Background: In previous studies, changes in postural alignment were found when the slope was changed during walking. Downhill walking straightens the trunk by shifting the line of gravity backward. Objects: This study investigated the effect of the downhill treadmill walking exercise (DTWE) on thoracic angle and thoracic erector spinae (TES) activation in subjects with thoracic kyphosis. Methods: A total of 20 subjects with thoracic kyphosis were recruited for this study. All the subjects performed the DTWE for 30 minutes. A surface EMG and 3D motion capture system were used to measure TES activation and thoracic angle before and after the DTWE. Paired t-tests were used to confirm the effect of the DTWE (p<.05). Results: Both the thoracic angle and TES activation had significantly increased after the DTWE compared to the baseline (p<.05). An increase in the thoracic angle indicates a decrease in kyphosis. Conclusion: The DTWE is effective for thoracic kyphosis patients as it decreases their kyphotic posture and increases the TES activation. Future longitudinal studies are required to investigate the long-term effects of the DTWE.

In this study, the effect of daily short-distance walking exercise on milk production and metabolic status of the lactating dairy cows was investigated. The experiment was conducted with 10 lactating dairy cows comprising 2 groups (5 dairy cows/group), which were walking activity and non-walking activity. The walking activity (WA) group lactating dairy cows walked outdoors for 1 km/d, and the non-walking activity (non-WA) lactating dairy cows were maintained within a cowshed from 18thApril to30th May. The activity volume of the neck was not significantly different between the groups, but the activity volume of the leg was higher in WA group compared with non-WA (p<0.05). The rectal temperature was higher in the WA group (38.6 ℃) compared with non-WA (38.2 ℃) (p<0.05). No significant differences in dietary NE intake, milk production and milk composition were found between the groups. The plasma cortisol concentration was higher in WA group (2.14 μg/dl) compared to non-WA (0.95 μg/dl) (p<0.05). However, plasma cortisol level of WA dairy cows was significantly decreased as compared with non-WA cows. On the contrary, the level of plasma melatonin was increased in WA cows than that of non-WA dairy cows. It may be interpreted as a change in physical fitness. From this study, we suggest that walking activity can be improved energy balance. Further investigation is needed to determine whether different combinations of distance, rate or doing in morning or afternoon will stimulate energy balance.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of heel off stairway walking exercise on the increase of muscle activity and balance activity of the ankle joint muscles in university students with functional ankle instability. The conservative treatment for the control group consisted of stairway walking (n=10) and the experimental group consisted of heel off stairway walking (n=11). The therapeutic intervention of the control and experimental groups was performed a total of 12 exercise sessions, 3 times per week for 4 weeks. To compare the two groups, the level of ankle disability was assessed by using the EMG, BT4 and Pedoscan in pre-treatment and post-treatment. Muscle activity increased in both the experimental groups and control groups in each group, however there was no significant difference between the groups. Balance ability did not show any significant difference. This study demonstrates that heel-off stairway walking is effective in significantly increasing muscle activity, however did not significantly improve balance ability.

The purpose of this study was to analyze lower limb muscle activity and 3D motion analysis according to change foot arch height during walking. We selected 9 young and healthy people who have been normal foot. And we selected 7 young and healthy people who have been flatfoot. So, people were divided into 2 groups and walked platform during 2 minutes twice for checked by 3D motion analysis. These data were characterized by EMG measurements of three muscles( tibialis anterior, medial and lateral gastrocnemius) while they were walking. The collected data were analyzed by Independent t test using the SPSS statistics program(Ver 12.0). In foot arch change, there were no significant difference in three muscles 3D motion analysis also found that there were no significant difference in joint angles. In this study was to analyze lower limb muscle activity and 3D motion analysis according to change foot arch, but there were no significant difference in 6 muscles neither joint angles.

The purpose of this study is to measure the effect of change in heel height on lower extremities activity of young women on high-heeled shoes that young women prefer from more kinetic and realistic perspective as this study changes the degree of slope on a treadmill. The study subjects are 15 young and healthy women who do not have any external injuries or problem with walking and understand the purpose of this study clearly. They wore three different height of heels(1cm, 7cm, 12cm) and walked on a treadmill at a constant speed of 3km/h. EMG value of four muscles (anterior tibial muscle, gastrocnemius muscle, straight muscle of thigh, and biceps muscle of thigh) were collected when walking and the change according to the height of heels were analyzed using one-way ANOVA. Multiple comparison analysis on anterior tibial muscle and heel height showed that the group with 12cm heel showed significantly high muscle activation compared to the groups with 1cm and 7cm heels. The result of this study can be used for various perspectives from inferring and mediating problems caused by wearing high heels on different ground slopes for a long time

본 연구는 보행주기 동안 정상인과 당뇨병성 족부궤양 환자의 족관절 운동역학적 변수와 족관절 근육들의 근활성도에 차이가 있는지 알아보기 위하여 실시하였다. 본 연구의 대상자는 당뇨병성 족부궤양이 있는 환자 9명(남자: 6명, 여자: 3명)과 성, 연령, 체중으로 짝짓기(matching)시킨 대조군 9명이었다. 3차원 동작분석기, 힘판, 표면 근전도를 이용하여, 보행주기 동안 족관절의 관절가동범위, 모멘트(moment), 일률(power), 그리고 내측가자

본 연구는 유아가 숲과 들판, 하천에서 자유롭게 산책활동을 하며 자연과의 만남을 통해 발현되는 생명에 대한 태도를 알아보고자 하였다. 연구에 참여한 유아는 경기도 Y군 농촌지역에 소재한 N초등학교병설유치원에 재원중인 만 4, 5세 유아 4명이었다. 연구과정은 2011년 3월 30일(수) ~ 7월 15일(금)까지 16주에 걸쳐 주 1~2회씩 총 26회로, N유치원 주변 자연 속에서 이루어졌다. 산책활동 시간은 오전이나 오후 자유선택활동시간에 60분 정도 실시하였다. 유아들은 자연 속을 거닐며 생명체와 자연물을 오감으로 탐색하고, 생각과 느낌을 이야기 나누고, 몸짓으로 표현하고, 능동적으로 생명체와 교류하며 자연과의 직접적인 만남을 가졌다. 자료수집은 질적 연구의 타당도와 신뢰도를 높이기 위하여 삼각측정법(Merriam, 1988/1994)에 의하여 녹화자료의 전사와 유아들의 활동사진, 연구일지, 유치원 일과일지, 유아들의 작품 등을 다양한 방법으로 수집하였다. 수집한 자료는 자료의 조직화, 영역분석, 자료 분류 및 분석, 분석결과의 해석 단계를 거쳤다. 연구 결과 산책활동에 참여한 유아생명에 대한 태도는‘생명에 대한 무관심’, ‘생명체와 교감하기’, ‘생명체와 즐겁게 놀이하기’, ‘생명을 새롭게 이해하기’, ‘생명을 소중히 여기며 존중하기’로 나타났다.

The promotion of walking and bicycling is recently a hot topic in the urban planning and design field. Many planners have already examined the many components of the land use-transportation connection and built environment-physical activity link. A rapidly growing area of urban form research is to measure the level of walkability in urban environments. With this background, this research conducted a preliminary study to develop the evaluation indicators of pedestrian environments. Based on the literature reviews on walking or pedestrian environments, we proposed the seventeen indicators related with pedestrian facilities, road attributes and walking environment. We also performed a questionary survey to evaluate the satisfaction of their neighborhood pedestrian environments for 302 randomly selected adults living in the City of Changwon, Gyeongsangnam-do. Finally, this research provided the valid model to evaluate the effects of physical environmental factors on the walking satisfaction using factor analysis and multiple regression analysis.