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Full-Text Articles in Biomechanics
Head Stabilization And Cortical Activation In Contact Sport Athletes During Walking Under Different Visual Task Constraints, Sam Zeff
Doctoral Dissertations
Contact sport participation exposes athletes to repetitive sub-concussive head impacts, which have been shown to elicit cortical neurophysiologic, cognitive, and motor performance alterations that have the potential to disrupt visual perception. Despite the growing concern regarding sub-concussive impacts, our understanding of their implications on motor performance and risk for further injury is limited. A stable head provides a consistent perceptual platform for the visual and vestibular sensory systems, but the effects of contact sport participation on head stability and visual perception remain poorly understood. The goal of this dissertation was to understand whether contact sport participation modifies athletes’ ability to …
Quantifying Gait Adaptability: Fractality, Complexity, And Stability During Asymmetric Walking, Scott W. Ducharme
Quantifying Gait Adaptability: Fractality, Complexity, And Stability During Asymmetric Walking, Scott W. Ducharme
Doctoral Dissertations
Successful walking necessitates modifying locomotor patterns when encountering organism, task, or environmental constraints. The structure of stride-to-stride variance (fractal dynamics) may represent the adaptive capacity of the locomotor system. To date, however, fractal dynamics have been assessed during unperturbed walking. Quantifying gait adaptability requires tasks that compel locomotor patterns to adapt. The purpose of this dissertation was to determine the potential relationship between fractal dynamics and gait adaptability. The studies presented herein represent a necessary endeavor to incorporate both an analysis of gait fractal dynamics and a task requiring adaptation of locomotor patterns. The adaptation task involved walking asymmetrically on …