The purpose of this study was to determine the therapeutic effect of slope changes of the treadmill with body weight-supported training on gait characteristics in patients with hemiplegia. The volunteered subjects were divided into 3 groups based upon slope changes: control group (0° incline), 7° group (7° incline), 12° group (12° incline), They were trained the body weight-supported treadmill training (BWSTT) for 8 weeks. All subjects were supported up to 40% of their body weight on the treadmill training and the support was gradually decreased to 0~10% as the subjects were adapted to the training. There were significant improvements of walking velocity, step length of the affected side, the asymmetry ratio of step length in 7° group (57.80 cm/s, 67.25 cm, .14), 12° group (71.00 cm/s, 71.00 cm, .11) than control group (40.62 cm/s, 55.00 cm, .74) (p<.05): there were no differences between group 7° and 12° group in the all outcomes (p>.05). Both 7° group and 12° group scored higher than the control group in those outcomes and finally the effects of slopes changes of the treadmill were effective on gait characteristics of patients. But it s till remains undetermined what degree on the treadmill might be better to train the hemipareric patients. Therefore, more studies are required to look into minutely the changes of slopes of the treadmill influencing on gait characteristics.

This study investigated gait characteristics, kinematics, and kinetics in the lower extremities between two different shoe conditions (high heeled shoes (7 cm), and high heeled shoes with a total contact insert (TCI)) after lower extremity muscle fatigue. Although TCI shave been applied in high heeled shoes to increase comfort and to decrease foot pressure, no study has attempted to identify the effects of TCI in fatigue conditions. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of walking in high heeled shoes with TCI after lower extremity muscle fatigue was induced. This study was carried out in a motion analysis laboratory at Hanseo University. A volunteer sample of 14 healthy female subjects participated. All in fatigue conditions, the subjects were divided into two groups. The muscle fatigue was induced by 40 voluntary dorsi- and plantar-flexion exercises and 40 heel-rise exercises of the dominant foot. Surface electromyography was used to confirm the localized muscle fatigue using power spectral analysis of three muscles (tibialis anterior, gastrocnemius medialis and lateralis). The results were as follows: (1) In muscle fatigue conditions, the use of TCI decreased the peak flexion angle of the hip joint significantly in the early stance phase (p<.05) and increased the peak hip flexion moment in the terminal stance phase (p<.05). (2) In muscle fatigue conditions, the application of TCI also increased peak hip power generation in the early stance phase and peak hip power absorption in the terminal stance phase (p<.05). (3) In muscle fatigue conditions, the use of TCI reduced the impact force significantly and increased the secondary peak vertical GRF. These findings suggest that the TCI may provide beneficial effects when muscle fatigue occurs for a high heeled shoe gait. Future research employing the patient population and various types of TCI materials are required to clarify the effects of TCI.

In this study, vertical acceleration of center of mass was observed along normal gait phases in 9 healthy male volunteers (aged ). The developed wireless accelerometric device was attached on the intervertebral space between L3 and L4 using a semi-elastic waist belt. A three-dimensional motion analysis system, synchronized with the accelerometry, was used for detecting gait phases. There was no significant correlation between the body weight and the acceleration. The first peak curve covered loading response phase. The second downward peak point was matched accurately with the opposite toe-off. In mid-stance and terminal stance, the acceleration curve highly resembled the vertical ground reaction force curve. There was no significant difference in timing between the final upward peak point and the initial contact. Therefore, the developed accelerometry system would be helpful in determining determine temporal gait pattems in patients with gait disorders.