Cross-sectional and longitudinal studies of human growth have revealed almost every detail of the typical human growth pattern. Yet, the description of this pattern is still limited to the traditional vocabulary of "growth rates", i.e. height or length differences divided by certain time intervals such as months or years. Almost no information is yet available on finer details of this pattern. ...

BACKGROUND Heel prick blood sampling is a commonly performed and painful procedure in the newborn infant. Use of a topical local anaesthetic does not relieve this pain. A 4% w/w amethocaine gel (Ametop) reduces the pain of venepuncture in the newborn but has not been tried with heel pricks. AIM To investigate the effect of topical amethocaine gel on the pain of heel prick in the newborn infan...

STUDY DESIGN Controlled laboratory study, using a repeated-measures, counterbalanced design. OBJECTIVES To provide estimates on the average knee angle maintained, absolute knee angle error, and total repetitions performed during 2 versions of the heel raise test. BACKGROUND The heel raise test is performed in knee extension (EHRT) to assess gastrocnemius and knee flexion (FHRT) for soleus. ...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the effects of pressure relief magnitude on heel blood hyperemia in persons with and without diabetes mellitus. DESIGN Study participants (1 group of persons with diabetes and 1 group without diabetes) lay on a support surface for 70 minutes with 1 heel on an end cell of a support surface. Cell pressure was computer controlled to be 20 mm Hg during support and 5 or 0 ...

BACKGROUND Mechanical loading is crucial for muscle and tendon tissue remodeling. Eccentric heel drop exercise has been proven to be effective in the management of Achilles tendinopathy, yet its induced change in the mechanical property (i.e., stiffness) of the Achilles tendon (AT), medial and lateral gastrocnemius muscles (MG and LG) was unknown. Given that shear wave elastography has emerged ...

AIM To evaluate whether spontaneous skin conductance activity is an objective method for measuring the stress response to painful stimuli in premature infants. The number and amplitude of the waves and the baseline increase with the activity of the sympathetic nervous system. METHODS In 20 preterm infants of gestational age >/= 29 weeks, behavioural state and spontaneous skin conductance acti...

Plantar fasciitis is the most common cause of plantar heel pain. Its characteristic features are pain and tenderness, predominately on the medial aspect of the calcaneus near the sole of the heel. Considering a complete differential diagnosis of plantar heel pain is important; a comprehensive history and physical examination guide accurate diagnosis. Many nonsurgical treatment modalities have b...

Reconstruction of heel defects can be challenging and requires careful consideration in restoring both the functional and aesthetic deficit. This study assessed the use of parallel fibular osteoseptocutaneous flap to repair composite heel defects. Follow-up of the 4 patients included in this study ranged from 24 months to 3 years after their operation. The flap survival rate was 100% in all pat...

[Purpose] This study investigated the effects of the bridging plus exercise with heel lift on lower extremity muscles. [Subjects and Methods] Nine healthy males participated. The subjects performed bridging exercises under two conditions. Surface electromyography was used to measure the electrical activities of the medial hamstring (MH) and the gluteus maximus (GM) muscles. [Results] Activation...

The purpose of this investigation was to determine whether increases in internal (muscular) demand would be proportional to increases in the external demand during heel-raise exercise. Seven male (mean age 74.9 +/- 4.8 years) and 9 female (mean age 74.4 +/- 5.1 years) older adults performed both double-leg heel raises and single-leg heel raises under 3 loading conditions (no external resistance...