of the foreign product. Application: The results obtained from the study can be applied for the optimal development of a shower carrier including other equipment to effectively care for the elderly.