THE INFLUENCE OF PROLONGED RUNNING AND FOOTWEAR ON LOWER EXTREMITY JOINT STIFFNESS

The purpose of this study was to compare leg, knee and ankle stiffness over the course of a prolonged treadmill run (PTR) in neutral and stability footwear. Fourteen male habitual, rearfoot runners completed two biomechanical testing sessions where they ran for 21 minutes at their preferred running speed in a neutral shoe, then changed either into the same neutral shoe or a stability shoe and ran a further 21 minutes on a force instrumented treadmill. No differences were observed in leg stiffness (p \u3e 0.05). Knee stiffness increased during the first 21 minutes (p = 0.003), while ankle stiffness reduced at minute 21 (p = 0.004) and minute 44 (p = 0.006). No differences were observed between footwear conditions (p \u3e 0.05). These results suggest that over the course of a PTR, shock attenuation strategies change, and this change may be detrimental to the knee joint

Orthography in the correspondence of Lady Katherine Paston, 1603-1627

The following thesis examines the spelling practices of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries through the correspondence of one woman, Lady Katherine Paston (1578-1629). The increased availability of printed texts in the sixteenth century saw the spread of standardised spellings where previous generations had relied on idiosyncratic pronunciation-based spelling systems, and the collection of letters written by and received by Lady Katherine Paston offers an excellent opportunity to compare the spelling practices in private correspondence in the early seventeenth century and the extent to which personal orthographic systems remained in use alongside standardised forms. British Library Additional Manuscript 27447 contains the correspondence of the Paston family, including 48 letters in Lady Paston’s own hand and a further 37 letters addressed to her. The letters received by Lady Paston are predominantly the work of male correspondents, many of whom would have received a high level of education and this allows a comparison between the spelling practices of male and female correspondents and the influence of education and the move towards a more standardised spelling system. In addition to the comparison of male and female spelling habits, the inclusion of letters by Lady Paston’s son and younger sister raise interesting questions about education and the possible influence of the personal spelling habits of others. While no letters between Lady Paston and her elder sister, Lady Abigail Mundeford, have been preserved, the surviving letters by Lady Mundeford have also been examined to offer a comparison of the orthographies of three sisters, and the extent to which they differ from one another. I began by transcribing all of the letters in the collection (even though an edition of the Correspondence of Lady Katherine Paston was produced in 1941), and those by Lady Mundeford, before applying a questionnaire of frequently occurring words to each letter to produce an inventory of spellings for each individual. These questionnaires were used to produce tables of spellings in order to compare the spelling practices of the correspondents as well as highlight patterns and developments within the spelling habits of an individual. By conducting a detailed analysis of the spellings employed by Lady Paston and her correspondents it has been possible provide an insight into the range of spellings available, the frequency with which forms were used and, in some cases, the gradual adoption of one form over another and ultimately to reconstruct the personal orthography of Lady Katherine Paston based upon her surviving letters. The reconstruction of Lady Paston’s personal orthography in Chapter Four is based on the structure of modern spelling habits and the way in which Lady Paston’s spelling system fits within a modern spelling structure. By comparing the letters of Lady Paston and those of her sisters it revealed that each woman had their own distinctive spelling system despite the initial appearances that the spelling habits of the women were more erratic and idiosyncratic than the male correspondents. The spellings employed by the male correspondents show an awareness of the standardised forms, though these were used alongside non-standardised forms and some of the non-standardised spellings were gradually replaced by the standardised form. The examination of the spelling habits of Lady Paston and her male and female correspondents showed that the individuals represented in this collection were clearly aware of the standardised spellings which were becoming more common in the early seventeenth century, with some writers adopting standardised forms over a number of years and some of the male writers displayed an almost completely modern spelling system, however, many of the correspondents continue to use non-standardised forms within their own personal spelling systems

Spelling, punctuation and material culture in the later Paston letters

This thesis examines the spelling practices and letter-writing conventions to be found in the letters and papers of the Paston family and their circle during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Hitherto, most scholarly attention has been on the fifteenth-century material found in Paston archives, with comparatively little research undertaken on the extensive later materials. This thesis is intended as a partial attempt to address this lacuna, drawing on new approaches to the study of early modern English letters. It draws upon a new comprehensive diplomatic transcription of the materials, consisting of approximately 500 documents containing 200,000 words. Building on an earlier pilot study (Weir 2009), the thesis falls into three main chapters, each addressing the collection from a distinct perspective, framed by a contextualising introduction (chapter 1) and a conclusion summarising the findings of the thesis and offering suggestions for future work (chapter 5). Chapter 2 begins with a key question: (1) How did letter-writing conventions of address and subscription alter and develop - if at all - through the Early Modern period, and are these changes reflected in the Paston family correspondence? The thesis demonstrates how the letters preserved in London, British Library, Additional MSS 27447, 27448 and 36988 displayed adherence to formulaic usages, even though, across the 150 years of their construction, there is a notable shift towards shorter constructions. Further research questions linked to these issues involved in address and subscription engage with the material culture of the correspondence: (2) What materials are used for the letters in question? (3) How do writers relate text to space? (4) How were the letters delivered to their recipients, and how and for what reasons were they preserved? Across the collection of letters, there was a clear development in the material culture of letter-writing, most notably through the development of the postal networks in the period, even though letter-writing tools remained relatively unchanged for centuries. Chapter 3 examines spelling practices in the letters. It addresses the following research questions: (1) How standardised were the Paston letters? (2) To what extent do spelling practices differ between male and female letter- writers? (3) Where such practices vary within an individual’s lifetime is it possible to identify the social factors which contributed to that change? (4) To what extent – and if so why -- do these habits vary between generations of the same family? In order to answer these questions, the spelling habits of Robert Paston and his family were examined, along with a number of letters by identifiable female letter-writers. The thesis demonstrates that the letters in the collection displayed a move towards more standardised spellings, but that the use of personal spelling systems and non-standard variants was still very much in evidence. Chapter 4 focuses on further pragmatic features characteristic of Early Modern English correspondence, with a special focus on the function of punctuation. Research questions addressed include: (1) If punctuation is used at all, in what context is it deployed? (2) How – if at all -- does the use of punctuation vary between male and female correspondents? In addition, this chapter will look at communicative acts within the letters including politeness, terms of address, and the use of formulaic constructions, leading to a further question: (3) To what extent do more general pragmatic features vary across the generations and genders of letter-writers? The thesis finds that punctuation practices of female writers vary considerably, even within the output of single individuals, but also that such variation and unconventional usage was not restricted to them. However, during the period covered by the archive there is a clear progression from the use of virgules and limited punctuation through to the deployment of punctuation broadly recognisable to present-day readers

ISBS 2018 AUCKLAND CONFERENCE STUDENT MENTOR BREAKFAST PROGRAMME

Thank you to the 46 mentors for generously agreeing to be part of the student mentor programme. There are 46 mentors matched with 46 mentees (92 total). The ISBS Student Mentor Program will take place during a breakfast session so that mentors and mentees can meet and talk over breakfast in an informal atmosphere. Students are asked to prepare for the mentor programme by considering which research topics and questions that they would like to discuss with their mentor. Students are advised to prepare a summary of their research so that they can provide the mentor with an overview at the first meeting. Student mentees that are presenting at the conference are sending their abstracts to the mentors. There is an optional additional session: Friday 14th 16:30 – 18:00. There is no room associated with this session as it is there to provide a possible time when you might wish to catch up towards the end of the conference. Mentors that are involved in the post-conference board meeting will not be available at this time. Please arrange between yourselves during the mentor breakfast whether you would like to meet during this time on the Friday or if you would like to meet at another time during the week

A paradigm shift is necessary to relate running injury risk and footwear design – comment on Nigg et al.

In this commentary, we respond to suggestions that new paradigms are needed to relate running-related injury risk and footwear design. We concur with the authors of this paper that the previous paradigms on which footwear were designed are faulty. We also concur with the authors that new paradigms are indeed needed and that research must take into consideration more epidemiological studies and more prospective biomechanical studies. The authors suggest new paradigms including muscle tuning, the preferred movement path and functional groups. However, we do raise questions about each of these suggestions regarding how these paradigms can be developed in future research designs

PRESCRIBING JOINT CO-ORDINATES DURING MODEL PREPARATION IN OPENSIM IMPROVES THE ACCURACY OF LOWER LIMB KINEMATICS

The lower limb sidestepping kinematics of 20 elite female athletes were calculated using: 1) an established direct kinematic (DK) model (criterion) and, 2) two inverse kinematic (IK) models; one with and one without participant-specific joint co-ordinates prescribed during model preparation. The aim of this research was to determine whether prescribing joint co-ordinates influences the accuracy of IK derived sidestepping kinematics. Time-varying analysis (1D SPM) of IK derived hip, knee and ankle joint kinematics showed model’s prepared with participant-specific joint co-ordinates more closely matched that of the criterion measure. Prescribing participant-specific joint coordinates during model preparation improves the accuracy of IK derived sidestepping kinematics in OpenSim

THE INFLUENCE OF PATELLOFEMORAL PAIN ON COORDINATION VARIABILITY OVER A PROLONGED TREADMILL RUN

The purpose of this study was to understand the influence of patellofemoral pain on lower extremity segment coordination variability throughout a 21-minute treadmill run. Couplings between the pelvis, thigh, and shank were compared at the beginning and end of the run between healthy and injured runners. Average coordination variability in weight acceptance and mid-stance was increased in healthy runners over the course of the run and decreased in those experiencing pain. These results support the hypothesis that injured runners experiencing pain may not be as flexible to internal and external perturbations compared to their healthy counterparts. Thus, in the presence of pain, these runners may place greater stress on specific lower extremity tissues leading to greater risk for injury at these sites

LOWER EXTREMITY COORDINATION VARIABILITY DURING ANTICIPATED AND UNANTICIPATED SIDESTEPPING: IMPLICATIONS FOR ACL INJURY PREVENTION

Non-contact anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries commonly occur during sidestepping, particularly under time constraints. This study investigated the differences in lower limb coordination variability (CV) of five male team sport athletes during anticipated and unanticipated sidestepping. Intra-limb couplings associated with ACL injury mechanisms were investigated. Athletes demonstrated 21% greater thigh rot/leg rot CV; 31% greater thigh abd-add/leg abd-add CV; 22% greater knee flex-ext/hip rot CV and 14% greater hip rot/knee abd-add CV during unanticipated sidestepping. These results suggest that CV increases as a function of task complexity. Consequently, injury prevention programs must incorporate perceptual components in order to optimise planning time and coordinate appropriate postural adjustments to counter external loads

MUSCLE ACTIVATION STRATEGIES DURING AN UNANTICIPATED STOPPING TASK

The purpose of this study was to determine how time constraints during stopping in sports affect lower limb muscle activation strategies in both the termination and stability steps. Rapid deceleration is common in both recreational and professional sport and has previously been associated with lower limb injury. To investigate control differences between anticipated and unanticipated stopping, total muscle activation and directed cocontraction ratios were used to analyse lower limb muscle activation. Increased plantar flexor and knee flexor activity was found during the pre-contact and weight acceptance phases of unanticipated stopping compared with anticipated stopping. These results support the hypothesis that lower limb muscle activity is altered when the task is unanticipated, which may place athletes at higher risk of lower limb injury in sport