Motion

This paper presents a prototype kinematic and audio feedback based video game, availing of a scalable motion capture acquisition system, based around a number of orientation sensors. The orientation sensors used are USB based tri-axis magnetic and gravitational field transducers. The novel video-game is capable of incorporating the real time data from these sensors to control an on screen avatar, which in turn can be programmed to give appropriate instructions to the user i.e. play a sound file, once the user obtains a certain posture.

The present study investigated whether postural responses are influenced by the stability constraint of a voluntary, manual task. We also examined how task constraint and first experience (the condition with which the participants started the experiment) influence the kinematic strategies used to simultaneously accomplish a postural response and a voluntary task. Twelve healthy, older adults were perturbed during standing, while holding a tray with a cylinder placed with the flat side down (low constraint, LC) or with the rolling, round side down (high constraint, HC).

We investigated the effects of ChunDoSunBup (CDSB) Qi-training, one of the Korean popular Qi-training systems, on EEG patterns, activation coefficients and state anxiety in 13 trainees with open eyes. CDSB Qi-training procedure consists of 3 stages: sound exercise, reciting Chunmoon, which is similar to a mantra; haeng-gong, a kind of body motion; and mediation. Compared to the control state (resting state before Qi-training), subjects reported less state anxiety, their activation coefficients decreased significantly during sound exercise and meditation in the occipital regions.

Sixty student volunteers were assessed for fixation in the lumbar spine using a passive motion palpation protocol. Subjects were examined in random order by two experienced chiropractors. Every subject was evaluated twice by each examiner. Fixations were judged present or absent for each of five lumbar motion segments. Moderate test-retest agreement beyond chance was noted at L1/2, minimal reliability at L4/5, and no significant agreement within examiners was detected for mid-lumbar segments. Interexaminer agreement beyond chance was poor for all segments assessed.

PURPOSE: To study the inter- and intraexaminer reliability of assessing passive cervical range of motion. DESIGN: Blind, repeated measures of passive cervical range of motion by two different examiners. SETTING: Ambulatory outpatient facility in an independent NHS funded chiropractic research institution. PARTICIPANTS: Fourteen asymptomatic volunteers, 7 men and 7 women, aged 23-45 years. INTERVENTION: Measurement of passive cervical range of motion using a strap-on head goniometer by two blinded examiners.

Cranial bone motion continues to stimulate controversy. This controversy affects the general acceptance of some intervention methods used by physical therapists, namely, cranial osteopathic and craniosacral therapy techniques. Core to these intervention techniques is the belief that cranial bone mobility provides a compliant system where somatic dysfunction can occur and therapeutic techniques can be applied. Diversity of opinion over the truth of this concept characterizes differing viewpoints on the anatomy and physiology of the cranial complex.

OBJECT: Develop an analytical theory describing the dynamics of small impulses applied to vertebrae, such as in chiropractic adjustments or spinal manipulative therapy. DESIGN: Data were compared with damped harmonic oscillator models of vertebrae. BACKGROUND: Evidence accumulates that chiropractic adjustments are effective in addressing a variety of health problems. However, the biomechanics characterizing spinal manipulation is largely unknown. Recently, relative separations of the L2-L3 vertebrae subsequent to activator adjusting instrument thrusts were measured in vivo at 2048 Hz.

BACKGROUND: Although the clinical usefulness of motion palpation has not been established, it is one of the most commonly used diagnostic methods by chiropractors. Notably, its sensitivity, specificity, and validity in general have not been adequately studied, and most study samples have consisted of student volunteers.

BACKGROUND: Although the effectiveness of manipulative therapy for treating back and neck pain has been demonstrated, the validity of many of the procedures used to detect joint dysfunction has not been confirmed. Practitioners of manual medicine frequently employ motion palpation as a diagnostic tool, despite conflicting evidence regarding its utility and reliability. The introduction of various spinal models with artificially introduced 'fixations' as an attempt to introduce a 'gold standard' has met with frustration and frequent mechanical failure.

BACKGROUND: One use of the anteroposterior lumbar radiograph is to determine axial (y-axis) rotation of the lumbar vertebrae. Rotation might be an element of interest to clinicians seeking to evaluate vertebral positioning. OBJECTIVES: Correlate and quantify movements of the projected pedicles relative to the projected vertebral body during axial rotation and determine if vertebral asymmetry and changes in object film distance affect these movements.