Kinesiotherapy Commons^™

Success In Motion: A Comparative Thematic Analysis Of Patient Success In Inpatient And Outpatient Physical Therapy, William T. Gish

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Physical therapy is practiced across a wide range of clinical settings that differ substantially in patient populations, goals, and care timelines. While standardized outcome measures are commonly used to evaluate treatment effectiveness, little research has examined how physical therapists themselves define successful outcomes  or whether those definitions vary across inpatient and outpatient contexts. This study employed a qualitative mixed-methods design to explore how physical therapists conceptualize success in clinical practice. Ten licensed physical therapists participated in semi-structured interviews, which were analyzed using thematic analysis.

Supplementary quantitative data were collected via an online background survey. Five primary themes emerged: goal-oriented, patient-centered …

Idiopathic And Neuromuscular Scoliosis In A Female College Basketball Player Requiring Spinal Correction Surgery, Magan Kim

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

The purpose of this report is to present the case of a 20-year-old female collegiate basketball player who was diagnosed with a combination of idiopathic and neuromuscular scoliosis. Patient underwent thoracic spinal fusion surgery when she was 15 to resolve her extreme scoliosis. The uniqueness of this case stems from the athlete’s urgency to have to undergo a life-altering spine operation and still be able to successfully contribute to a collegiate basketball team. Athletic trainers should be knowledgeable and aware of how to maintain treatment/rehabilitation for athletes with scoliosis, operative or non-operative. Scoliosis should no longer be a reason to …

Ankle–Foot Orthosis Alters Biomechanics Of Lower Extremities During Walking, Farahnaz Fallah Tafti, Iraklis Pipinos, Jason Johanning, Hafizur Rahman, Mahdi Hassan, Sara Myers

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Lower extremity peripheral artery disease (PAD) is a cardiovascular condition caused by narrowed or blocked arteries supplying blood to the legs. Leg pain and myopathy significantly impair gait from the first step. Using AFO may assist the gait and prolong the distance patients with PAD can walk. This study aimed to investigate the effect of AFO on the gait biomechanics of patients with PAD. Fourteen Participants walked over the force platforms with and without an AFO and kinetics and kinematics were combined to quantify torques and powers of the hip, knee, and ankle joints. Our data demonstrate that use of …

Efficacy Of Assistive Devices Produced With Additive Manufacturing, James Pierce

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Despite the frequency of musculoskeletal injuries such as sprains, broken bones and torn ligaments¹, treatment options are often costly, time-consuming and ill-fitted.^2,3 Additive manufacturing (“3D-printing) allows for the production of highly-customized and inexpensive assistive devices⁴, which suggests potential efficacy in the prescription of splints and casts for musculoskeletal injury.³ In the present study, a parametric, customizable splint/cast was created using a computer-aided design (CAD) package (Fusion 360, Autodesk, San Rafael, CA, USA) and produced with low-cost, desktop 3D printing (Ultimaker 2+ Extended, Ultimaker, Geldermalsen, Netherlands). Fitting of the devices was performed on five healthy …

Developing A Footswitch Device To Assess The Likelihood Of Falls In At-Risk Populations, Arash Mohammadzadeh Gonabadi

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Falls are one of the major cause of injuries, reduced functioning and even mortality in older adults. Most of the falls occur during walking, so considering the mechanics of gait during walking can provide insight to identify the risk of fall in this population. A component of walking mechanics associated with falling in the elderly is gait variability (i.e. the inherent natural fluctuations between strides). Healthy states are associated with an optimal level of movement variability reflecting the adaptability of the underlying control system, while pathological gait can be either too regular, or periodic, or too random and disordered. In …

Sight-Reading Versus Repertoire Performance On The Piano: A Case Study Using High-Speed Motion Analysis, Brenda Wristen, Sharon Evans, Nikolaos Stergiou

Health and Kinesiology Faculty Publications

This study was intended to examine whether differences exist in the motions employed by pianists when they are sightreading versus performing repertoire and to determine whether these differences can be c[uantified using high-speed motion capture technology. A secondary question of interest was whether or not an improvement in the efficiency of motion could be observed between two sight-reading trials of the same musical excerpt. This case study employed one subject and a six-camera digital infrared camera system to capture the motion of the pianist playing two trials of a repertoire piece and two trials of a sight-reading excerpt. Angular displacements …

Ankle Injuries And Ankle Strength, Flexibility, And Proprioception In College Basketball Players, Kristen A. Payne, Kris E. Berg, Richard W. Latin

Health and Kinesiology Faculty Publications

Injuries to the ankle joint are among the most common of all sport-related injuries. Figures range from 10% to 30% of all injuries and from 5% to 20% of all time-loss injuries.1-9 Athletes participating in sports such as football, soccer, basketball, and volleyball are especially at risk for this type of injury, largely because of the running and jumping involved. In 1977, Garrick3 reported that during any single year of a 6-year period at the University of Washington, at least 16% of all time-loss injuries for all sports involved ankle sprains.