Background: Most patients with chronic stroke have difficulty walking, and various exercise methods are used clinically to improve the disability. Among them, various methods are being applied to improve walking through torso movement. Objectives: This study was conducted to determine the effect of Maitland vertebra joint mobilization exercise and Evjenth trunk muscle stretching exercise on the walking ability of patients with hemiparesis due to chronic stroke. Design: A randomized controlled trial. Methods: In this study, 30 chronic stroke patients with hemiplegia were divided into 15 patients in the Maitland vertebra joint mobilization group (MVJMG) and 15 in the Evjenth trunk muscle stretching exercise group (ETMSEG), and the intervention was conducted for 3 weeks, 5 times a week, 30 minutes a day. After the intervention, walking ability was measured using a gait analyzer. Results: In terms of walking ability, there was a significant increase in walking rate, walking speed, and stride length following the intervention in both the MVJMG and ETMSEG groups (P<.05). When comparing the difference in walking ability between the two groups, there was no significant difference in walking rate. Conclusion: The study found that both Maitland vertebra joint mobilization and Evjenth trunk muscle stretching exercises were effective for improving walking function in chronic stroke patients. However, there was no significant difference in effectiveness between the two interventions.

Background: As sedentary life increases, people's thoracic vertebra joint movement decreases, and the resulting associated pain is complaining of a lot of discomfort. This is also affecting the autonomic nervous system. Objectives: The purpose of this study was therefore to find out the effect of thoracic vertebra joint mobilization on heart rate variability in upper back pain patients. Design: Randomized controlled trial. Method: Thirty subjects in this study were randomly assigned to two groups of 15 persons each using a randomization tool. Maitland's grade III joint mobilization, hot pack, and interferential current therapy (ICT) were applied to T1-L2 and hot pack and ICT were applied to the control group. The intervention was performed 3 times a week for 4 weeks. Results: There were statistically significant changes in Visual Analog Scale (VAS), Standard Deviation of all Normal R-R Intervals (SDNN), Low Frequency (LF), High Frequency (HF) and LF/HF ratio in the study group, and statistically significant changes in VAS, SDNN, and LF/HF ratio in the control group. In comparison of differences, there were statistically significant changes in VAS. Conclusion: Positive effects were found on SDNN and LF/HF ratio in both the joint mobilization group and the control group compared to before the study. In particular, even LF and HF were positive in the joint mobilization group showed influence.

The purpose of this study is to investigate effects of Maitland orthopedic manipulative physiotherapy and stretching on pain, cervical range of motion, and muscle tone of adults with forward neck posture. A total 40 subjects were divided into a Maitland OMPT group(n=20) and a stretching group(n=20), performing joint mobilization exercise and stretching three times per week for six weeks. As for changes in pain, statistically significant decrease were found before and after the exercise within group comparison( p<.01), while no statistically significant difference was observed between-group comparison. In changes in cervical range of motion before and after the exercise, the Maitland OMPT group showed statistically significant increase(p<.01) in flexion, (left lateral flexion(p<.05), extension, left rotation, right rotation, and right lateral flexion, while the stretching group showed statistically significant increase(p<.05) in extension(p<.01), left rotation, left lateral flexion, right rotation, and right lateral flexion. However, no significant differences in between group comparison in flexion, extension, right rotation, left rotation, right lateral flexion and left lateral flexion. The results of measuring muscle tone changes showed that the Maitland OMPT group and the stretching group did not show significance in within and between group comparison(p<.05). In conclusion, the Maitland OMPT and stretching were effective on improving pain and range of motion.

In general, electric powered wheelchair is used for handicapped persons as a means of movement. Electric powered wheelchair is controlled via joystick, which means that seriously handicapped person as vertebra damaged person can not use the general electric powered wheelchair. In this paper, a new navigation method for an intelligent electric powered wheelchair is proposed, which is very simple to implement by using the robotic technology. Two cameras are used in the system. The one is used for detecting obstacles in front of the wheelchair, and the other is used for detecting the intention of the user by measuring the movement of the head. A series of experiments are performed to evaluate the proposed method and the experimental results show that the proposed method can be applicable to the navigation of an intelligent electric powered wheelchair for seriously handicapped person of vertebra damage.

통상적으로 사용되는 목뼈 정면 입사각은 자세에 상관없이 머리 쪽으로 15˚~20˚의 입사각으로 촬영이 이루어지고 있으며 자세의 구분 없이 일률적으로 입사각을 사용하고 있으므로 자세에 따라 달라지는 목뼈의 추간판각을 측정하여 적정한 목뼈 정면 입사각을 제시하고자 하였다. 2013년 1월 1일부터 2013년 12월 31일까지 부산의 P대학병원을 내원 한 목뼈 단순촬영 및 자기공명영상을 시행한 107명의 검사자 중 목뼈 전만각(정상 40˚±5˚)이 정상적인 20세 이상 80세 이하(평균연령 54세) 39명(남자 24명, 여자 15명)을 대상으로 선 자세는 목뼈 단순촬영 측면영상의 추간판각을 측정하였으며 누운 자세는 자기공명영상의 가운데 시상면영상의 추간판각을 측정하였고 성별로 분석한 결과를 보면 선자세의 전체 목뼈 정면입사각은 남자는 25.9˚, 여자는 23.1˚로 나타났고 통계적으로 유의하였으며(p<0.05), 성별로 분석한 누운 자세의 전체 목뼈 정면입사각은 남자는 11.6˚, 여자가 12.6˚로 나타났으며 통계적으로 유의하지 않았고,(p>0.05) 연령별로 분석한 결과는 선자세의 전체 목뼈 정면입사각은 50세 미만이 24.6˚, 50세 이상에서 25.0˚로 나타났으며 누운 자세의 목뼈 정면 입사각은 50세 미만이 12.0˚, 50세 이상에서 11.9˚로 나타났으며 통계적으로 유의하지 않았고,(p>0.05) 선 자세와 누운 자세의 전체 목뼈 정면입사각의 결과는 선 자세에서는 24.8˚로 나타났으며 누운자세에서는 12.0˚로 나타났고 통계적으로 유의하였다.(p<0.05) 연구의 결과를 볼 때 선 자세 및 누운 자세의 목뼈 정면 입사각은 종전의 머리 쪽으로 15˚~20˚가 아닌 각각 선 자세는 24.8˚, 누운 자세는 12.0˚가 추천되며 이로써 각각의 목뼈 추간판각에 따른 정확한 정면 목뼈와 추간원판의 구조 및 수술 후 각각의 목뼈 유합 수술환자 기구파악 및 정확한 위치를 나타내고 평가할 수 있다고 사료된다.