• PNF and Movement
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.47-56
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• 2019

Purpose: This study investigated the effects of neck pattern of proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) on balance and walking ability in patients with chronic stroke. Methods: Fourteen participants with chronic stroke were randomly assigned to vestibular rehabilitation and then divided into two groups: the neck pattern group or treadmill group. Each group underwent 20 sessions (20 minutes/day, five days/week, for four weeks). Patients were assessed with the Berg balance scale (BBS) and gait parameters (gait speed, cadence, step length, and double-limb support period) using a GAITRite system. Results: Vestibular rehabilitation for the neck pattern group and the treadmill group showed significant intragroup improvement on the BBS and in terms of gait speed, cadence, step length, and double-limb support period (p < 0.05). Vestibular rehabilitation was more effective for the neck pattern group than for the treadmill group in terms of the BBS (p = 0.00; 95% CI, 1.49-5.94), gait speed (p = 0.01; 95% CI, 0.05-0.16), cadence (p = 0.02; 95% CI, 0.54-4.99), and step length (p = 0.00, 95% CI, 1.55-4.62). Conclusion: This study used the neck pattern of PNF for vestibular rehabilitation in patients with chronic stroke. The results showed significant improvement in the patients' balance and walking ability. Therefore, the neck pattern of PNF for vestibular stimulation may be more effective than treadmill training to improve balance and walking ability in patients with chronic stroke.

• Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.869-870
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• 2006

In this study, we proposed an algorithm which can detect the walking event in hemiplegic patient using three axis acceleration signal. Twenty hemiplegic patients were participated in an experiment on a level corridor. To evaluate the accuracy, we compared the time difference between the detected event and signal from FSR-Sensor. Consequently, the mean difference of 46.1ms was obtained and it suggests that the proposed method is effective to detect the walking event in hemiplegic patient. In future, these results could be used to evaluate the walking ability in hemiplegic patient in clinical practice.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.43-51
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• 2002

Physiological Cost Index (PCI) of walking has been widely used to predict oxygen consumption in healthy subjects or patients. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the predictability of physiological cost index of walking for the amount of exercise and cardiac function. Walking exercise was conducted in 67 healthy children (age 4-12) with a self-selected comfortable walking speed on the level surface. Walking speed was calculated, and heart rate was measured before and immediately after the walking. PCI was calculated for statistical analysis. The results were as follows; 1) The walking speed tends to increase and PCI of walking tends to decrease with age. There was significant difference in walking speed and PCI of walking among three age groups (p<.05). The change of walking heart rate tends to decrease with age, however, there was no significant difference among three age groups. 2) Linear regression equation between walking speed and age was 'Y (walking speed) = 2.124X (age) + 48.286' ($R^2$=.337), (p=.00). 3) The walking heart rate tends to decrease with age. Linear regression equation between walking heart rate and age was 'Y (walking heart rate) = 143.346 - 2.63X (age)' ($R^2$=.3425), (p=.00). 4) The walking heart rate decreased as body surface area (BSA) increased. Linear regression equation between walking heart rate and BSA was 'Y (walking heart rate) = 149.830 - 27.115X (BSA)' ($R^2$=.3066), (p=.00). In conclusion, these equations and PCI could be useful to quantify the variation of energy expenditure of children with pathological gait when compared with age-matched healthy children.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.17 no.12
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• pp.169-175
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• 2000

Stable and comfortable walking supports, which can reduce the body weight load partially, are needed for the recovering patients from neurologic disease and orthopedic procedures. In this paper, the development of a manipulator of rehabilitation robot for the patients with walking disabilities are studied. A force controller using pneumatic actuators is designed and implemented to the human friendly rehabilitation robot considering the safety of patients, reliability of the system, effectiveness of the unloading control and economic maintenance of the system. The mechanism of the unloading manipulator is devised to improve the sensibility for the movement of the patients such as direction and velocity. For the unloading force control, fuzzy control algorithm is adopted to reduce the partial body weight and suppress the unwanted fluctuation of the body weight load to the weak legs due to the unnatural working of the patients with walking disabilities. The effectiveness of the force control is experimentally demonstrated.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.14 no.7
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• pp.672-678
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• 2008

This paper proposes a new rehabilitation robot with upper and lower limb connections for gait training. As humans change a walking speed, their nervous systems adapt muscle activation patterns to modify arm swing for the appropriate frequency. By analyzing this property, we can find a relation between arm swinging and lower limb motions. Thus, the lower limb motion can be controlled by the arm swing for walking speed adaptation according to a patent's intension. This paper deals with the design aspects of the suggested gait rehabilitation robot, including a trajectory planning and a control strategy. The suggested robot is mainly composed of upper limb and lower limb devices, a body support system. The lower limb device consists of a slider device and two 2-dof footpads to allow walking training at uneven and various terrains. The upper limb device consists of an arm swing handle and switches to use as a user input device for walking. The body support system will partially support a patient's weight to allow the upper limb motions. Finally, we showed simulation results for the designed trajectory and controller using a dynamic simulation tool.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.125-135
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• 2012

Purpose : This study is designed to demonstrate the effects of circuit obstacle group gait training on walking ability and emotion in stroke patients. Methods : Twenty one patients with stroke were participated in this study. The subjects were divided into control group(n=10) and experimental group(n=11). Circuit obstacle group gait training consisted of walking around obstacles, walking over obstacles, walking up and down slopes and walking up and down stairs. Circuit obstacle group gait training was conducted five times per week, 1 hour per session, for 6 consecutive weeks. At pre-test and post-test, subjects were tested with 10 m walking test, timed up and go test, up and down 4 stairs test, depression and self esteem. Results : After 6 weeks of research, the experimental group showed statistically significant difference in all items when comparing prior to training and after training (p<.05), but the control group showed statistically significant difference in items other than depression and self esteem(p<.05). In the comparison between the two groups, the experimental group showed higher improvement than the control group in the 10 m walking test, timed up and go test, and up and down 4 stairs test, and there was statistically significant difference in decrease of degree in depression between the experimental group and control group(p<.05). Conclusion : This study have shown that circuit obstacle group gait training improves walking ability and emotion in stroke patients.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.503-515
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• 2011

We developed a walking-assistance robot for walking rehabilitation and assessed the kinematic characteristics of a prototype. The walking-assistance robot is composed of hip, knee, and ankle joints, and each joint is driven by a motor with a decelerator. The equations of angular displacement while walking were derived by theoretically analyzing human locomotion, and the calculated angular displacements were then applied to the robot controller. The output angular displacement of each joint was measured and compared with its input angular displacement in walking experiments on a treadmill at various walking speeds and strides. The differences between the input and output angular displacements are 5.22% for the hip and 2.97% for the knee joints, and it has been confirmed that the walking-assistance robot works well.

• Journal of Internet Computing and Services
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.47-53
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• 2019

In general, dizziness is caused by various situations, but among them, symptoms due to dysfunction of the motor system belonging to the nervous system are the most severe, accompanied by nausea and vomiting. Treatment of these dizziness includes drug therapy, surgical therapy, and rehabilitation. Drug therapy and surgery are generally performed in vest rehabilitation training, which is a rehabilitation therapy because of the risk of aftereffects. The vestibular rehabilitation training includes eye training, posture stabilization training, and walking training. Among them, walking training is performed in a certain space under the supervision of a doctor or a professional therapist, so that the time and space burden is increased. In order to solve this problem, we implemented gait training contents which can be used for rehabilitation training by using the augmented reality technology. It is expected that it can be utilized as dizziness rehabilitative contents which can be used in medical environment through clinical tests for patients with dizziness.

• Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Science
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.49-53
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• 2018

Objective: This study was performed to examine differences in the association between straight and curved walking abilities of inpatients in the subacute phase and walking independence level. Design: Cross-sectional study. Methods: Subjects were divided into an independent group and a supervised group (n=10 each) by walking independence level within the ward decided by physical therapists. Inclusion criteria comprised the ability to ambulate independently within the ward, regardless of the use of walking aids. Straight walking abilities (walking velocity, stride length, and cadence) were evaluated using the 5-meter walk test. Curved walking abilities were evaluated using the Figure-of-8 Walk Test (F8W) and the 3-meter zigzag walk test (3ZW). Differences in associations between straight and curved walking abilities of inpatients were examined by calculating correlation coefficients between straight and curved walking abilities. Results: Age, walking velocity, stride length, F8W and 3ZW varied markedly between independent and supervised groups. In the independent group, F8W and 3ZW correlated significantly with walking velocity and cadence (p<0.05). In the supervised group, F8W correlated significantly with walking velocity and stride length (p<0.05), but 3ZW did not correlate significantly with straight walking abilities. Conclusions: The association between straight and curved walking abilities varied between inpatients who could ambulate independently and inpatients requiring supervision for ambulating. These differences may depend on skill on straight and curved walking abilities. There is a possibility that curved walking exercise is necessary for supervised group.

• Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Science
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.1-5
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• 2012

Objective: Dual-task walking deficits impact functional daily life, which often requires walking while performing simultaneous tasks such as talking, thinking or carrying an object. This study is to find out the latest trend of dual-task training's influence on ambulatory abilities of a stroke patient. Design: Systematic review of randomized controlled trials. Methods: This literature review was conducted in Pubmed and Sciencedirect with the follwing key words:stroke, cerebro-vascular accident, hemiplegia, gait, rehabilitation, exercise. 7 studies were chosen in findings by search tool. 3 studies were case study, 3 studies were cross sectional observational study and 1 study was randomized controlled trial. Results: It was found that stroke patients have difficulties in doing 2 motor tasks simultaneously and when they do 2 tasks, one is done in a naturally preferred activity areas. Moreover, when simply applying dual-tasks, the walking speed decreased. Meanwhile, when applying them through training, the speed increased. This showed the improvement of effective task-implementation abilities after dual-task training using task-integration models. Conclusions: In the beginning of the 2000s, dual-tasks were implemented by simply combining walking and cognition or exercise task, and the results of this study suggest that subjects with stroke have difficulty performing dual task. However, the latest trend is to let patients do the dual-task training by combining it with virtual reality. Therefore, dual task training could be performed in a safe in the environment such as virtual reality or augment reality.