Water height modifies forelimb kinematics of horses during water treadmill exercise

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
P. McCrae ◽  
M. Bradley ◽  
C. Rolian ◽  
R. Léguillette
Keyword(s):  
Stride Frequency ◽  
Kinematic Data ◽  
Linear Mixed Effects ◽  
Mixed Breed ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Gait Mechanics ◽  
Joint Flexion ◽  
Type Of Exercise ◽  
Walking Speeds ◽  
Water Treadmill

Although equine water treadmills (WTs) are increasingly being used for the rehabilitation of equine athletes, the immediate- and short-term effects of this type of exercise on limb movement in the WT and overground are unknown. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of WT exercise on equine forelimb kinematics on land and under various WT conditions before and after a prolonged period of WT conditioning. External markers were used to collect 2D kinematic data (joint extension, flexion, range of motion (ROM), elevation; stride mechanics) at 120 frames/s. Thirteen mixed breed, English performance horses were filmed under three test conditions: (1) horses walked on sand; (2) horses walked on a WT (water heights: dry, carpus, stifle); (3) horses walked on sand immediately following a WT session. Walking speeds during testing varied between horses, ranging from 1.3-1.5 m/s, but were held constant for each individual horse for all tests on both days. Testing occurred on days 1 and 10, with horses being trained on the WT for days 2 through 8 (28 min/day). Comparisons were made using linear mixed effects models. Carpal ROM and elbow ROM were greater when horses were walked in water, compared to without water (dry treadmill) and overground (P<0.0001 for all). This increased ROM was achieved primarily via an increase in joint flexion. With the addition of water, stride length increased and stride frequency decreased, accompanied by an increased percentage duration of swing phase. No effects of conditioning on gait mechanics were observed overground. Therefore, WT exercise may be meaningful for physical rehabilitation through increased joint flexion and ROM observed.

Long-term trajectories of decline in cognition and daily functioning before and after stroke

2021 ◽  
pp. jnnp-2021-326043
Author(s):  
Alis Heshmatollah ◽  
Lisanne J. Dommershuijsen ◽  
Lana Fani ◽  
Peter J. Koudstaal ◽  
M. Arfan Ikram ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Continuous Monitoring ◽  
Mini Mental State Examination ◽  
Functional Decline ◽  
Population Based ◽  
Daily Functioning ◽  
Linear Mixed Effects ◽  
Before And After ◽  
State Examination

ObjectiveAlthough knowledge on poststroke cognitive and functional decline is increasing, little is known about the possible decline of these functions before stroke. We determined the long-term trajectories of cognition and daily functioning before and after stroke.MethodsBetween 1990 and 2016, we repeatedly assessed cognition (Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), 15-Word Learning, Letter–Digit Substitution, Stroop, Verbal Fluency, Purdue Pegboard) and basic and instrumental activities of daily living (BADL and IADL) in 14 712 participants within the population-based Rotterdam Study. Incident stroke was assessed through continuous monitoring of medical records until 2018. We matched participants with incident stroke to stroke-free participants (1:3) based on sex and birth year. Trajectories of cognition and daily functioning of patients who had a stroke 10 years before and 10 years after stroke and the corresponding trajectories of stroke-free individuals were constructed using adjusted linear mixed effects models.ResultsDuring a mean follow-up of 12.5±6.8 years, a total of 1662 participants suffered a first-ever stroke. Patients who had a stroke deviated from stroke-free controls up to 10 years before stroke diagnosis in cognition and daily functioning. Significant deviations before stroke were seen in scores of MMSE (6.4 years), Stroop (5.7 years), Purdue Pegboard (3.8 years) and BADL and IADL (2.2 and 3.0 years, respectively).ConclusionPatients who had a stroke have steeper declines in cognition and daily functioning up to 10 years before their first-ever stroke compared with stroke-free individuals. Our findings suggest that accumulating intracerebral pathology already has a clinical impact before stroke.

Exercise in the Treatment of Claudication: Assessment and Treatment of Functional Impairment

1997 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 238-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith G Regensteiner
Keyword(s):  
Functional Status ◽  
Training Programs ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Exercise Program ◽  
Community Settings ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Assessment And Treatment ◽  
Walking Speeds ◽  
Walking Time ◽  
Efficacy Studies

Claudication is an important cause of impaired exercise capacity, which limits a patient's ability to walk and thus to meet the personal, social and occupational demands of daily life. Given that improvement of the walking impairment is the primary goal of treating claudication, exercise performance and functional status of patients with claudication should be measured before and after any intervention. Assessment of functional status in both the laboratory and community settings is important so that the various treatments can be judged as to relative efficacy. Studies have shown that exercise training programs have a clinically important impact on functional capacity in persons with claudication. A meta-analysis showed that pain-free walking time increased 180% and maximal walking time increased 120% in claudicants who participated in an exercise program. Substantial improvements have been found in walking speeds and distances (65% and 44%, respectively), caloric expenditure (31%) and physical functioning (67%).

scholarly journals Gait Parameter Adjustments for Walking on a Treadmill at Preferred, Slower, and Faster Speeds in Older Adults with Down Syndrome

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beth A. Smith ◽  
Masayoshi Kubo ◽  
Beverly D. Ulrich
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Down Syndrome ◽  
Stride Frequency ◽  
Gait Patterns ◽  
Gait Stability ◽  
Foot Placement ◽  
Gait Parameters ◽  
Younger Age ◽  
All Speeds ◽  
Walking Speeds

The combined effects of ligamentous laxity, hypotonia, and decrements associated with aging lead to stability-enhancing foot placement adaptations during routine overground walking at a younger age in adults with Down syndrome (DS) compared to their peers with typical development (TD). Our purpose here was to examine real-time adaptations in older adults with DS by testing their responses to walking on a treadmill at their preferred speed and at speeds slower and faster than preferred. We found that older adults with DS were able to adapt their gait to slower and faster than preferred treadmill speeds; however, they maintained their stability-enhancing foot placements at all speeds compared to their peers with TD. All adults adapted their gait patterns similarly in response to faster and slower than preferred treadmill-walking speeds. They increased stride frequency and stride length, maintained step width, and decreased percent stance as treadmill speed increased. Older adults with DS, however, adjusted their stride frequencies significantly less than their peers with TD. Our results show that older adults with DS have the capacity to adapt their gait parameters in response to different walking speeds while also supporting the need for intervention to increase gait stability.

Immediate changes in chest mobility and trunk muscle activity during pelvic tilt following different trunk muscle exercises

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Kazuma Uebayashi ◽  
Yu Okubo ◽  
Takuya Nishikawa ◽  
Taro Morikami ◽  
Jindo Hatanaka
Keyword(s):  
Muscle Activity ◽  
Repeated Measures ◽  
Trunk Muscle ◽  
Trunk Muscles ◽  
Abdominal Muscles ◽  
Kinematic Data ◽  
Repeated Measures Analysis ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Posterior Tilt ◽  
Increased Activity

BACKGROUND: Given the characteristics of the superficial trunk muscles that cross the chest and pelvis, their excessive contraction might limit chest mobility. OBJECTIVE: To examine the immediate effects of two types of trunk muscle exercises on chest mobility and trunk muscle activities. METHODS: Fourteen healthy men (age: 21.1 ± 1.0 years, height: 172.7 ± 5.6 cm, weight: 61.0 ± 7.1 kg, body mass index: 20.4 ± 1.7 kg/m2; mean ± SD) randomly performed trunk side flexion and draw-in exercises using a cross-over design. The chest kinematic data and trunk muscle activities were measured before and after each intervention during the following tasks: maximum inspiration/expiration and maximum pelvic anterior/posterior tilt while standing. Two-way repeated measures analysis of variance was used for statistical analysis (P< 0.05). RESULTS: After the side flexion, upper and lower chest mobility significantly decreased, and superficial trunk muscle activity significantly increased during the maximum pelvic anterior tilt (P< 0.05). Additionally, after the draw-in, upper chest mobility significantly increased during the maximum pelvic anterior tilt (P< 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Increased activity of the superficial abdominal muscles might limit chest mobility during maximum pelvic anterior tilt. Conversely, the facilitation of deep trunk muscles might increase upper chest mobility during the maximum pelvic anterior tilt.

Determining the Optimal Interval Exercise Intensity Dose for Improving Exercise Performance

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Norah MacMillan
Keyword(s):  
Interval Training ◽  
Active Recovery ◽  
Performance Variables ◽  
Interval Exercise ◽  
Optimal Interval ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Long Duration ◽  
Before And After ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Type Of Exercise

Short duration interval training is a time-efficient exercise strategy that can improve fitness through changes in metabolic, cardiovascular and performance related variables. Studies have examined the positive effects of maximal intensity exercise (≥100% VO2max) on metabolic and performance variables in recreationally active individuals and trained athletes. The intensity of interval training required to cause improvements in aerobic fitness is unknown. This study will look at the performance related adaptations that occur with three different exercise intensities of interval training matched in terms of duration, frequency and type of exercise. Sixteen recreationally active individuals, both males (n=9, age = 23.3±3.3, VO2max = 44.2±6.5) and females (n=6, age = 21.5±0.7, VO2max = 39.7±5.4) were randomly assigned to one of three groups who trained using intervals at 120% VO2max (n=5), 90% VO2max (n=4) or 65% VO2max (n=7). The participants performed 14 days of training spread over 4 weeks that consisted of 8-12 repeats of 1-minute cycling at the prescribed intensity with 1-minute active recovery between intervals. Training increased time to fatigue in the 90% VO2max and 120% VO2max group however not in the 65% VO2max group. The changes in VO2max before and after training were significant in the 90% VO2max group and the 120% VO2max group, however not between the 120% VO2max and 90% VO2max group (p≤0.05). Interval training at 90% and 120% VO2max stimulates analogous improvements in fitness. These results may be important for diseased or sedentary populations where very high-intensity and long duration exercise may not be well tolerated.

Gait worsening and the microlesion effect following deep brain stimulation for essential tremor

2019 ◽  
Vol 90 (8) ◽  
pp. 913-919 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan Roemmich ◽  
Jaimie A Roper ◽  
Robert S Eisinger ◽  
Jackson N Cagle ◽  
Lauren Maine ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Deep Brain Stimulation ◽  
Essential Tremor ◽  
Brain Stimulation ◽  
Repeated Measures ◽  
Walking Speed ◽  
Stimulation Parameters ◽  
Gait Parameters ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Walking Speeds ◽  
Deep Brain

ObjectiveTo investigate the effects of unilateral thalamic deep brain stimulation (DBS) on walking in persons with medication-refractory essential tremor (ET).MethodsWe performed laboratory-based gait analyses on 24 persons with medication-refractory ET before and after unilateral thalamic DBS implantation. Normal and tandem walking parameters were analysed across sessions (PRE-DBS/DBS OFF/DBS ON) by repeated measures analyses of variance. Pearson’s correlations assessed whether changes in walking after DBS were global (ie, related across gait parameters). Baseline characteristics, lead locations and stimulation parameters were analysed as possible contributors to gait effects.ResultsDBS minimally affected gait at the cohort level. However, 25% of participants experienced clinically meaningful gait worsening. Walking speed decreased by >30% in two participants and by >10% in four others. Decreased walking speed correlated with increased gait variability, indicating global gait worsening in affected participants. The worsening persisted even after the stimulation was turned off. Participants with worse baseline tandem walking performance may be more likely to experience post-DBS gait worsening; the percentage of tandem missteps at baseline was nearly three times higher and tandem walking speeds were approximately 30% slower in participants who experienced gait worsening. However, these differences in tandem walking in persons with gait worsening as compared with those without worsening were not statistically significant. Lead locations and stimulation parameters were similar in participants with and without gait worsening.ConclusionGlobal gait worsening occurred in 25% of participants with unilateral DBS for medication-refractory ET. The effect was present on and off stimulation, likely indicating a microlesion effect.

scholarly journals ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN PERSONALITY TRAITS AND COGNITIVE RESILIENCE IN OLDER ADULTS

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S778-S778
Author(s):  
Eileen K Graham ◽  
Bryan James ◽  
Daniel K Mroczek
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Cognitive Decline ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Mixed Effects ◽  
Linear Mixed Effects ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Diagnosis Of Dementia ◽  
Stage 1 ◽  
Existing Data

Abstract There are considerable individual differences in the rates of cognitive decline across later adulthood. Personality traits are one set of factors that may account for some of these differences. The current project explores whether personality traits are associated with trajectories of cognitive decline, and whether the associations are different before and after a diagnosis of dementia. The data will be analyzed using linear mixed effects regression. Across these goals is a focus on replicability and generalizability. Each of these questions will be addressed in four independent longitudinal studies of aging (EAS, MAP, ROS, SATSA), then meta-analyzed, thus providing an estimate of the replicability of our results. This study is part of a registered report of existing data that is currently under stage 1 review.

scholarly journals Rough substrates constrain walking speed in ants through modulation of stride frequency and not stride length

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
G.T. Clifton ◽  
D. Holway ◽  
N. Gravish
Keyword(s):  
Stride Length ◽  
Field Experiments ◽  
Walking Speed ◽  
Stride Frequency ◽  
Rough Terrain ◽  
Flat Substrate ◽  
Walking Performance ◽  
Natural Terrain ◽  
Kinematic Mechanisms ◽  
Walking Speeds

AbstractNatural terrain is rarely flat. Substrate irregularities challenge walking animals to maintain stability, yet we lack quantitative assessments of walking performance and limb kinematics on naturally rough ground. We measured how continually rough 3D-printed substrates influence walking performance of Argentine ants by measuring walking speeds of workers from lab colonies and by testing colony-wide substrate preference in field experiments. Tracking limb motion in over 8,000 videos, we used statistical models that associate walking speed with limb kinematic parameters to compare movement over flat versus rough ground. We found that rough substrates reduced preferred and peak walking speeds by up to 42% and that ants actively avoided rough terrain in the field. Observed speed reductions were modulated primarily by shifts in stride frequency and not stride length, a pattern consistent across flat and rough substrates. Modeling revealed that walking speeds on rough substrates were accurately predicted based on flat walking data for over 89% of strides. Those strides that were not well modeled primarily involved limb perturbations, including missteps, active foot repositioning, and slipping. Together these findings relate kinematic mechanisms underlying walking performance on rough terrain to ecologically-relevant measures under field conditions.

scholarly journals Older adults demonstrate interlimb transfer of reactive gait adaptations to repeated unpredictable gait perturbations

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher McCrum ◽  
Kiros Karamanidis ◽  
Lotte Grevendonk ◽  
Wiebren Zijlstra ◽  
Kenneth Meijer
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Age Differences ◽  
Gait Stability ◽  
Kinematic Data ◽  
Healthy Older Adults ◽  
Motor Error ◽  
The Right ◽  
Walking Speeds ◽  
Treadmill Belt ◽  
Gait Perturbations

AbstractThe ability to rapidly adjust gait to cope with unexpected mechanical perturbations declines with ageing. Previous studies however, have not ensured that pre-perturbation gait stability was equivalent, meaning that differences in unperturbed gait stability may have influenced the outcomes, which this study addresses. We also examine if interlimb transfer of gait adaptations are observed in healthy older adults, potentially driven by the increased motor error experienced due to their reduced ability to cope with the perturbations. 30 young and 28 older healthy adults experienced ten unpredictable treadmill belt accelerations (the first and last applied to the right leg, the others to the left) during walking at their stability-normalised walking speeds (young: 1.32±0.07m/s; older: 1.31±0.13m/s). Using kinematic data, we assessed the margins of stability during unperturbed walking and the first eight post-perturbation recovery steps. Older adults required three more steps to recover during the first perturbation to each leg than the young adults. Yet, after repeated perturbations of the left leg, older adults required only one more step to recover. Interestingly, for the untrained right leg, we found an improvement of three steps in the recovery of the older adults, indicating interlimb transfer of the improvements. Age differences in reactive gait stability remain even when participants’ walk with equivalent stability. Furthermore, we show that healthy older adults can transfer improvements in balance recovery made during repeated perturbations to one limb to their recovery following a perturbation to the untrained limb.

scholarly journals Static Balancing Ability and Lower Body Kinematics Examination of Hungarian Folk Dancers: A Pilot Study Investigating the “Kalocsai Mars” Dance Sequence

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (18) ◽  
pp. 8789
Author(s):  
Cecília Molnár ◽  
Zsófia Pálya ◽  
Rita M. Kiss
Keyword(s):  
Measurement Procedure ◽  
Folk Dance ◽  
Lower Body ◽  
Dance Movement ◽  
Static Balancing ◽  
Flexion Extension ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Posterior Direction ◽  
Joint Flexion ◽  
Hip Flexion

Folk dance is a collection of traditional dances that requires years of practicing to perform correctly. The aim of the present study was to develop a complex biomechanical measurement procedure that investigated Hungarian folk dancers’ balancing ability and lower body kinematics through a dance movement called “Kalocsai mars”. Therefore, 11 dancers’ motion (5 female and 6 male; age: 20.5 ± 2.5 years; height: 173.82 ± 7.82 cm; weight: 64.77 ± 8.67 kg) was recorded with an optical-based motion capture system and force platforms simultaneously. Before and after the dancing session, static balancing tests were performed, examining bipedal stance with eyes opened and closed conditions. The ANOVA results showed that the values of the range of motions of the knee joint flexion-extension angles and hip flexion averaged for sessions increased significantly (p=0.044, p=0.003, p=0.005) during the dancing sessions. The deviation in the joint angle was greater in the nondominant legs, suggesting that the nondominant side requires more attention to execute the dance steps correctly. The results of the balance tests showed that the oscillation in the posterior direction increased significantly after dancing (p=0.023). In comparison, the visual feedback had no significant effect on the dancers’ balancing ability.

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