Background: A tight iliotibial band (ITB) may lead to lateral patellar maltracking, compression, and tilt, and dominant vatus lateralis (VL) muscle activation relative to vastus medialis oblique (VMO) can laterally displace the patella, which leads to anterior knee pain. Therefore, an effective management technique is needed to stabilize the patella in individuals with tight ITB. Increased stability during the modified Thomas test has the potential to decrease compensatory motion and thus to selectively stretch the ITB. Objects: The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of ITB stretching in the modified Thomas test position on ITB flexibility, patellar translation, and muscle activities of the VMO and VL during quadreceps-setting (QS) exercise in individuals with tight ITB. Methods: Twenty-one subjects with tight ITB were recruited. Digital inclinometer was used to measure the hip adduction angle during the modified Ober test. Universal goniometer was used to measure the hip abduction angle during the modified Thomas test. Ultrasonography was used to measure the patella-condylar distance. Electromyography was performed to collect data of muscle activities. Paired t-test was used to determine the statistical significance between pretest and posttest. Results: The range of hip adduction in modified Ober test increased (p=.04) and the range of hip abduction in the modified Thomas test decreased after ITB stretching (p<.01). There was no difference between lateral patellar translation (p=.18). VMO muscle activity significantly increased after ITB stretching during QS (p<.01). VL muscle activity had no difference after stretching. Conclusion: The ITB stretching in the modified Thomas test position can be suggested as a management method for improving ITB flexibility and VMO muscle activity in individuals with tight ITB.

Background: Patients with chronic stroke often shows decreased trunk muscle activity and trunk performance. To resolve these problems, many trunk stabilizing techniques including the abdominal drawing-in maneuver (ADIM) and the diaphragmatic breathing maneuver (DBM) are used to improve trunk muscle strength. Objects: To compare the effects of the ADIM and the DBM on abdominal muscle thickness, trunk control, and balance in patients with chronic stroke. Methods: This was a randomized controlled trial. Nineteen patients were randomly allocated to the ADIM (n1=10) and DBM (n2=9) groups. The ADIM and DBM techniques were performed three times per week for 4 weeks. The thicknesses of the transversus abdominis (TrA), internal oblique muscle, and external oblique muscles on the paretic and non-paretic sides, Trunk Impairment Scale (TIS) score, and Berg Balance Scale (BBS) score were used to assess changes in motor development after 4 weeks of training. Results: After the training periods, the TrA thickness on the paretic side, TIS score, and BBS score improved significantly in both groups compared to baseline (p<.05). TIS score was significantly greater in the DBM group than in the ADIM group (p<.05). Conclusion: This study demonstrated that ADIM and DBM are beneficial for improving TrA muscle thickness in the paretic side, trunk control, and balance ability. Intergroup comparison revealed that TIS score was significantly improved in the DBM group versus the ADIM group. Thus, DBM may be an effective treatment for low trunk muscle activity and performance in patients with chronic stroke.

In this present work, the effect of additional heat-treatment (AHT) in the range from 1800℃ to 2400℃ on the chemical composition, morphology, microstructure, tensile properties, electrical resistivity, and thermal stability of commercial polyacrylonitrile (PAN)-based carbon fibers was explored by means of elemental analysis, electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction analysis, single fiber tensile testing, two-probe electrical resistivity testing, and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The characterization results were in agreement with each other. The results clearly demonstrated that AHTs up to 2400℃ played a significant role in further contributing not only to the enhancement of carbon content, fiber morphology, and tensile modulus, but also to the reduction of fiber diameter, inter-graphene layer distance, and electrical resistivity of "as-received" carbon fibers without AHT. The present study suggests that key properties of commercial PAN-based carbon fibers of an intermediate grade can be further improved by proprietarily adding heat-treatment without applying tension in a batch process.