Tyrimo objektas: šiaurietiškojo ėjimo poveikis vyresnio amžiaus žmonių fiziniam pajėgumui ir gyvenimo kokybei. Tyrimo problema. Fizinis aktyvumas turi užimti svarbią vietą kiekvieno žmogaus gyvenime. Tai tokia veikla, kuria reikia užsiimti nuolat, be didesnių pertraukų, kitaip nepajusime tikrosios fizinio aktyvumo naudos sveikatai ir gyvenimo kokybei. Reguliarus fizinis aktyvumas dažnai siejamas su gera nuotaika, mažėjančiu stresu ir didėjančiu fiziniu pajėgumu (Rejeski & Mihalko, 2001). Šiaurietiškasis ėjimas – tai vis populiarėjanti fizinio aktyvumo forma tinkanti, bet kokio amžiaus ar sveikatos būklės žmonėms, tiesa dažniau mėgstama senjorų, dėl nedidelio intensyvumo, mažos traumatizmo rizikos, mažų finansinių išlaidų, taip pat tai puiki galimybė būti socialiai aktyviems (INWA). Tyrimai įrodo, jog šiaurietiškasis ėjimas stiprina širdies ir kraujagyslių, kvėpavimo, bei imuninę sistemas, taip pat padeda išvengti lėtinių susirgimų rizikos (Porcari et al., 1997; Church et al., 2002; Breyer et al., 2010). Pasak Tarptautinės Šiaurietiškojo Ėjimo sasociacijos, šiaurietiškojo ėjimo, kaip gana naujos fizinio aktyvumo formos siekiai yra sveikatos palaikymas, sveikatos resursų stiprinimas, prevencija siekiant išvengti ligų ar traumų, bei reabilitacija susigražinant sveikatą. Labai mažas vyresnio amžiaus žmonių fizinis aktyvumas Lietuvoje jau niekam nekelia nuostabos, galbūt jiems tereikia pasiūlyti tinkamą fizinio aktyvumo formą. Užsienio autoriai (Larkin et al., 1992; Rodgers et... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The object of the study is the influence of Nordic walking on the physical capability and quality of life of elderly people. The relevance of the study: Each person should regard physical activity as one of the top priorities in life. People should engage in physical activity constantly without any longer intervals if they want to experience its true benefits for health and quality of life. Regular engagement in physical activity is often related to good mood, decreasing stress levels and increasing physical capabilities (Rejeski & Mihalko, 2001). Nordic walking is a form of physical activity which is rapidly gaining its popularity and is suitable for people of various ages and health conditions. It is noticeably favored by the elderly due to its light intensity, low risk of injuries, insignificant financial resources involved, and perfect opportunity to be socially active (INWA). The researches carried out on the subject suggest that Nordic walking strengthens the circulatory, respiratory and immune systems, and lowers the risk of contracting chronic diseases (Porcari et al., 1997; Church et al., 2002; Breyer et al., 2010). According to the International Nordic Walking Association (INWA) the goals of Nordic walking as a new form of physical activity are to maintain one’s health, strengthen the resources for health, prevent diseases and injuries, and provide health recovery activities. Nobody is surprised at the currently existing low physical activity of the elderly... [to full text]

Darbe atlikta teorinė šiaurietiško ėjimo kaip fizinio aktyvumo skatinimo forma analizė. Tyrimo tikslas – įvertinti šiaurietišką ėjimą kaip fizinio aktyvumo plėtojimo galimybę Lietuvoje. Siekiant tikslo, buvo keliami uždaviniai: 1. Išanalizuoti literatūrą šiaurietiško ėjimo tema. 2. Atlikti šiaurietišką ėjimą praktikuojančių asmenų anketinę apklausą. 3. Įvertinti šiaurietišką ėjimą kaip priemonę fizinio aktyvumo skatinimui 4. Išanalizuoti tyrimo rezultatus ir pateikti išvadas. Tyrimo metodai: Teoriniai: mokslinės, dalykinės, metodinės literatūros analizė; Empiriniai: anketinė apklausa, apklausa interviu metodu; Statistiniai: duomenys apdoroti ir diagramos sudarytos naudojantis Microsoft Excel programa. Tyrimas vyko 2010-12 iki 2011-02. Tyrime iš viso dalyvavo 62 Šiauliuose, Kaune, Vilniuje, Klaipėdoje, Telšiuose, Joniškyje, Lazdijuose, Vilkaviškyje gyvenantys asmenys, praktikuojantys šiaurietišką ėjimą. Tyrime dalyvavo 11 šiaurietiško ėjimo instruktorių ir 3 šiurietiško ėjimo organizacijų vadovai. Tikėtina, kad veiksmingai organizuojant šiaurietiško ėjimo veiklą, užtikrinama įvairaus amžiaus, lyties ir fizinio pajėgumo asmenų fizinio aktyvumo galimybė. Atlikus tyrimą konstatuota, kad šiaurietiško ėjimo organizacijų veiklos specifiką galima apibūdinti kaip visuomeninės organizacijos, savanoriškais pagrindais plėtojančias sveikatą stiprinančią fizinio aktyvumo formą. Savo veiklos pagalba jie siekia visuomeninės gerovės stiprinant žmonių sveikatą, propaguojant sveiką... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The theoretical work of Nordic Walking as a form of physical activity analysis. The aim of the research - to assess Nordic Walking as possibility to develop physical activity in Lithuania. In order to achieve the aim, the following objectives have been set: 1. To analyze the literature on Nordic Walking theme. 2. Carry out survey on those who practice Nordic Walking. 3. Evaluate Nordic Walking as a means of promoting physical activity. 4. To analyze the results and present conclusions. The research methods: Theory: analysis of the scientific, professional, methodical literature; Empirical: a questionnaire survey, interview survey method; Statistics: data processing and chart created using Microsoft Excel. The experimental activities were carried out during the period from 2010-12 to 2011-02. The study included a total of 62 in Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda, Šiauliai, Joniškis, Telšiai, Lazdijai, Vilkaviškis living people, practicing Nordic Walking. The study involved 11 instructors of Nordic Walking and three chiefs of Nordic Walking organization. It is likely that the effective organization of Nordic Walking activities is ensuring people of all ages, gender and physical ability to promote opportunity of physical activity. After accomplishing the investigation specific of Nordic Walking organizations can be characterized as civil society organizations, on a voluntary basis promoting a form of physical activity which improves health. By their working they are reaching public... [to full text]

Sportiniai rezultatai priklauso nuo sportinio rengimo planavimo, modeliavimo, metodikos efektyvumo, to vyksmo eigos, kontrolės ir koregavimo pagal iš anksto nustatytus efektyvumo kriterijus. Sportiniame ėjime vienintelis sėkmę varžybose lemiantis veiksnys yra greitis, nors jį riboja dvi unikalios sportinio ėjimo technikai taikomos taisyklės. Greitį lemia eisenos arba žingsnio ilgis ir dažnis. Žingsnio ilgis dažniausiai laikomas svarbesniu veiksniu (Hoga et al., 2003), o jį lemia įvairūs faktoriai, įskaitant kojos ilgį ir dubens lanko judėjimo diapazoną. Žingsnio dažnumą apibrėžia laikas, per kurį užbaigiamas vienas sėkmingas žingsnis, ir kuo trumpesnė žingsnio trukmė, tuo didesnis ėjimo greitis (Cairns et al., 1986). Tikslas – nustatyti skirtingo amžiaus sportinio ėjimo atstovų sportinio rengimo ir varžybinės veiklos ypatumus. Uždaviniai: 1. Nustatyti varžybinio rezultato, treniruočių apimties ir intensyvumo kaitą skirtingo amžiaus sportinio ėjimo atstovių daugiamečio rengimo metu; 2. Palyginti skirtingo amžiaus (jaunučių, jaunimo ir suaugusiųjų) sportinio ėjimo atstovių treniruočių apimties ir intensyvumo kaitą daugiamečio rengimo metu. 3. Nustatyti ir palyginti skirtingo amžiaus sportinio ėjimo atstovų kinematinių charakteristikų kaitą varžybų metu. Tyrimo metodai: 1. Literatūros šaltinių analizė; 2. Skirtingo amžiaus grupių sportininkių rezultatų analizė; 3. Metinio treniruočių planų analizė; 4. Varžybinio rezultato nustatymas; 5. Filmavimas Tiriamieji. Pirmojo tyrimo... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The sports results depend on the planning of sports event, its modeling, the efficiency of methods, the course of the event, control and corrections made according to the previously determined efficiency criteria. The only factor influencing success in competitions of race walking is speed, although it is restricted by two unique rules applied in race walking techniques. The speed is governed by the length and frequency of stride or step. The step length is most often considered to be the more significant one (Hoga et al., 2003) and it is affected by various factors, including leg length and the range of movement of the pelvic girdle. The step frequency is defined by time needed to finish one successful step. The shorter the step duration, the higher walking speed (Cairns et al., 1986). The goal of the study is to determine the peculiarities of competition performance and sports training of race walking athletes of different ages. The following objectives were formulated in order to achieve the set goal: 1. Determine the change of the competition results, training scope and intensity during the long-term training of race walking athletes of different ages; 2. Compare the change in training scope and intensity during the long-term training of race walking athletes of different ages (cadets, junior and adults). 3. Determine and compare the change in kinematic characteristics of race walking athletes of different ages during the competition. The following research methods were... [to full text]

In spite of increasing interests in the relationship between neighborhood environments and children's walking-to-school behaviors, few studies have examined the dynamic nature of school-community relationships from physical and social perspectives. Questions such as how centrally the school is located within the larger community, and how connected or accessible the school is to the surrounding communities, will have significant implications for children?s walking to school and physical activity behaviors and also for the community's social capital. The primary aims of this study are: (a) to assess the association between school-community relations and social capital among parents of school children; (b) to assess the relationship between school-community relations and walking-to-school behaviors among school children; and (c) to examine the mediating effects of social capital on the relationship of (b). This cross-sectional study focuses on children and parents from 19 elementary schools in the Austin Independent School District (AISD) in Austin, Texas, utilizing the parental Safe Routes to School (SRTS) survey and conducting a follow-up Parental Social Capital survey to gather additional in-depth data on social capital. Also objective measurements are performed to assess school-community relations and physical environments using the spatial centrality index and Geographical Information System (GIS) network analysis at/around schools and surrounding communities. Data analyses are conducted based at the school/community-level and the individual-level (large full data and small sub-group data) separately by using ANOVAs, bivariate statistical analysis and multivariate statistical models. Overall findings of this study show that: (a) neighborhood schools have more students walking to school and a higher centrality of the school than non-neighborhood schools; (b) differences in social capital between neighborhood schools and non-neighborhood schools are not significant or are only marginally significantly; (c) two social capital variables, "volunteerism" and "social cohesion" are correlated with children's walking-to-school behaviors but no significant mediating effect is found for social capital in the association between school-community relations and children's walking-to-school behaviors; and (d) "volunteerism" is shown to be positively correlated with "perceived centrality" but negatively associated with all objective centrality measures. The other social capital variable of "social cohesion" has a positive correlation with one of the objective centrality measures, "closeness centrality." Findings of this study may contribute to research exploring the dynamics of school-community relations with socio-spatial perspectives, and also bring attention to the policy makers for school siting in the large community context and evidence-based knowledge promoting healthy community design.

With increased military personal protection equipment, body armor, comes the addition of carried load. Such person protection in recent history has been instrumental in combating the imminent threats (e.g., improvised explosive devices) of hostile environments, preventing otherwise lethal injuries. However, body armor has been suggested to degrade warfighters’ performance and compound the risk of musculoskeletal injuries. Both performance and risk of injury are intensely related to joint biomechanics. Therefore the objective of this project was set to determine the immediate and prolonged effects of wearing body armor on biomechanics of the lower back and knee. A randomized cross-over study design, wherein 12 sex-balanced, physically fit, young participants completed a series of tests before and after 45 min of treadmill walking with and without body armor. Tests included two simple tests (i.e., toe-touch and two-legged squat), two military inspired tests (i.e., box drop and prone to standing) and four knee torque tests (i.e., maximum isometric contraction of knee flexors and extensors, and concentric and eccentric isokinetic contraction of knee flexors and extensors. During these tests, kinematic, kinetic and torque measurements were used to investigate the immediate and prolonged effects of exposure to body armor on several measures of knee and lower back mechanics related to performance and risk of injuries. For the simple tests, the immediate effects of body armor were an increase of > 40 ms (p ≤ 0.02) in flexion duration of the dominant joint and an ~1 s (p ≤ 0.02) increase in overall test duration as well as an ~18% (p = 0.03) increase in the lumbopelvic rhythm ratio near mid-range trunk flexion. For the military inspired tests, the immediate effects of body armor were an increase of ≥ 0.02 s (p ≤ 0.001) in temporal test durations and an increase of ~158 N (p = 0.01) box drop peak ground reaction force. Finally during the dynamometer testing, the BA condition was found to cause a greater reduction, ~10 N•m, in the maximum isometric strength of knee flexors (p = 0.04) and an increase (p ≤ 0.03) of strength ratios compared to the no armor condition.

Human locomotion is phenomenon that is extraordinarily complex. It is evident that a complete description of locomotion involves consideration of kinematics, kinetics, and muscle activity of the extremities in all of their various movements. Race walking (RW) is a form of upright locomotion that differs from normal walking and running by its form dictated by the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF). Despite the similarities to both normal walking (NW) and running (RU), RW has not been the subject of equally intensive investigations. This study explores the comprehensive biomechanics of race walking and how it compares to NW and RU. A quantitative approach was used to evaluate kinematic, kinetic and muscle activity variables between race walking and both normal walking and running. A cross-sectional, laboratory design was used on 15 recreationally competitive race walkers to evaluate these variables. Based on the results of this study, RW is an intermediate gait between NW and RU that has characteristics of both gaits, but is still a unique gait in itself. While there are differences between RW and both RU and NW, some of the expected differences between RW and the two gaits did not occur. Significantly greater frontal plane pelvis-trunk joint range of motion and sagittal plane peak hip flexor and extensor moments, hip joint range of motion and rectus femoris muscle activity contribute to the significant differences in both RW and NW, and RW and RU. Significant differences between RW and RU showed that RU requires more contribution from the trunk, pelvis and lower extremities kinematically and kinetically, as well as increased muscle activation, to execute the motion than RW. Conversely, RW requires more contribution from these variables than NW does, but in not as great a capacity as RU compared to RW. In spite of these findings, there were some variables that had no significant differences between RW and RU. This suggests that injuries during RW are similar to those during RU, but may not occur as frequently.

No description available.

In order to attract pedestrians to travel with public transport instead of private cars, the layout of interchange stations is important and should be designed in an effective way. Microscopic simulation of pedestrians can be used to evaluate different layout scenarios or a future increase in flow. The simulation software Viswalk was investigated, where the movements of pedestrians are based on a social force model,. The purpose of this thesis was to investigate simulated walking speeds for different flow levels and to investigate the effects of dividing pedestrians into types with different desired speeds. The aim was to find a desired speed distribution that can be used for different flow levels. Field studies have been performed to collect pedestrian traffic data with a video camera at Stockholm Central Station. Two disjoint flow levels were identified and used to investigate if the same desired speed distribution could be used for different flow levels. The average observed walking speed was 1.33 metres per second at the low flow level and 1.25 metres per second at the high flow level. The error was 4.5 percent between the average observed walking speed and the average simulated walking speed when the optimal desired speed distribution at the low flow level was used at the high flow level. Effects of using different desired speed distributions for different pedestrian types have also been investigated. The error between the average of the observed and the simulated walking speeds varies between 2.3 and 4.1 percent when dividing pedestrians into different types when the optimal desired speed distributions at the low flow level are used at the high flow level. A sensitivity analysis of some parameters of the social force model in Viswalk has also been performed. Several adjustments of the parameters show that some parameters had great impact of the simulated walking speeds. The final conclusion is that the parameter configuration and how the pedestrians are divided into different types affect the average simulated walking speed.

The purpose of this study was to determine how walking with T-Poles, training using T-Poles and increased walking speed would change GRF measures in elderly subjects. The magnitudes of peak force, average force, and impulse force variables decreased as a result of the T-Pole use. Time during support phase increased when using T-Poles. The magnitudes of peak force, average force, and impulse force, and time variables decreased with extended training using T-Poles. However, loading rate increased with training and practice. FZ3, AZP, and AZ showed interactions between T-Pole use and training and TP showed an interaction between T-Pole use and walking speed. The results of this investigation suggest that using T-Poles generally reduces foot-ground force interaction during walking. It is a tendency that the foot-ground interactions during walking with TPoles decreased more with the longer period of T-Pole use and significant interactions between T-Pole use and training were observed in AZ3, AZP, and AZ. The reductions of foot-ground interaction induced by the T-Pole and practice time using T-Poles were present regardless of increased walking speed. / School of Physical Education

Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is a common manifestation of stenoses and occlusions of the arteries of the lower extremities. Clinically, PAD is an important effect on functional ability, and quality of life because symptomatic patients are typically able to walk less than one to three blocks before rest is required.The double product break point (DPBP), also defined as the oxygen consumption at which the first portion of nonlinear increase in rate pressure product (systolic blood pressure X heart rate) begins has been identified to determine the anaerobic threshold during exercise test. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the DPBP could be detected in patients with PAD during a symptom-limited GXT on the motor-driven treadmill. Six male subjects (68.2 ± 6.5 yrs) with history of diagnosis of PAD participated in this study. Double product (DP) was assessed every 15 seconds during the test via the Kyokko Bussan CM-4001 automated blood pressure unit. The DPBP and VT were determined visually by three blinded observers. The mean values of Peak V02 and maximal heart rate were 19.4 ± 5.8 (ml/kg/min) and 130 ± 13 (bpm), respectively. In 4 of the six exercise tests in the present study, the DPBP and the VT were determined. The mean V02 at the DPBP and the VT were 15.7 ± 2.6 ml/kg/min and 14.2 ± 0.6 ml/kg/min, corresponding to 73 ± 7.2 and 74.5 ± 5.4 % respectively. In 3 of the six exercise tests both of the DPBP and VT were determined. The Mean V02 at the DPBP and VT were 14.6 ± 1.8 and 14.3 ± 0.7, respectively. The difference of the mean VO2 at the VT and DPBP was -.0.33 ml/kg/min.In conclusion, the results of the present study suggest that the DPBP can be identified and used as a useful marker to determine the functional performance in PAD patients. Walking time or distance measurement depends on the patient's perception of the pain. Thus, this study provides an objective way to appraise the functional performance and therapeutic results obtained from the exercise training in PAD patients, and provides a reference for exercise prescription for this population. / School of Physical Education