Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Reliability And Validity Of A Biomechanically Based Analysis Method For The Tennis Serve, Natalie L. Myers, W. Ben Kibler, Leah Lamborn, Belinda J. Smith, Tony English, Cale A. Jacobs, Timothy L. Uhl

Physical Therapy Faculty Publications

Background: An observational tennis serve analysis (OTSA) tool was developed using previously established body positions from three-dimensional kinematic motion analysis studies. These positions, defined as nodes, have been associated with efficient force production and minimal joint loading. However, the tool has yet to be examined scientifically.

Purpose: The primary purpose of this investigation was to determine the inter-observer reliability for each node between two health care professionals (HCPs) that developed the OTSA, and secondarily to investigate the validity of the OTSA.

Methods: Two separate studies were performed to meet these objectives. An inter-observer reliability study preceded the …

A Systems Approach To The Problem Of Falls In Old Age, Patrick A. Dillon

Theses and Dissertations--Gerontology

The problem of falls in old age is enormously costly and disruptive for the older individual, others, and society, and its severity is likely to intensify as our population ages. This dissertation takes a systems-oriented approach toward the falls problem and is presented in two parts. The first part critically develops a new approach to the problem of falls. The second part describes an empirical study that applies this new approach in a pragmatic manner.

Conventional fall prevention strategies employ a reductionist approach to the problem of falls. This approach is questioned because it corresponds poorly to the holistic nature …

Age-Related Differences In The Lumbopelvic Kinematics During The Trunk Motions In The Anatomical Planes, Milad Vazirian

Theses and Dissertations--Biomedical Engineering

Management and control of the low back pain as an important health problem in the industrial societies necessitates to investigate how the risk of this disease is affected by aging. Since the abnormalities of the lumbopelvic kinematics are related to the existence or risk of low back injuries, the objective of this dissertation was set to find the age-related differences in lumbopelvic kinematics when performing basic trunk motions reaching to range of motion in different anatomical planes.

A cross-sectional study was designed where sixty asymptomatic individuals between 20–70 years old with no confounding health condition, no current or previous highly …

Longitudinal Adaptations In Muscle Strength, Functional Performance, Gait Biomechanics, And Patient-Reported Function After Unilateral Total Knee Arthroplasty, Paul W. Kline

Theses and Dissertations--Rehabilitation Sciences

Objective: The aims of this research were to identify gaps in the literature related to impairments after total knee arthroplasty (TKA) (Aim 1) and define recovery between 3 and 6 months after TKA across four domains: 1) hip and knee muscle performance, 2) functional performance, 3) patient-reported function, and 4) biomechanics of walking and stair descent (Aim 2). Additionally, this project sought to explore the relationships between each domain (Aim 3) and establish predictive models to allow clinicians to use clinical measures to predict future gait biomechanics in patients after TKA (Aim 4). Ultimately, the results of this research would …

The Effect Of One-On-One Intervention In Athletes With Multiple Risk Factors For Injury, Kathryn Schwartzkopf-Phifer

Theses and Dissertations--Rehabilitation Sciences

Background: Lower extremity (LE) musculoskeletal injuries in soccer players are extremely common. These injuries can result in many days of lost time in competition, severely impacting players and their respective teams. Implementation of group injury prevention programs has gained popularity due to time and cost-effectiveness. Though participation in group injury prevention programs has been successful at reducing injuries, programs often target a single injury and all players do not benefit from participation. Players with a greater number of risk factors are most likely to sustain an injury, and unfortunately, less likely to benefit from a group injury prevention program. …