View clinical trials related to Musculoskeletal Equilibrium.
Filter by:Postural alignment is often intervened upon in health, fitness, and physical medicine settings. Despite a long tradition in this area, current notions of optimal or normal posture are superficial and often logically inconsistent. A recent attempt to reconcile diverging opinions about good posture proposes that alignment be considered in relation to individual joints' natural tendencies to collapse under gravity. This theory allows different maladaptive postures to be described in terms of functional deficits and compensatory adaptations at the muscular level. Working within this type of theory, postural interventions may be able to account for comparative advantages in maintaining alignment between different muscle systems. This would represent a step forward from current practices, which usually attempt to force arbitrary alignment patterns indiscriminately. The current study presents motion capture and electromyography (EMG) data evaluating the effects of two interventions on individual participants' bipedal standing alignment patterns with respect to the gravitational collapsing tendencies referenced above. Additional outcomes included functional grouping of muscle activation signals (via intermuscular coherence) and kinetic chain continuity. The interventions include 1) an experimental intervention purported to engage muscles that naturally resist the collapsing effects of gravity, and 2) a control intervention designed to inhibit other muscle groups that are sometimes involved in maintaining bipedal alignment in a compensatory role. Study outcomes are measured before and after both interventions to quantify the acute effects of each. All participants complete both interventions in random order, crossing over after a one-week washout period. This research will provide insight into the acute effects of studied interventions, specifically those relating to maintenance of bipedal alignment with respect to gravitational collapsing tendencies.
Clinicians frequently assess and intervene on postural alignment. However, research demonstrating the effects of exercise interventions in moving postural alignment toward an evidence-based standard is lacking. Part of the difficulty in establishing such evidence has been a lack of theory-motivated conceptions of what "good" posture is. In other words, the prevailing understanding of postural alignment is based on the negation of what has been observed to associate with bad outcomes. This study will build upon preliminary findings from our laboratory that define good postural alignment on theoretical grounds. The investigators will measure motion capture and muscle activation patterns during simple postural alignment tasks before and after 1) a corrective exercise intervention, or 2) a control intervention based designed to inhibit superficial muscle tension. The corrective exercise intervention is designed to counteract the natural patterns in which the human skeleton tends to collapse from a standing position under the influence of gravity. The control intervention consists of passive, partner-assisted stretching. Regardless of initial assignment, all participants will crossover (i.e. switch interventions) and repeat the study procedures after a 1-week washout period. Behavioral indicators of movement and nervous system coordination will be used to quantify alignment before and after exercise, as well as the consistency of those alignment patterns with theoretically-defined standards. The knowledge gained from this study will contribute to evidence-based definitions of healthy postural alignment and help identify effective interventions by which clinicians can promote good posture.
The ability to maintain balance and avoid falling is highly dependent on the ability to locate objects and architectural features in the environment. This need to continually monitor the environment as one moves about in daily life suggests a critical role for visual attention, gaze control, and spatial memory, all of which are known to decline with aging. In this study, the investigators will test the efficacy of a computer-based visual-training program designed to improve the ability to rapidly extract information from the peripheral visual field. It is expected that older adults involved in the visual training intervention will improve the speed, accuracy, and effectiveness of reach-to-grasp balance-recovery reactions evoked by sudden unpredictable balance perturbation.
The purpose is to study the effect of chiropractic care on balance in older adults.
The effect of chiropractic manipulation on spine-related pain and balance in older adults.
To study the effect of chiropractic care and a specific exercise program on balance in older adults.
The purpose of this study is to evaluate a 5-week intervention program targeted at improving balance and functional skills for people with stroke.
The overall purpose of this study is to develop an improved gait analysis system for the real time acquisition, calculation and interpretation of joint kinematic and kinetic information using linked segment body model animation to display and visually depict deviations from normal motion and joint function. Patients referred to the laboratory for clinical gait analysis are invited to participate in the project. If interested, subjects are informed by a study investigator of the study goals, procedures, risks and any benefits. A study investigator is responsible for obtaining informed consent. Data from normal subjects are used to establish a normative database. Data from other subjects contributes to the relevant databases of different disorders.