1,457 research outputs found

    Gait sonification for rehabilitation: adjusting gait patterns by acoustic transformation of kinematic data

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    To enhance motor learning in both sport and rehabilitation, auditory feedback has emerged as an effective tool. Since it requires less attention than visual feedback and hardly affects the visually dominated orientation in space, it can be used safely and effectively in natural locomotion such as walking. One method for generating acoustic movement feedback is the direct mapping of kinematic data to sound (movement sonification). Using this method in orthopedic gait rehabilitation could make an important contribution to the prevention of falls and secondary diseases. This would not only reduce the individual suffering of the patients, but also medical treatment costs. To determine the possible applications of movement sonification in gait rehabilitation in the context of this work, a new gait sonification method based on inertial sensor technology was developed. Against the background of current scientific findings on sensorimotor function, feedback methods, and gait analysis, three studies published in scientific journals are presented in this thesis: The first study shows the applicability and acceptance of the feedback method in patients undergoing inpatient rehabilitation after unilateral total hip arthroplasty. In addition, the direct effect of gait sonification during ten gait training sessions on the patients’ gait pattern was revealed. In the second study, the immediate follow-up effect of gait sonification on the kinematics of the same patient group is examined at four measurement points after gait training. In this context, a significant influence of sonification on the gait pattern of the patients was shown, which, however, did not meet the previously expected effects. In view of this finding, the effect of the specific sound parameter loudness of gait sonification on the gait of healthy persons was analyzed in a third study. Thus, an impact of asymmetric loudness of gait sonification on the ground contact time could be detected. Considering this cause-effect relationship can be a component in improving gait sonfication in rehabilitation. Overall, the feasibility and effectiveness of movement sonification in gait rehabilitation of patients after unilateral hip arthroplasty becomes evident. The findings thus illustrate the potential of the method to efficiently support orthopedic gait rehabilitation in the future. On the basis of the results presented, this potential can be exploited in particular by an adequate mapping of movement to sound, a systematic modification of selected sound parameters, and a target-group-specific selection of the gait sonification mode. In addition to a detailed investigation of the three factors mentioned above, an optimization and refinement of gait analysis in patients after arthroplasty using inertial sensor technology will be beneficial in the future.Akustisches Feedback kann wirkungsvoll eingesetzt werden, um das Bewegungslernen sowohl im Sport als auch in der Rehabilitation zu erleichtern. Da es weniger Aufmerksamkeit als visuelles Feedback erfordert und die visuell dominierte Orientierung im Raum kaum beeinträchtigt, kann es während einer natürlichen Fortbewegung wie dem Gehen sicher und effektiv genutzt werden. Eine Methode zur Generierung akustischen Bewegungsfeedbacks ist die direkte Abbildung kinematischer Daten auf Sound (Bewegungssonifikation). Ein Einsatz dieser Methode in der orthopädischen Gangrehabilitation könnte einen wichtigen Beitrag zur Prävention von Stürzen und Folgeerkrankungen leisten. Neben dem individuellen Leid der Patienten ließen sich so auch medizinische Behandlungskosten erheblich reduzieren. Um im Rahmen dieser Arbeit die Einsatzmöglichkeiten der Bewegungssonifikation in der Gangrehabilitation zu bestimmen, wurde eine neue Gangsonifikationsmethodik auf Basis von Inertialsensorik entwickelt. Zu der entwickelten Methodik werden, vor dem Hintergrund aktueller wissenschaftlicher Erkenntnisse zur Sensomotorik, zu Feedbackmethoden und zur Ganganalyse, in dieser Thesis drei in Fachzeitschriften publizierte Studien vorgestellt. Die erste Studie beschreibt die Anwendbarkeit und Akzeptanz der Feedbackmethode bei Patienten in stationärer Rehabilitation nach unilateraler Hüftendoprothetik. Darüber hinaus wird der direkte Effekt der Gangsonifikation während eines zehnmaligen Gangtrainings auf das Gangmuster der Patienten deutlich. In der zweiten Studie wird der unmittelbare Nacheffekt der Gangsonifikation auf die Kinematik der gleichen Patientengruppe zu vier Messzeitpunkten nach dem Gangtraining untersucht. In diesem Zusammenhang zeigte sich ein signifikanter Einfluss der Sonifikation auf das Gangbild der Patienten, der allerdings nicht den zuvor erwarteten Effekten entsprach. Aufgrund dieses Ergebnisses wurde in einer dritten Studie die Wirkung des spezifischen Klangparameters Lautstärke der Gangsonifikation auf das Gangbild von gesunden Personen analysiert. Dabei konnte ein Einfluss von asymmetrischer Lautstärke der Gangsonifikation auf die Bodenkontaktzeit nachgewiesen werden. Die Berücksichtigung dieses Ursache-Wirkungs-Zusammenhangs kann einen Baustein bei der Verbesserung der Gangsonifikation in der Rehabilitation darstellen. Insgesamt wird die Anwendbarkeit und Wirksamkeit von Bewegungssonifikation in der Gangrehabilitation bei Patienten nach unilateraler Hüftendoprothetik evident. Die gewonnenen Erkenntnisse verdeutlichen das Potential der Methode, die orthopädische Gangrehabilitation zukünftig effizient zu unterstützen. Ausschöpfen lässt sich dieses Potential auf Grundlage der vorgestellten Ergebnisse insbesondere anhand einer adäquaten Zuordnung von Bewegung zu Sound, einer systematischen Modifikation ausgewählter Soundparameter sowie einer zielgruppenspezifischen Wahl des Modus der Sonifikation. Neben einer differenzierten Untersuchung der genannten Faktoren, erscheint zukünftig eine Optimierung und Verfeinerung der Ganganalyse bei Patienten nach Endoprothetik unter Einsatz von Inertialsensorik notwendig

    Curating after world music: Contemporary and experimental practices between Lebanon and Germany

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    Combining ethnographic research and curatorial practice, this thesis is looking at the social and cultural implications of collaborations in the independent performing arts sector across Lebanon and Germany. The project aims to find out how musicians in emerging cross-border networks produce, showcase and experience experimental music in places that facilitate and amplify affective encounters between artists, researchers, administrators, and curators with shared beliefs and value systems marked by an antagonism against narrational strategies of world music productions at European festival sites. Outlining the impact of MultiKulti narratives and world music curation in Berlin since the 1980s and 1990s specifically, I will outline how performative inclusivity, ethics of care, and anti-world music sentiments at German festival sites feed into the affective dimensions of these multidisciplinary networks as well as the content which producers choose to distribute into the public realm. Focusing specifically on trust, shared vulnerability, and uncertainty in collaborative music projects in the cities of Beirut, Berlin and Mannheim, my research aims to shed light on the significant role of location- and friendship-based networks that increasingly establish institutional structures outside of white dominated cultural institutions with a history of world music marketing in Germany. This entails looking at three specific institutional structures, including the Planet Ears festival (Mannheim), the Irtijal festival (Beirut) and associated grassroots organisations and artist-led collectives in Beirut, and Morphine Raum in Berlin. In analysing the sonic profile, aesthetic choices, and the social dynamics within experimenting collectives, this project will demonstrate how networks of collaborating musicians, performance artists, administrators and curators navigate and initiate changing possibilities of instituting experimental music across Germany and Lebanon. I argue that this development is due to adapting cultural policy frameworks, a close social proximity of policy workers and diasporic musicians, and the aims of funding the independent performing art scene based on general turn towards performing anti-racist practises and diversity sensitive curation in Germany specifically

    Temperature Reduction Technologies Meet Asphalt Pavement: Green and Sustainability

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    This Special Issue, "Temperature Reduction Technologies Meet Asphalt Pavement: Green and Sustainability", covers various subjects related to advanced temperature reduction technologies in bituminous materials. It can help civil engineers and material scientists better identify underlying views for sustainable pavement constructions

    Friction of biomechanical interfaces

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    An investigation into mild traumatic brain injury identification, management, and mitigation

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    Concussion is classified as a mild traumatic brain injury which can be induced by biomechanical forces such as a physical impact to the head or body, which results in a transient neurological disturbance without obvious structural brain damage. Immediate access to tools that can identify, diagnosis and manage concussion are wide ranging and can lack consistency in application. It is well documented that there are frequent incidences of concussion across amateur and professional sport such as popular contact sports like rugby union. A primary aim of this thesis was to establish the current modalities of ‘pitch side’ concussion management, identification, and diagnosis across amateur and professional sporting populations. Furthermore, the research sought to understand existing concussion management and concussion experiences by means of recording the player’s experiences and perceptions (retired professional rugby union players). These qualitative studies sought to gain insights into concussion experiences, the language used to discuss concussion and the duty of care which medical staff, coaching personnel, and club owners have towards professional rugby players in their employment. In addition, possible interventions to reduce the incidence of concussion in amateur and professional sports were investigated. These included a ‘proof of concept’ using inertial measurement units and a smartphone application, a tackle technique coaching app for amateur sports. Other research data investigating the use of neurological function data and neuromuscular fatigue in current professional rugby players as a novel means of monitoring injury risk were included in this research theme. The findings of these studies suggest that there is an established head injury assessment process for professional sports. However, in amateur sport settings, this is not the existing practice and may expose amateur players to an increased risk of post-concussion syndrome or early retirement. Many past professional rugby union players stated that they did not know the effects of cumulative repetitive head impacts. They discussed how they minimised and ignored repeated concussions due to peer pressure or pressure from coaches or their own internal pressures of maintaining a livelihood. These data suggest that players believed that strong willed medical staff, immutable to pressures from coaching staff or even athletes themselves, were essential for player welfare and that club owners have a long-term duty of care to retired professional rugby union players. However, there are anecdotal methods suggested to reduce concussion incidence. For example, neck strengthening techniques to mitigate against collision impacts. There is, no longitudinal evidence to suggest that neck strength can reduce the impacts of concussion in adult populations . Additionally, other factors such as lowering the tackle height in the professional and amateur game is currently being investigated as a mitigating factor to reduce head injury risk. The final theme of the thesis investigated possible methods to reduce injury incidence in amateur and professional athletes. The novel tackle technique platform could assist inexperienced amateur coaches on how to coach effective tackle technique to youth players. The findings from the neurological function data suggests that this may be an alternative way for coaches to assess and gather fatigue data on professional rugby union players alongside additional subjective measures and neuromuscular function data. Recently, the awareness of concussion as an injury and the recognition of concussion in many sports settings has improved. These incremental improvements have led to increased discussion regarding possible measures to mitigate the effects of concussion. There are many additional procedures to be implemented before a comprehensive concussion management is universally available, particularly in amateur and community sports. These necessary processes could be technological advances (e.g., using smart phone technology) for parents and amateur coaches to assist in the early identification of concussion or evidence-based concussion reduction strategies

    Age-Related Differences in Motor Performance

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    The purpose of this work was to study the age effects on average performance and variability of movement responses in children, young adults, and older adults across multiple motor tasks. Optimal motor performance is observed in healthy young adults with declines observed at either end of the lifespan. This pattern has been represented as a U-shaped/inverted U-shaped curve. Little is known about if this pattern persists in chewing dynamics. While chewing has been found to improve aspects of attention, a cognitive function, research is limited on the relationship between chewing and other motor tasks. The first aim of this research was to conduct a scoping systematic review to identify what measures of variability are reported for preferred performance of chewing and walking in children, young adults, and older adults and the age-related differences across these age groups. The available research was insufficient across these groups and does not support the perspective that children and older adults are more variable than young adults. The second aim was to examine age-related differences in averages and variability of chewing, reaction time, balance, and walking responses across children, young adults, and older adults. A U-shaped curve was revealed for reaction time and postural sway with the young adults producing faster reaction times and decreased postural sway than the children and older adults. Chewing rates followed a similar curve but with children chewing at faster rates than young and older adults. No age-related differences were observed for normalized gait speed. The final aim was to examine dual task relationships between chewing and secondary motor tasks in children. Sixteen healthy children completed finger tapping, reaction time, and walking while chewing at different speeds. Chewing rates varied when produced with a secondary motor task and the secondary motor tasks were differentially influenced by chewing. Reaction times slowed during chewing while walking rates increased/decreased with changes in chewing rates. This relationship was not as strong as previous reports in adults. Overall, the anticipated patterns across the age groups were only partially revealed within this work. Understanding normal movement patterns is the foundation to identifying variations in atypical populations

    Proceedings XXIII Congresso SIAMOC 2023

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    Il congresso annuale della Società Italiana di Analisi del Movimento in Clinica (SIAMOC), giunto quest’anno alla sua ventitreesima edizione, approda nuovamente a Roma. Il congresso SIAMOC, come ogni anno, è l’occasione per tutti i professionisti che operano nell’ambito dell’analisi del movimento di incontrarsi, presentare i risultati delle proprie ricerche e rimanere aggiornati sulle più recenti innovazioni riguardanti le procedure e le tecnologie per l’analisi del movimento nella pratica clinica. Il congresso SIAMOC 2023 di Roma si propone l’obiettivo di fornire ulteriore impulso ad una già eccellente attività di ricerca italiana nel settore dell’analisi del movimento e di conferirle ulteriore respiro ed impatto internazionale. Oltre ai qualificanti temi tradizionali che riguardano la ricerca di base e applicata in ambito clinico e sportivo, il congresso SIAMOC 2023 intende approfondire ulteriori tematiche di particolare interesse scientifico e di impatto sulla società. Tra questi temi anche quello dell’inserimento lavorativo di persone affette da disabilità anche grazie alla diffusione esponenziale in ambito clinico-occupazionale delle tecnologie robotiche collaborative e quello della protesica innovativa a supporto delle persone con amputazione. Verrà infine affrontato il tema dei nuovi algoritmi di intelligenza artificiale per l’ottimizzazione della classificazione in tempo reale dei pattern motori nei vari campi di applicazione

    Caractérisation mécanique in vivo des tissus mous : application à la peau humaine et la chéloïde

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    The development of keloids, benign tumors on human skin, is not exclusively due to biological or genetic factors. The presence of anatomical sites favorable to the appearance of these tumors, while others are lacking them, attests to the importance of the mechanical environment of the tissue. The thesis aims to address the problem of keloid growth by developing a patient-specific pipeline, SofTI, based on in vivo experimental measurements and numerical modeling. The objective is to prevent further propagation of keloidic scars via a medical containment solution by identifying optimal material parameters to quantify mechanical stress and map its privileged direction locally. Additionally, the research work introduces MARSAC methodology to characterize the anisotropy in an undamaged skin by estimating Langer's line and stiffness along and across it with an in vivo multi-axial annular suction experiment. The method was used to analyze intra-subject and subject-to-subject variability over a clinical trial.Le développement des chéloïdes, tumeurs bénignes sur la peau humaine, n'est pas exclusivement dû à des facteurs biologiques ou génétiques. La présence de sites anatomiques favorables à l'apparition de ces tumeurs, tandis que d'autres en manquent, atteste de l'importance de l'environnement mécanique du tissu. La thèse vise à résoudre le problème de la croissance des chéloïdes en développant une méthode patient-spécifique, SofTI, basée sur des mesures expérimentales in vivo et une modélisation numérique. L'objectif est de prévenir la propagation des cicatrices chéloïdiennes à l'aide d'une solution médicale de contention en identifiant les paramètres matériau optimaux pour quantifier les contraintes mécaniques et cartographier ses directions privilégiées localement. De plus, le travail de recherche présente la méthodologie MARSAC pour charactériser l'anisotropie dans la peau saine en identifiant la ligne de Langer et la raideur le long et à travers celle-ci partant d'une expérience d'aspiration annulaire multi-axiale in vivo. La méthode a été employée pour analyser la variabilité intra- et inter-sujets sur un essai clinique

    Pushing for Gold On Force Application in Bobsleigh and Cycling

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    In many sports, performance is governed by an athlete’s ability to produce force paired with a given movement velocity and, thereby, generate power. The 4-man bobsled push start is an event that requires team effort, and its goal is to maximize sled velocity in the shortest possible time. Fractions of a second can decide the outcome of a race, and off-ice tests designed to assess strength and speed are used to identify the athletes that will perform best. However, the actual contributions of the team members during the push start on ice have not been measured. The objective of the first project in this thesis was to better understand the push contributions of the four athletes in a 4-man team by analyzing the components of the push start. A 4-man bobsled was instrumented to record both sled velocity and 2D push forces as applied to the sled by the athletes during the push start. Push force was observed to decrease quickly once the sled picked up speed, and the execution of the loading was discovered to be a crucial component of the push start that can affect overall performance. In project 2, a prowler sled was instrumented to measure sled velocity and push force in an off-ice push force-velocity test to be used as a training and assessment tool in bobsleigh athletes. Greater force results in greater power output – if the force is applied the right way. In project 3 we studied force effectiveness in cycling, where only pedal force directed perpendicular to the crank is effective i.e., results in propulsion, while forces parallel to the crank have been considered wasted. In our study, we aimed to determine the impact of constrained pedal force direction on force output. Constraining static pedal force to be perpendicular to the crank only was counterproductive and resulted in significantly reduced force magnitude. In summary, this thesis work contributes to the applied study of power output in sports, with instrumented devices aiding the study of force and power output in athletes, novel data, and the proposal for a new training method
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