BACKGROUND Few studies have reported the biomechanical aspects of stair climbing for this ergonomically demanding task. The purpose of this ethically approved study was to identify normal functional parameters of the lower limb during stair climbing and to compare the actions of stair ascent and descent in young healthy individuals. METHODS Thirty-three young healthy subjects, (16 M, 17 F, ra...

Stair climbing has become a popular form of training for athletes as well as non-athletes. Considering that there are a plethora of devices for stair climbing, how does a person decide which apparatus to use? Aside from issues of practicality, much of the decision could be based on the principles of specificity of training. That is, for maximum transfer of benefits from one activity to another,...

OBJECTIVE To test the hypothesis that individuals who respond favorably to bracing will exhibit decreased patellofemoral joint stress during stair ambulation. DESIGN A repeated-measures, cross-sectional study. BACKGROUND Ascending and descending stairs is one of the most painful activities of daily living for persons with patellofemoral pain (PFP). Although patellar bracing has been shown t...

Walking is only one of many daily activities performed by patients following total knee replacement (TKR). The purpose of this study was to examine the hypotheses (a) that subject activity characteristics are correlated with knee flexion range of motion (ROM) and (b) that there is a significant difference between the subject's flexion/extension excursion throughout the day and the ISO specified...

[Purpose] The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of toe-spread (TS) exercises and hip external rotator strengthening exercises for pronated feet on lower extremity muscle activities during stair-walking. [Subjects and Methods] The participants were 20 healthy adults with no present or previous pain, no past history of surgery on the foot or the ankle, and no foot deformitie...

Climbing and descending stairs are demanding daily activities, and the monitoring of them may reveal the presence of musculoskeletal diseases at an early stage. A markerless system is needed to monitor such stair walking activity without mentally or physically disturbing the subject. Microsoft Kinect v2 has been used for gait monitoring, as it provides a markerless skeleton tracking function. H...

INTRODUCTION Arthrodesis of the ankle is an established operation. The lack of normal ankle movement after ankle arthrodesis reduced the ability of the patients to walk smoothly on the arthrodesis foot. It would have a more profound effect in negotiating stairs, because large ranges of dorsiflexion and plantarflexion are required to accomplish this activity. Although gait characteristics have b...

Many (dietary) bitter compounds, e.g. flavonoids, activate bitter receptor hTAS2R39 in cell-based assays. Several flavonoids, amongst which some flavanones, are known not to activate this receptor. As certain flavanones are known to mask bitter taste sensorially, flavanones might act as bitter receptor antagonists. Fourteen flavanones were investigated for their potential to reduce activation o...

Earlier, a family of G protein-coupled receptors, termed T2Rs, was identified in the rodent and human genomes through data mining. It was suggested that these receptors mediate bitter taste perception. Analysis of the human genome revealed that the hT2R family is composed of 25 members. However, bitter ligands have been identified for only three human receptors so far. Here we report identifica...

This study examined the relationship between perceived (stated) levels of function and the measured (observed) performance in squatting and stair climbing activities of 20 patients with chronic low back pain (CLBP) and 20 healthy volunteers. Subjects were asked through an interview to self-assess their ability to comfortably perform stair climbing and squatting as well as other tolerances. The ...