BACKGROUND As commercially available activity trackers are being utilized in clinical trials, the research community remains uncertain about reliability of the trackers, particularly in studies that involve walking aids and low-intensity activities. While these trackers have been tested for reliability during walking and running activities, there has been limited research on validating them dur...

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of arch support insoles on uphill and downhill walking of persons with flatfoot. Sixteen healthy college students with flatfoot were recruited in this study. Their heart rate, peak oxygen uptake (VO2), and median frequency (MDF) of surface electromyogram were recorded and analyzed. Nonparametric Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used for ...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the influence of the use of a rollator walking aid on assessment of gait and mobility. DESIGN Prospective, longitudinal study. SUBJECTS Geriatric patients during inpatient rehabilitation (n=109; mean age 83.1 years). METHODS Assessment at the beginning and prior to discharge from rehabilitation using: gait-analysis (GAITRite®, speed, cadence, stride-time, stride-l...

AIMS To determine the ownership and use of various assistive devices by older people living at home. METHOD A random sample of 1405 elderly people aged 65 years and over, in three health authorities, were asked about ownership and use of a number of disability aids, spectacles and hearing aids. RESULTS 74% of respondents owned one or more aid, 97% had spectacles and 16% a hearing aid. The m...

Videotape recording was used as an additional aid in the walking training of lower limb amputees. Fifty patients were interviewed about their reaction to watching themselves on a TV monitor, especially with respect to any negative or depressive feelings resulting from the TV sessions. No such reactions could be elicited among the examined patients.

The legs of animals and walking vehicles are subject to substantial changes in loading in climbing over obstacles. Sense organs (campaniform sensilla) on cockroach legs detect these loads through strains in the exoskeleton. Signals that might be sent by the sense organs during climbing were predicted by applying forces to a finite element model of the leg in directions determined from kinematic...