OBJECTIVE To explore the relationship between functional status and different domains of postural control, and to make recommendations about the use of postural control tests in clinical practice among women with rheumatoid arthritis. SUBJECTS A total of 91 women with rheumatoid arthritis and 110 controls. The patients were grouped according to the total score of the Health Assessment Questio...

The ability of tug escort vessels to save oil-laden tankers that become disabled in Prince William Sound, Alaska, is tested using a simulation of the drift path of the tankers. Tug escort schemes are intended to save tankers that have lost steering or propulsion by attaching a line and either holding the tanker from running aground until a repair can be made or towing the tanker to port. The ab...

BACKGROUND Falls are the most common cause of injury and hospitalization and one of the principal causes of death and disability in older adults worldwide. This study aimed to determine if a method based on body-worn sensor data can prospectively predict falls in community-dwelling older adults, and to compare its falls prediction performance to two standard methods on the same data set. METH...

Falling is a common problem in the growing elderly population, and fall-risk assessment systems are needed for community-based fall prevention programs. In particular, the timed up and go test (TUG) is the clinical test most often used to evaluate elderly individual ambulatory ability in many clinical institutions or local communities. This study presents an improved leg tracking method using a...

OBJECTIVES To compare the effect of two 10-week balance training programs, Combined Balance and Step Training (CBST) versus tai chi (TC), on balance and stepping measures. DESIGN Prospective intervention trial. SETTING Local senior centers and congregate housing facilities. PARTICIPANTS Aged 65 and older with at least mild impairment in the ability to perform unipedal stance and tandem wa...

OBJECTIVE To investigate: (i) the intra-rater, inter-rater and test-retest reliability of the 12-step stair test; (ii) its correlation with other stroke-specific impairments; and (iii) the cut-off scores that best discriminate patients with stroke from healthy elderly subjects. DESIGN Cross-sectional study. SETTING University-based rehabilitation centre. SUBJECTS Thirty-five subjects with...

BACKGROUND Physical performance and balance declines with aging and may lead to increased risk of falls. Physical performance tests may be useful for initial fall-risk screening test among community-dwelling older adults. Physiological profile assessment (PPA), a composite falls risk assessment tool is reported to have 75% accuracy to screen for physiological falls risk. PPA correlates with Tim...

Tug-of-war is everyone happy of mass sports, which has a long history of the development in the world countries, and now is very popular. This article discusses the origin and development of tug of war. Through the stress distribution analysis of the athletes in process of the tug-of-war, points out that the tug of war victory not only is related to the size of the athletes hard, what is more i...

Fear of falling in elderly is a major cause of loss of independence, which has an effect on the physical function in them. The focus of the study is to find whether a relationship exist among fear of falling, balance impairment and functional mobility in the community dwelling elderly people. The sample consisted of 52 community dwelling elderly people of age between 65 years to 90 years (mean ...

OBJECTIVES Identify fall prevalence in the last 12 months among patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and verify the influence of disease activity and physical function in the risk of falls. METHODS 43 patients with RA participated in this study. The following parameters were evaluated: clinical aspects; fall occurrence in the last 12 months; ESR (mm/h); pain on a visual analogue scale (VAS...