In this study, using a self-invented hand-held dynamometer we sequentially measured three isometric strengths, neck flexion, shoulder joint abduction and straight leg raise, of 8 polymyositis patients and 1 dermatomyositis patient (3 men and 6 women, average age 44.8). The sum of the 3 isometric strengths correlated with creatine kinase in every case. Therefore, it was supposed that the sum of the 3 isometric strengths reflects an individual whole body muscle strength. The measurement was performed easily, and the time series results are thought to reflect the disease progress of polymyositis and dermatomyositis. The results suggest that the dynamometer's use in the evaluation of the 3 isometric strengths and the treatment effect in acute rehabilitation would be effective.

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The purposes of this study were to determine the body weight-bearing under each foot and center of pressure (COP) sway in stroke patients during sit to stand movement. Distributions of body weight on the two legs and sway in COP in sit to stand movement were examined in 4 stroke patients. They performed spontaneous (normal) sit to stand movement and sit to stand movements following instructions directed at weight distribution. COP of each leg was measured by two force plates. The instructions were for even weight-distribution (E50%), and weight bearing through the non-paretic leg of 40% (E40%) and the paretic leg 60% (E60%) of body-weight. The results show that body-weight distribution was less asymmetric when patients tried to increase weight distribution on the paretic leg compared to spontaneous sit to stand movement. We consider that motivating stroke patients to pay attention to their ability to distribute body-weight in sit to stand movement seems a necessary procedure in a rehabilitation program in order to avoid the learned non-use syndrome.

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To study the effectiveness of ultrasound therapy, 13 healthy people were asked to perform elbow flexion exercise of biceps brachii and their reaction times (RT), premotor times (PMT) and motor times (MT) were measured 12 times before and after intervention in the ultrasound irradiation group and non-irradiation group. The irradiation group was exposed to 1 MHz ultrasound at 1 W/cm² for five minutes on biceps brachii muscle by the stroke method. The stroke method was performed on the non-irradiation group at 0 W/cm². Both groups showed no difference in the twelve mean values before and after the intervention, but RT showed significant differences in the mean values up to 7 times, and MT up to 6 times, just after the irradiation, from the mean values before the intervention. The PMT mean value up to four times showed a significant difference from the mean value before intervention. These reaction times, suggest that the alteration of muscle tension and arousal decline just after irradiation, but recover soon with increasing number of measurement.

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This study with 39 healthy elderly people as subjects, aimed to reveal the relationship between dynamic balance and standard leg extension strength, right and left leg differences and gender, and to compare the leg extension strength to the knee extension muscle strength. We used StrengthErgo240 (SE24) to measure the leg extension strength, the Functional Reach Test, Time Up and Go and gait speed for dynamic balance, and a hand held dynamometer for the knee extension strength. Right and left leg differences were revealed in the leg extension strengths of females and showed a significant correlation with knee extension strength. Also, leg extension strength significantly correlated with dynamic balance in both sexes, suggesting that as an open kinetic chain the leg extension strength is more strongly correlated with dynamic balance than the knee extension strength.

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I investigated this study about stress measures tendency and a character characteristic of a student and arrested a characteristic of a group of students that it was it in a group of students and cancellation / the impossibility that there was not of a problem in training and was aimed at examining what kind of emotion and will characteristic was related. The investigation carried out a Lazarus-type Stress Coping inventory and two psychology test battery of a self manner scale before training for three or four grades science treatment subject noon night schools of a physical therapist training vocational school straight 127. There were a comparatively little escape type, characteristic tendencies of isolation type, and stress measures "were positive", and I "stole it, and bought" it as a character characteristic of the whole student and was able to divide "the feeling" and the self manner with "an adult", "a child". In addition, when cancellation was impossible and compared a group of students that it was it with a group of a problem of students whom there was not, a meaningful difference was seen in self control type and maturity characteristics, and self control type was high and tended to fail it so that maturity characteristics were low. From these results, I considered an emotion and will characteristic of a student and relation of training.

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The purpose of this study was to examine the reliability of measurement obtained with the Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS) in Japan. Thirty-two healthy children, aged from 2 to 17 months old, were examined according to the AIMS method. These examinations were recorded on videotape under the informed consent of the parents. Four raters, including one experienced expert physical therapist and three physical therapy students, were instructed about the AIMS. The method of AIMS based on a book of motor assessment for the developing infant was explained to them for 6 hours. The 4 raters observed and assessed the development of each child in separate rooms by watching the videotapes of each child's posture and performance. Inter-rater and intra-rater reliability were analyzed using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and the standard error of measurement (SEM). The SEM, which provides an estimate of the amount of error in an individual's observation test score, was calculated. The ICC, which provides an estimate of the degree of agreement between observation test scores, was calculated. Both inter-rater reliability and intra-rater reliability were high. The SEM of the students was almost the same as that of the experienced expert. High degrees of intra-rater and inter-rater reliability for the AIMS were observed, in this study of Japanese healthy young children. These results suggest that the AIMS might help inexperienced raters to assess the motor function of young children precisely through videotape recordings.

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The purpose of this study was to compare which of the educational methods, problem-based-learning (PBL) or the traditional lecture-based approach, is more effective in physical therapy education. Twenty students in the 3-year course physical therapy school participated in the study. Nine students' were allocated to the PBL group and eleven students were allocated to the lecture group. An academic examination and a questionnaire were implemented in order to measure the educational effects. The academic examination consisted of short answer questions and modified essay questions. The questionnaire consisted of twenty-one questions investigating students study behaviors, participation and satisfaction. The results demonstrated that there was no significant difference between the groups in the examination performance. However, the standard deviation of the examination score in the PBL group was much smaller than the lecture group and all students in the PBL group achieved more than minimum marks, whereas four students (36%) in the lecture group did not. Another trend was that the marks of the PBL group in the modified essay questions were generally higher than those of the lecture group. The results of questionnaire showed that there was a significant difference between the groups in study behaviors, such as utilization of library and internet resources. This result suggests that PBL is effective in nurturing student's self-directed learning behavior.

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Squeezing promotes sputum clearance by increasing tidal volume and expiratory flow rate. Although its use on children has become more widespread in recent years, few reports have been published evaluating the results of pediatric chest physical therapy in terms of pulmonary function. In this study, the pulmonary function of children in the acute phase of respiratory disorders undergoing squeezing was measured continuously, and the results analyzed in terms of ventilatory mechanics. The results revealed that Vt and Ti increased in all cases compared with prior to squeezing. No correlation was observed, however, between the increase in Vt and Ti, PEF or PIF. It was confirmed that squeezing produces a smoother change in flow rate than techniques in which inspiration and expiration are performed consciously. The smooth changes in flow rate indicate that squeezing is an effective technique for children in the acute phase of respiratory diseases. Further objective evaluation of squeezing is necessary to establish it as a safe and effective technique for different clinical conditions.

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The purpose of this study was to evaluate the reliability of three kinds of measurement methods used for evaluating the percentage of body fat. Five healthy male subjects (average age 29.0 ± 5.9 years) participated in this study. The subjects underwent ten repeated measurements for %FAT by underwater weighing (UWW), air displacement plethysmograph (ADP) and multiple-frequency bioelectrical impedance analysis (MFBIA). The reliability of the measurements was examined by using the coefficient of variation (CV) for the ten repeated measurements. There was no significant difference in mean values among the methods for both the measured %FAT and the between-trial CV for the ten repeated measurements. However, a significant positive correlation was found between the CV for MFBIA and the BMI of the subjects (r=0.993, p<0.001). In conclusion, the results suggest that the variation of measurements by MFBIA increases with degree of obesity. Thus, for MFBIA, further examination is needed of the physiques of such subjects.

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This study examined skin temperatures after 10-minute icing on the lateral aspect of the ankle joint, particularly over the anterior talofibular (ATF) and calcaneofibular (CF) ligaments, and compared the cooling efficacies of crushed ice, 0°C cold water, and ice cubes as the filling in ice packs, using thermal video imaging. There were 10 feet in each treament group. The ATF temperaturs were 21.3 ± 3.9°C for crushed ice, 13.0 ± 1.1°C for 0°C water, and 21.0 ± 4.4°C for ice cube groups, and the CF temperatures were, respectively, 20.4 ± 6.1°C, 13.9 ± 1.7 °C, and 20.4 ± 3.2°C. The mean numbers of "cooled islands" (cooled areas ≤ 13.8 °C looking like islands on thermography) were 1.9 for crushed ice, 1.4 for 0°C water, and 2.9 for ice cube groups. These results indicate that ice packs containing 0 °C water are most effective for cooling the skin over the ATF and CF ligaments.

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This study examined the significance of the measured value of lower limb loading force, which was introduced as a simple lower limb function assessment method relevant to lower limb muscle strength, and the ability to maintain a sitting position. The subjects were 31 healthy adults (12 men and 19 women, average age 20.4 ± 0.6), and their lower limb loading force, knee extension muscle strength and ability to maintain a sitting position were measured. Correlation analysis showed a significant positive correlation for each measurement, suggesting that lower limb loading force closely reflects the ability to maintain a sitting position, not only knee extension muscle strength. Therefore, the results suggest that the lower limb loading force can be applied in clinical use as a simple function assessment method, which can assess lower limb and trunk function totally and quantitatively.

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The aim of this study was to clarify the differences in the postural reaction between healthy young adults and elderly adults when the subjects shifted their body weight to the right or left laterally in the sitting position. The subjects were ten healthy young adults (mean age: 22.4 ± 0.5) and ten healthy elderly adults (mean age: 69.4 ± 6.7). Two different balance tasks were employed. First, the tilt table was inclined 7 degrees (task 1). Second, subjects reacted actively from inclined 7 degrees to vertical position on the balance board (task2). Young adults group showed significant change of the rotation in task 2 (p<0.05). In most cases, the angle changes of the pelvis and spine in the elderly adults were significantly smaller than those of the young adults (p<0.05), suggesting that aging changes the postural reaction, impairing the adaptability of posture control to different tasks. It was revealed that even for healthy elderly adults, an approach for fallprevention will be necessary because aging affects their musculoskeletal and somatosensory systems.

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We studied the effects of therapeutic heating before active exercise on preventing joint contractures. Female Wistar rats (12 weeks old) were used in this study. The ankle joint was immobilized in full plantar flexion by a cast. The rats were divided into three groups. In the first group, the ankle of each rat was immobilized with no therapy performed (immobilized group). In the second group, the cast of each rat was removed daily, and treadmill running (10 min.) was performed once a day (running group). In the third group, the rats were immersed in a hot bath (42°C) once a day before treadmill running (10 min.) was performed (heat & running group). We compared the range of motion of the ankle joints after one week. Joint contractures occurred in all groups. The results in the running group were similar to that of the immobilized group. However, there was a significant decrease (p<0.01) in the degree of severity of the contractures in the heat & running group, as compared to the immobilized and running groups. As a result, we have demonstrated confirmed the effectiveness of therapeutic heating before active exercise on preventing joint contractures in rats, and we believe that the same results may be found in future studies on humans.

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We studied the effects of the presence or absence of AFO (Ankle-Foot Orthosis) on the ability of walking and energy consumption of hemiplegia patients in 6-minute walking using a portable metabolic testing system. The 6-minute walking test with and without AFO was performed by 12 stroke hemiplegia patients who could walk in this care facility. The 6-minute walking distance and speed, oxygen consumption (VO₂) and heart rate (HR) while walking were measured. For kinetic energy efficiency while walking, VO₂ and the Physiological Cost Index (PCI) per meter were calculated. In a comparison of the figures with and without AFO, significant differences were recognized in walking distance and speed, and VO₂ per meter. Also, the PCI with AFO showed a lower value than the PCI without AFO. The results suggest that a stroke hemiplegia patient with motor disorder can improve gait ability by wearing AFO and also lower the energy consumption while walking.

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The purpose of this research was to investigate the kinetic and kinematic changes produced by ankle joint immobilization. Kinetic and kinematic pattern differences between barefoot walking and ankle joint immobilization gait with a crutch were evaluated on a 10 m walkway, using a 3-dimensional motion analysis system combined with two force plates. All subjects were asked about how difficult it was to walk with ankle immobilization. All subjects said `it was difficult to walk' and `rocker movement is difficult'. Around the mid-stance, the peak of knee extension and knee flexion moment increased during ankle immobilization. The results suggest that the knee joint compensates for the lack of ankle movement. We consider that the walking difficulty with ankle immobilization was caused by the ankle immobilization itself, knee hyper-extension, and knee flexion moment at mid-stance. Therefore it is important to improve the walking ability with ankle immobilization. The elimination of knee reverse direction movement and knee flexion moment is important for improving the walking difficulty with ankle immobilization.

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The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of height, age, right and left center of foot pressures (COP), trunk flexion angle, and gait speed on the Functional Reach Test (FRT). Data analysis included the stepwise method and Pearson correlations (p<0.05). Height and trunk flexion angle showed significant values. Moreover, the correlation coefficient between right and left COP indicated a strong correlation. Therefore, it is suggested that it is necessary to normalize the FRT by height when it is used as an evaluation of body balance. In addition, we found that the ability to bend the body forward is important as a hip strategy in reaching forward. There was no effect of right and left COP on FRT.

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