Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Center Of Mass Control And Multi-Segment Coordination In Children During And After Whole-Body Vibration, Huaqing Liang, Jianhua Wu

Physical Therapy Faculty Research

Maintaining upright posture under external perturbations requires the coordination between the nervous system and the musculoskeletal system, and it is a milestone of motor development in early childhood. Whole-body vibration (WBV) has acute effect on postural control and muscular activation during standing, resulting in an increased sway velocity and sway area of center-of-mass (COM), and the residual effect usually vanishes within 20 minutes after the vibration exposure. In quiet standing, a human body can be considered as a multi-segment linked system, and an uncontrolled manifold (UCM) approach has been used to examine how this multi-joint motor redundancy is utilized to …

Motor Strategy And Locomotor Adjustments In Children With And Without Down Syndrome While Negotiating Stairs, Huaqing Liang, Xiang Ke, Jianhua Wu

Physical Therapy Faculty Research

Children with Down Syndrome (DS) often show impaired motor control, and walk with a slower speed and a shorter step length than typically developing (TD) children. When negotiating an obstacle, children with DS often stop for a longer duration, choose a more conservative crawling strategy and display a smaller toe clearance than their TD peers.

Effect Of Whole-Body Vibration On Center-Of-Mass Movement During Standing In Children And Young Adults, Huaqing Liang, Matthew Beerse, Xiang Ke, Jianhua Wu

Physical Therapy Faculty Research

Whole body vibration (WBV) can affect postural control and muscular activation. The purpose of this study was to investigate the center-of-mass (COM) movement of children and young adults before, during, immediately after, and 5min after 40-s WBV in quiet standing. Fourteen young adults (mean age 24.5 years) and fourteen children (mean age 8.1 years) participated in the study. A full-body 35-marker set was placed on the participants and used to calculate COM. Forty-second standing trials were collected before, during, immediately after, and 5min after WBV with an frequency of 28Hz and an amplitude of <1mm. Two visual conditions were provided: eyes-open (EO) and eyes-closed (EC). COM variables included time-domain measures (average velocity, range, sway area and fractal dimension), frequency-domain measures (total power and median frequency), and detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) scaling exponent in both anterior-posterior (AP) and medial-lateral (ML) directions. Results show that during WBV both children and adults increased average velocity and median frequency, but decreased range and the DFA scaling exponent. Immediately after WBV both groups increased the range, but showed pre-vibration values for most of the COM variables. Comparing to adults, children displayed a higher COM velocity, range, fractal dimension, and total power, but a lower DFA scaling exponent at all phases. The results suggest that both children and adults can quickly adapt their postural control system to WBV and maintain balance during and after vibration. Children display some adult-like postural control during and after WBV; however, their postural development continues into adolescence.

The Assessment Of Medial Stability Of The Elbow Using Sonography And Three Clinical Tests, Andrew Michael Demoss

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Introduction: Injuries to the Ulnar Collateral Ligament of the elbow are a common occurrence in overhead throwing athletes. Clinical assessment of the medial elbow can be assisted using Sonography. Ultrasound imaging can be used to determine the width of the medial joint space. This study will determine whether altering the joint angle in the elbow during various clinical tests has an effect on the width of the medial joint space.

Methods: Ultrasound images of the non-dominant elbow were collected during three clinical tests of medial elbow stability; valgus stress test, weighted valgus test and the milking maneuver. The …

Perceptions Of The Athletic Training Profession By A Collegiate Athlete Patient Population, Bethany Estelle Beuhring

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Patient satisfaction is an advancing topic amongst health care professions, but athletic training has not kept up with these advances. The purpose of this study was to assess patient satisfaction and perception of the athletic training profession as related to their exposure to athletic training services over the course of an athletic career. Four hundred one student-athletes from a single institution were sent an email containing a link to the online-questionnaire, 93 student-athletes submitted the questionnaire. Weak negative correlations were found between questions regarding patient satisfaction with athletic training care and patient perception of the athletic training profession. Results imply, …

Career Paths, Barriers, And Professional Experiences: A Comparison Study Of Physical Therapy Program Directors In The United States, Tamara Nancy Gravano

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The entry-level degree for physical therapists today is a professional doctoral degree. It is similar to a medical degree program where the expected outcome of its graduates is clinical practice, and there is no formal training in academic teaching or administration. The purpose of this study was to determine the leadership characteristics, styles, and behaviors of accredited Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) program directors (PD) and to gain a better understanding of their preparation and path to program leadership. The survey instrument was sent electronically to all program directors of accredited DPT programs in the United States (N=233) and the …