The goal of this pilot study was to characterize the effects of gait training on the capacity of muscles to produce body accelerations and relate these changes to mobility improvements seen in children with cerebral palsy (CP). Five children (14 years ± 3 y; GMFCS I-II) with spastic diplegic CP participated in a 6-week gait training program. Changes in 10-m fast-as-possible walking speed and 6-minute walking endurance were used to assess changes in mobility. In addition, musculoskeletal modeling was used to determine the potential of lower-limb muscles to accelerate the body’s center of mass vertically and forward during stance. The mobility changes after the training were mixed, with some children demonstrating vast improvements, while others appeared to be minimal. However, the musculoskeletal results revealed unique responses for each child. The most common changes occurred in the capacity for the hip and knee extensors to produce body support and the hip flexors to produce body propulsion. These results cannot yet be generalized to the broad population of children with CP, but demonstrate that therapy protocols may be enhanced by modeling analyses. The pilot study results provide motivation for gait training emphasizing upright leg posture, mediolateral balance, and ankle push-off.
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Changes in Mobility and Muscle Function of Children with Cerebral Palsy after Gait Training: A Pilot Study
Amy K. Hegarty, Max J. Kurz, Wayne Stuberg, and Anne K. Silverman
Effects of Student Interests on Engagement and Performance in Biomechanics
Erika M. Pliner, April A. Dukes, Kurt E. Beschorner, and Arash Mahboobin
, completing eighth grade algebra, completing high-school calculus, entering a STEM major), but fails to describe the pathway of nearly half of the individuals that become scientists or engineers. 5 These failures are partly attributed to the pipeline not considering the role of motivation and individual experiences
Dr. Richard C. Nelson: The Founding Father of Biomechanics
Vladimir Zatsiorsky
the pole, and the immediate motivation for the study was introducing new, at that time, fiberglass poles. Despite some limitations of the study (e.g. body rotational energy was neglected), I liked it and appreciated the work done. Also, almost immediately before departure to the conference, I read his
Experiences of Undergraduates Publishing Biomechanics Research
Stuart A. McErlain-Naylor
–student research partnerships have potential extrinsic (eg, acceleration in research productivity 5 – 7 ) and intrinsic (eg, motivation and enjoyment 6 , 8 ) benefits for staff and institutions, this study will focus on the experiences of students in such partnerships. Several frameworks have presented the ways in
Development and Assessment of a Method to Estimate the Value of a Maximum Voluntary Isometric Contraction Electromyogram from Submaximal Electromyographic Data
Hamid Norasi, Jordyn Koenig, and Gary A. Mirka
potential fatigue effects. It is often not easy to obtain a true and reliable MVIC for EMG normalization, 23 as it can be impacted by participants’ motivation and sincerity, 26 , 27 as well as participants’ level of pain/discomfort. 28 Furthermore, utilization of the MVIC method can be restricted or
Interactive Digital Experience as an Alternative Laboratory (IDEAL): Creative Investigation of Forensic Biomechanics
Valerie A. Troutman and Michele J. Grimm
laboratory-like, active learning units within large or online courses. With students taking the lead, our objective was to foster creativity and increase motivation as they experienced how the concepts learned throughout the course apply to real-world scenarios. The students individually investigated
Delivering Load-Modifying Gait Retraining Interventions via Telehealth in People With Medial Knee Osteoarthritis: A Pilot Randomized Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial
Nicole D’Souza, Laura Hutchison, Jane Grayson, Claire Hiller, Sarah Kobayashi, and Milena Simic
a brief outline of the originally planned face-to-face intervention protocol. Motivational interviewing and goal setting were used to improve strategy adherence and integration into daily life. Participants were provided with feedback about their gait using a range of methods: (1) biofeedback of
Multifidus Denervation After Radiofrequency Ablation of the Medial Nerve Alters the Biomechanics of the Spine—A Computational Study
Faris A. Almalki and Daniel H. Cortes
. These changes can make the spine more susceptible to disc degeneration and other spine pathologies. The findings in this study support other studies that have shown pathological changes in the spine after RFA of the medial branch and provide motivation for developing multifidus sparing treatments for
Variability of Spatiotemporal Gait Kinematics During Treadmill Walking: Is There a Hawthorne Effect?
Saaniya Farhan, Marco A. Avalos, and Noah J. Rosenblatt
well understood, 36 it is thought to reflect behavioral changes driven by a motivation of study participants to please researchers. However, it is unclear why such desirability would manifest as reduced gait variability. Moreover, while these effects can, in part, be countered through deception, our
Comparison of Frontal and Transverse Plane Kinematics Related to Knee Injury in Novice Versus Experienced Female Runners
Kathryn Harrison, Adam Sima, Ronald Zernicke, Benjamin J. Darter, Mary Shall, D.S. Blaise Williams III, and Sheryl Finucane
controlled trial . BMC Musculoskelet Disord . 2010 ; 11 ( 1 ): 196 . PubMed ID: 20809930 doi:10.1186/1471-2474-11-196 10.1186/1471-2474-11-196 20809930 7. Vlahek P , Matijević V . Lower extremity injuries in novice runners: incidence, types, time patterns, sociodemographic and motivational risk
