We performed quantitative measurements of knee instability on 26 persons with anterior cruciate ligament injuries as subjects, with the objective of clarifying factors affecting feeling of instability at the time of motion in anterior cruciate ligament injury patients. The reliability and relationships between each of the indices were investigated and compared with muscle strength and knee instability judged from subjective symptoms at time of motion. For the knee instability, intra-class correlation coefficients above 0.8 were obtained, and in the relationship between each of the indices the correlation between tibial displacement and stiffness was high, although the changes of both were not uniform, and for knee instability a qualitative evaluation was thought necessary. Also, when the factors of feeling of instability were looked at from the point of view of muscle strength and knee instability, in knee instability there was a significant difference between stiffness and displacement at the time of a 133N load, and for muscle strength there were significant differences among the extensor muscles at low velocities.

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A questionnaire survey was carried out by mail, with professional carers in special nursing homes for the aged nationwide as subjects, and suggestions were made regarding movement and guidance dimensions for individual care areas and care equipment. The surveyed areas were accommodation rooms, toilets, bathrooms, corridors and elevators. With the total width of a wheelchair as a standard width of care, information on the degree of impediment caused by care involving wheelchair and stretcher movement or guidance was requested for each area. The number of valid replies was 1, 299 (43.37% of total). In each area the actual width of care was less than the width for impediment-free care, and especially in stretcher use showed a tendency to be insufficiently wide. The minimum widths for impediment-free care were approximately 1.5-2.0 wheelchair widths (WW) for movement of wheelchairs between beds, 3.5 WW to turn in a corridor and 4.0 WW for a stretcher.

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Low back pain is a serious problem among caregivers. In order to prevent this low back pain, caregivers are instructed to assume a bent-kneed posture when performing such tasks as assisting patients in the transfer between their bed and a wheelchair. In the actual workplace, however, many caregivers use a straight-kneed posture. We performed lifting motions modeled on transfer assistance movements, both with knees bent and knees straight, and examined differences in subjective load and rotation of trunk and lower extremities as weight and weight movement angle were varied. As a result, it was confirmed that subjective load was greater when a bent-knee posture was assumed. Moreover, with a bent-kneed posture the rotation angle of the trunk was greater in comparison with that of the lower extremities, showing the possibility that the currently favored bent-kneed posture does not necessarily result in a favorable transfer assistance posture.

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Three types of cryotherapy were conducted on nine healthy females: ice pack, cold pack and continuous cold therapy device; skin temperature responses to these three methods were then examined. As a result of this study, it was found that immediately after chilling commenced the cold pack produced a significantly lower skin temperature than the continuous cold therapy device, but that at the end of the chilling process the values were nearly the same for both methods. Furthermore, skin temperature followed the same post-chill warming process for both methods. Skin temperature reduction by ice pack was significantly less effective than both the continuous cold therapy device and cold pack. Rise in skin temperature after chilling was higher than the other cryotherapeutic methods, but after 30 minutes showed the same trends. Given the chilling pattern of each method and the circumstances under which it is utilized, it is proposed that cryotherapy is useful for the treatment of acute external injuries.

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The objective of this study, was to verify what kind of effect excitement of the lower limb skeletal muscles (quadriceps femoris, tibialis anterior), one of the balance functions, had on the sway of center of gravity, in order to find the most stable maintenance of upright standing. For this experiment, with 12 normal healthy adults as subjects, the sway of center of gravity was compared in upright standing between paired conditions: legs together and legs apart; lower limbs straight and lower limbs bent; and different elevations of center of gravity (with the lower limbs in the bent position and an assisted elevated posture). The results were that a significant difference was seen in each of the parameters, sway loci length values of the lateral and longitudinal components and center of gravity sway area value, between the paired conditions of legs together and apart, and lower limbs straight and bent. From the results of this experiment, it has been ascertained that a posture with the legs apart reduces the sway of center of gravity, and from the fact that above all straight lower limbs reduce the sway of center of gravity the most, the possibility of a training strategy is suggested.

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The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of balance to muscle strength and gait speed in community-dwelling healthy women. Fifty healthy women (≥60 years) participated in this study. All subjects ambulated independently without walking aids. We measured the static postural sway during standing with eyes open and eyes closed, functional balance measures (functional balance scale, FBS; functional reach, FR), isokinetic knee extension muscle strength and 10 m maximum gait speed. FBS, FR, muscle strength and gait speed correlated negatively with age. The static postural sway was not correlated with age. When age was the control variable, FBS and FR correlated the positively with gait speed. These results suggest that the functional balance measures may be important factors in gait ability in community-dwelling elderly women.

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