BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE This study investigated changes in the kinematics of elderly people who experienced at least one fall 6 months prior to data collection. The authors hypothesized that, in order to decrease variability of walking, people with a history of falls would show different kinematic adaptations of their walking patterns compared with elderly people with no history of falls. SUBJ...

In stick insects, walking is the result of the co-action of different pattern generators for the single legs and coordinating inter-leg influences. We have used a slippery surface setup to understand the role the local neuronal processing in the thoracic ganglia plays in the ability of the animal to show turning movements. To achieve this, we removed the influence of mechanical coupling through...

Background and Objectives: Given the limited number of studies on Ramadan fasting and military performance, we conducted this study to identify the effect of Ramadan fasting on physical fitness performances in army cadets. Methods: Twenty healthy males were randomly selected from a larger sample group. The subjects were divided into fasting (n=10) and non-fasting (n=10) groups. They performed v...

BACKGROUND A higher energy cost of walking poststroke has been linked to reduced walking performance and reduced participation in the community. OBJECTIVE To determine the contribution of postintervention improvements in walking speed and spatiotemporal gait asymmetry to the reduction in the energy cost of walking after stroke. METHODS In all, 42 individuals with chronic hemiparesis (>6 mon...

Individuals who have multiple sclerosis (MS) typically experience problems with physical activities such as walking, resulting from the combined effects of skeletal muscle weakness, sensory disturbances, spasticity, gait ataxia, and reduction in aerobic capacity. The aim of this study was to determine whether a 6-mo exercise program designed for aerobic conditioning might also affect gait abnor...

The purpose of this study was to compare prosthetic weight-bearing tolerance in the standing position to the dynamic vertical ground reaction forces (VGRF) experienced during walking in elderly dysvascular trans-tibial amputees. Ten unilateral trans-tibial amputees attending an amputee clinic (mean age = 67 +/- 6.5 years) were selected as subjects. Selection criteria were the level of amputatio...

During human walking, precise coordination between the two legs is required in order to react promptly to any sudden hazard that could threaten stability. The networks involved in this coordination are not yet completely known, but a direct spinal connection between soleus (SOL) muscles has recently been revealed. For this response to be functional, as previously suggested, we hypothesize that ...

The lack of functional ankle musculature in lower limb amputees contributes to the reduced prosthetic ankle push-off, compensations at other joints and more energetically costly gait commonly observed in comparison to non-amputees. A variety of energy storing and return prosthetic feet have been developed to address these issues but have not been shown to sufficiently improve amputee biomechani...

The electromyographic (EMG) gait patterns of both lower limbs in 12 hemiparetic patients were studied during the early and late recovery periods. The linear envelopes of surface EMG were ensemble averaged to represent performance. The patients' stride parameters and EMG envelopes were compared to those of normal individuals measured at very-slow walking speeds. Both limbs could have normal or a...