170 research outputs found
Exercise-Induced Hypoalgesia in people with chronic low back pain
Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is one of the most prevalent musculoskeletal disorders and a major contributor to disability worldwide. Exercise is recommended in guidelines as a cornerstone of the management of CLBP. One of the manifold benefits of exercise is its influence on endogenous pain modulation. An acute bout of exercise elicits a temporary decrease in pain sensitivity, described as exercise-induced hypoalgesia (EIH). This thesis explores EIH in people with CLBP via a systematic review and observational studies.
The systematic review included 17 studies in people with spinal pain. Of those, four studies considered people with CLBP revealing very low quality evidence with conflicting results. EIH was elicited following remote cycling tasks (two studies, fair risk of bias), but EIH was altered following local repetitive lifting tasks (two studies, good/fair risk of bias).
The observational studies investigated EIH following three different tasks in participants with and without CLBP and explored the stability of EIH results. Conflicting results from quantitative sensory testing were found for whether EIH is impaired in people with CLBP. EIH was only elicited in asymptomatic participants following a repeated lifting task, but both participants with and without CLBP showed EIH following a lumbar resistance and a brisk walking task. This thesis demonstrates the first evidence of stability of EIH over multiple sessions. However, the interpretation of the results can be challenging as stability was poor and changes in lumbar pressure pain thresholds also occurred after rest only.
These findings are important to inform future studies contributing to the elucidation of the complex phenomenon of EIH in people with/without CLBP, specifically as the stability is a prerequisite for future research
ATHENA Research Book, Volume 2
ATHENA European University is an association of nine higher education institutions with the mission of promoting excellence in research and innovation by enabling international cooperation. The acronym ATHENA stands for Association of Advanced Technologies in Higher Education. Partner institutions are from France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Portugal and Slovenia: University of Orléans, University of Siegen, Hellenic Mediterranean University, Niccolò Cusano University, Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Polytechnic Institute of Porto and University of Maribor. In 2022, two institutions joined the alliance: the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University from Poland and the University of Vigo from Spain. Also in 2022, an institution from Austria joined the alliance as an associate member: Carinthia University of Applied Sciences. This research book presents a selection of the research activities of ATHENA University's partners. It contains an overview of the research activities of individual members, a selection of the most important bibliographic works of members, peer-reviewed student theses, a descriptive list of ATHENA lectures and reports from individual working sections of the ATHENA project. The ATHENA Research Book provides a platform that encourages collaborative and interdisciplinary research projects by advanced and early career researchers
Wearable and BAN Sensors for Physical Rehabilitation and eHealth Architectures
The demographic shift of the population towards an increase in the number of elderly citizens, together with the sedentary lifestyle we are adopting, is reflected in the increasingly debilitated physical health of the population. The resulting physical impairments require rehabilitation therapies which may be assisted by the use of wearable sensors or body area network sensors (BANs). The use of novel technology for medical therapies can also contribute to reducing the costs in healthcare systems and decrease patient overflow in medical centers. Sensors are the primary enablers of any wearable medical device, with a central role in eHealth architectures. The accuracy of the acquired data depends on the sensors; hence, when considering wearable and BAN sensing integration, they must be proven to be accurate and reliable solutions. This book is a collection of works focusing on the current state-of-the-art of BANs and wearable sensing devices for physical rehabilitation of impaired or debilitated citizens. The manuscripts that compose this book report on the advances in the research related to different sensing technologies (optical or electronic) and body area network sensors (BANs), their design and implementation, advanced signal processing techniques, and the application of these technologies in areas such as physical rehabilitation, robotics, medical diagnostics, and therapy
ECOS 2012
The 8-volume set contains the Proceedings of the 25th ECOS 2012 International Conference, Perugia, Italy, June 26th to June 29th, 2012. ECOS is an acronym for Efficiency, Cost, Optimization and Simulation (of energy conversion systems and processes), summarizing the topics covered in ECOS: Thermodynamics, Heat and Mass Transfer, Exergy and Second Law Analysis, Process Integration and Heat Exchanger Networks, Fluid Dynamics and Power Plant Components, Fuel Cells, Simulation of Energy Conversion Systems, Renewable Energies, Thermo-Economic Analysis and Optimisation, Combustion, Chemical Reactors, Carbon Capture and Sequestration, Building/Urban/Complex Energy Systems, Water Desalination and Use of Water Resources, Energy Systems- Environmental and Sustainability Issues, System Operation/ Control/Diagnosis and Prognosis, Industrial Ecology
Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Kinanthropology
Proceedings of the 12th Conference of Sport and Quality of Life 2019 gatheres submissions of participants of the conference. Every submission is the result of positive evaluation by reviewers from the corresponding field. Conference is divided into sections – Analysis of human movement; Sport training, nutrition and regeneration; Sport and social sciences; Active ageing and sarcopenia; Strength and conditioning training; section for PhD students
Fall prevention strategy for an active orthotic system
Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Engenharia Biomédica (especialização em Eletrónica Médica)Todos os anos, são reportadas cerca de 684,000 quedas fatais e 37.3 milhões de quedas não
fatais que requerem atenção médica, afetando principalmente a população idosa. Assim, é necessário
identificar eficientemente indivíduos com alto risco de queda, a partir da população alvo idosa, e prepará los para superar perturbações da marcha inesperadas. Uma estratégia de prevenção de queda capaz de
eficientemente e atempadamente detetar e contrariar os eventos de perdas de equilíbrio (PDE) mais
frequentes pode reduzir o risco de queda. Como slips foram identificados como a causa mais prevalente
de quedas, estes eventos devem ser abordados como foco principal da estratégia. No entanto, há falta
de estratégias de prevenção de quedas por slip.
Esta dissertação tem como objetivo o design de uma estratégia de prevenção de quedas de slips
baseada na conceção das etapas de atuação e deteção. A estratégia de atuação foi delineada com base
na resposta biomecânica humana a slips, onde o joelho da perna perturbada (leading) apresenta um
papel proeminente para contrariar LOBs induzidas por slips. Quando uma slip é detetada, a estratégia
destaca uma ortótese de joelho que providencia um torque assisstivo para prevenir a queda. A estratégia
de deteção considerou as propriedades atrativas dos controladores Central Pattern Generator (CPG) para
prever parâmetros da marcha. Algoritmos baseados em threshold monitorizam o erro de previsão do
CPG, que aumenta após uma perturbação inesperada na marcha, para a deteção de slips. O ângulo do
joelho e a velocidade angular da canela foram selecionados como os parâmetros de monitorização da
marcha. Um protocolo experimental concebido para provocar perturbações de slip a sujeitos humanos
permitiu a recolha de dados destas variáveis para posteriormente validar o algoritmo de deteção de
perturbações.
Algoritmos CPG foram capazes de produzir aproximações aceitáveis dos sinais de marcha em
estado estacionário do ângulo do joelho e da velocidade angular da canela com sucesso. Além disso, o
algoritmo de threshold adaptativo detetou LOBs induzidas por slips eficientemente. A melhor performance
global foi obtida usando este algoritmo para monitorizar o ângulo do joelho, que detetou quase 80%
(78.261%) do total de perturbações com um tempo médio de deteção (TMD) de 250 ms. Além disso,
uma média de 0.652 falsas perturbações foram detetadas por cada perturbação corretamente
identificada. Estes resultados sugerem uma performance aceitável de deteção de perturbações do
algoritmo, de acordo com os requisitos especificados para a deteção.Every year, an estimated 684,000 fatal falls and 37.3 million non-fatal falls requiring medical
attention are reported, mostly affecting the older population. Thus, it is necessary to effectively screen
high fall risk individuals from targeted elderly populations and prepare them to successfully overcome
unexpected gait perturbations. A fall prevention strategy capable of effectively and timely detect and
counteract the most frequent loss of balance (LOB) events may reduce the fall risk. Since slips were
identified as the main contributors to falls, these events should be addressed as a main focus of the
strategy. Nonetheless, there is a lack of slip-induced fall prevention strategies.
This dissertation aims the design of a slip-related fall prevention strategy based on the conception
of an actuation and a detection stage. The actuation strategy was delineated based on the human
biomechanical reactions to slips, where the perturbed (leading) leg’s knee joint presents a prominent role
to counteract slip-induced LOBs. Thereby, upon the detection of a slip, this strategy highlighted a knee
orthotic device that provides an assistive torque to prevent the falls. The detection strategy considered
the attractive properties of biological-inspired Central Pattern Generator (CPG) controllers to predict gait
parameters. Threshold-based algorithms monitored the CPG’s prediction error produced, which increases
upon an unexpected gait perturbation, to perform slip detection. The knee angle and shank angular
velocity were selected as the monitoring gait parameters. An experimental protocol designed to provoke
slip perturbations to human subjects allowed to collect data from these variables to further validate the
perturbation detection algorithm.
CPG algorithms were able to successfully produce acceptable estimations of the knee angle and
shank angular velocity signals during steady-state walking. Furthermore, an adaptive threshold algorithm
effectively detected slip-induced LOBs. The best overall performance was obtained using this algorithm
to monitor the knee angle from the perturbed leg, which detected almost 80% (78.261%) of the total
perturbations with a mean detection time (MDT) of 250 ms. In addition, a mean of 0.652 false
perturbations were detected for each correct perturbation identified. These results suggest an acceptable
perturbation detection performance of the algorithm implemented in light of the detection requirements
specified
New Trends in Neuromechanics and Motor Rehabilitation
Neuromechanics has been used to identify optimal rehabilitation protocols that successfully improve motor deficits in various populations, such as elderly people and individuals with neurological diseases (e.g., stroke, Parkinson’s disease, and essential tremor). By investigating structural and functional changes in the central and peripheral nervous systems based on neuromechanical theories and findings, we can expand our knowledge regarding underlying neurophysiological mechanisms and specific motor impairment patterns before and after therapies to further develop new training programs (e.g., non-invasive brain stimulation). Thus, the aim of this Special Issue is to present the main contributions of researchers and rehabilitation specialists in biomechanics, motor control, neurophysiology, neuroscience, and rehabilitation science. The current collection provides new neuromechanical approaches addressing theoretical, methodological, and practical topics for facilitating motor recovery progress
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