Walking is influenced by aging besides it has an aspect of automatic reaction. Therefore, it has been studied that there are some factors that induce falls during walking. Toe Clearance (TC) that was regarded as the cause of falls is not always decreasing in aged individuals, but the instability of their body trunks and variability of the angles of their knees and leg joints may cause the variability of TC, and during the gait cycle when TC becomes low, it would be a possible cause of an accidental fall. As TC is created uncon sciously and passively, it would be important to enhance the reproducibility of lower leg muscles during the swing phase. For that purpose, to directly stabilize the body trunk is one way, but another alternative would be to enhance the toe function that is the base par ticularly during the midstance phase to the preswing phase. One that represents the toe functions is Toe Gripping Strength (TG), and it is speculated that TG has functions of con trolling posture, and create propulsive force. For TG, not only the toe flexor muscles, but also the flexibility of the feet and co-contractions of crural muscles, particularly the muscle activity amount of the tibialis anterior muscles are important. It would be necessary to look into the movements and functions of distal portions of the lower legs during walking,as they are important from the perspectives of fall preventions, balance functions and movement controls.

In healthy women as the subjects, we measured gait parameters (walking speed, stance time, step length, step width, toe angle) as well as physical functions in two conditions i.e. the fastest walk and the optimum walk to look into comparisons between the gait parameters and their associations with physical functions. We compared the fastest walk and the optimum walk, we observed significant differences in the paces, stance time, step length and toe angle, but did not observe significant difference in the step width. In terms of the associations between the parameters, significant associations were presented between the step width and the stance time in the fastest walk, and between the toe angle and step width in the optimum walk. In regard to the associations between the gait parameters and physical functions, calf muscle strength presented significant associations with the step width in the fastest walk, and the quadriceps and hamstring muscles strength presented significant association with the stance time in the optimum walk. The finding suggests the correlation of step width with calf muscle strength and longest possible step. It was also suggested that the toe angle is an index affected by the speed condition and quadriceps strength.

【Purpose】This study aimed to clarify the prevalence of obstructive ventilatory impairment and restrictive ventilatory impairment, as well as to verify physical function among three groups (the obstructive and restrictive ventilatory impairment groups and the normal group) in community-dwelling elderly. 【Methods】We assessed the results of respiratory function tests and physical function tests in 128 community-dwelling elderly,and compared measurement items of each ventilatory impairment group. Comparisons between three groups were analyzed using one-way analysis of covariance for the covariate of age, whereas the relationships between measurement items and respiratory function in each group were analyzed using Pearson correlation analysis.【Results】Subjects consisted of the normal group of 80 people (68.4%); obstructive ventilatory impairment group, 14 people (12.0%); and restrictive ventilatory impairment group, 23 people (19.6%). Respiratory function showed a significant difference among the three groups, but physical function showed no significant difference. The obstructive ventilatory impairment group showed a significant correlation between respiratory function and physical function【.Conclusions】Different types of ventilation impairment do not cause significant difference in physical function. However, obstructive ventilatory impairment may cause muscle weakness and reduced respiratory function.

This study was undertaken to clarify the relationship between pelvis movement strategy, head-arm-trunk (HAT) movement strategy, and the strength of pelvic surrounding muscles in patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA). The subjects were 14 outpatients with knee OA, 11 of whom were evaluated both limbs and 3 were evaluated unilateral limb. We classified the pelvis movement and HAT movement strategy from a photograph of single leg standing on the frontal plane which inclined an angle of the acromion,trunk and adduction of the hip joint. We compared the maximum isometric contraction of gluteus medius muscle, gluteus maximus muscle and adductor muscle about the difference between the pelvis movement and HAT movement strategy. As the results,we found out two important clinical aspects. First, the muscle strength of gluteus medius muscle of HAT movement strategy was significant decreased. Second, the gluteus medius muscle strength and the inclined angle between the acromion and trunk were negatively correlated with HAT movement strategy. The present study suggests that we may estimate the weakening trend of gluteus medius muscle from the single leg standing when we observe HAT movement strategy in knee OA.

The purpose of this study was to verify the validity of the method for measuring depth of surface imprint and differentiating pitting edema. We enrolled 22 patients (44 legs), and 30 controls (60 legs) who were community-dwelling healthy elderly adults. We instructed the subjects to sit on the edge of a chair and lightly press the soles of their foot onto the floor. We measured the depth of surface imprint using the gauge for edema and the thickness of subcutaneous soft tissues using an ultrasounographic imaging apparatus. The measurement region was the central area of the back of the foot on the caput of the third metatarsal bone. We analyzed the relationship between the measured values of the depth of surface imprint and thickness of subcutaneous soft tissue using Pearsonʼs correlation coefficients. We also compared the values obtained for the patients and healthy controls using the non-paired t-test. The results demonstrated a strong correlation between the measured values of the depth of surface imprint and thickness of the subcutaneous soft tissue. In addition, patientsʼvalues were significantly higher those of the healthy controls. Our findings support the usefulness and validity of the method for measuring the depth of surface imprint for differentiating pitting edema.

This study aimed to clarify the influences of smartphone use while walking on gait parameters, involving 28 (16 males and 12 females) healthy adults. The subjects were instructed to walk along an approximately 20-m indoor walking course under 2 different conditions: walking normally and while using a smartphone. Measurement was performed in a 2.4-m section of the course using the gait analysis device Walk Way to compare the following gait parameters: gait velocity, step and stride lengths, durations of the stance and double support phases, step width, and foot angle. When walking while usinga smartphone compared with the normal gait condition, the gait velocity, as well asstepand stride lengths, significantly decreased, while the durations of the stance and double support phases markedly increased, and the step width showed a tendency to increase. These results demonstrated that smartphone use while walking reduces the step and stride lengths while increasing the durations of the stance and double support phases, resulting in decreases in the gait velocity.

[Purpose] We were used the Finger-Floor Distance (FFD) for an assessment that measures the flexibility of the body in this study. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the difference of the FFD between morning and evening. [Subjects and method] The subjects of this study were 34 college students aged 21 ±2.8 years old. We measured the FFD and sleep time for three days. The FFD was measured ①before bathingintheeveningand②after waking up in the morning. [Results] The FFD value of the morning was significantly higher than that of evening (p<0.05). [Conclusion] We revealed the flexibility of the body decreases after sleep.