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Musculoskeletal disorders are common among musicians at all levels of performance. Since music teachers train our future musicians it is important to understand their work environment. By creating good examples of a healthy work environment, they can teach their students how to stay healthy and to prevent pain. The aim of this thesis was to study the work environment of music teachers at municipal music schools, with regard to physical and psychosocial factors and musculoskeletal disorders with the focus on neck and shoulder disorders. An additional aim was to investigate the variability of the playing technique in string players and to investigate if they could play with greater variation in the trapezius muscle activity pattern after a training intervention program. In a cross-sectional study at 23 municipal music schools, 171 out of the 208 (82%) music teachers reported that they had experienced work related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) during the previous year. Women reported significantly more symptoms in the neck, the shoulders and the upper back compared to men. Both physical and psychosocial work factors were associated with neck and shoulder disorders. For women “high mental work demands” and “teaching at many schools” could be seen as risk factors and for men “lifting”, “playing the guitar” and “low social support at work” were risk factors. The occurrence of WMSDs was also investigated, over an eight-year period, in music teachers at one music school. The result showed that neck, shoulder and lower back disorders were common and tended to be of long duration and to increase over the years. In an interview study, nine music teachers focused on what they perceived to be important for their health and well-being. Replenishing and using up energy was found to be the core category. Creativity in the music and working with other musicians were perceived as sources of energy, while the goals of the organisation were experienced as stressful and used up energy. Whether the work was regarded as pedagogical or musical could affect the perception of health and the strategies for dealing with the strains of work. In two studies using electromyography, the variation in the trapezius muscle activity pattern in string musicians was investigated. The results suggested that each musician could repeat their muscular activity pattern in a similar way between two playing sessions. No difference was found in the trapezius muscle activity between five violinists who trained basic Body Awareness Therapy (BAT), a technique having its roots in Tai Chi Chuan tradition, compared to a reference group of nine violinists who did not take part in any training. However, the training group perceived positive changes in breathing, muscular tension, postural control and concentration during practice sessions. Neck and shoulder disorders were associated with physical and psychosocial factors at work. A process of replenishing and using up energy was important for music teachers’ health. The playing technique in string musicians seemed to be repeatable but difficult to affect over a short-term period. For future musicians it is crucial to learn good working technique at an early age. In the learning process the music teacher is a vital role model. / <p>Diss. (sammanfattning) Umeå : Univ., 2003, Härtill 5 uppsatser</p> / digitalisering@umu

The main aim of my diploma thesis is to examine the issue of obesity and overweight in adolescents from a medical, psychological and social point of view with emphasis on the developmental perspective, not only through knowledge from literature, but also through the results of current research. In the theoretical part, the project focuses on the specifics of overweight and obesity in adolescents with an emphasis on the impact on quality of life and the relationship to their own body in this particular age group. There is also a big attention paid to psychological aspects of eating behavior in the family, lifestyle in the family and current development trends in the field of body image. In addition, differences between adolescent girls and boys are also being monitored. They are monitored by two ways and those are how they are spending their free time and how they approach to a healthy lifestyle. In addition, the work examines the motivation to change eating and exercise habits and appropriate ways of early intervention. Empirical research is focused on monitoring the impact of overweight and obesity on quality of life and the relationship to their body in adolescents. The data were collected in a form of questionnaires, and ethical principles were necessary to adhere throughout the research The...

The main aim of my diploma thesis is to examine the issue of obesity and overweight in adolescents from a medical, psychological and social point of view with emphasis on the developmental perspective, not only through knowledge from literature, but also through the results of current research. In the theoretical part, the project focuses on the specifics of overweight and obesity in adolescents with an emphasis on the impact on quality of life and the relationship to their own body in this particular age group. There is also a big attention paid to psychological aspects of eating behavior in the family, lifestyle in the family and current development trends in the field of body image. In addition, differences between adolescent girls and boys are also being monitored. They are monitored by two ways and those are how they are spending their free time and how they approach to a healthy lifestyle. In addition, the work examines the motivation to change eating and exercise habits and appropriate ways of early intervention. Empirical research is focused on monitoring the impact of overweight and obesity on quality of life and the relationship to their body in adolescents. The data were collected in a form of questionnaires, and ethical principles were necessary to adhere throughout the research The...

The aim of this thesis is to probe the link between female sexual dysfunctions in the Czech Republic and physical activity and self-awareness (mindfulness) of women using specialised questionnaires. The goal was to engage women across the Czech Republic to gather large and diverse dataset. The questionnaires used were International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) measuring physical activity, Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) measuring sexual dysfunctions and Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire measuring mindfulness. Analysis of the data is used to provide a basis for therapy of female sexual dysfunctions.

Traditional ballet training and somatic practice have different approaches regarding how the body moves. Ballet has a specific structure where traditions and conventions affect how a body moves connected to an outside perspective, concerning how a teacher, student, or audience sees the body. On another hand, somatic has an approach that permeates the body that encourages the inner perspective, in respect of how the student understands his movement. The purpose of this study is to find out how a ballet pedagogue can use somatic tools to improve the student’s abilities regarding the technique. This is related to the use of a teaching method that includes a somatic approach. The idea is to use colors, as a somatic tool, in a ballet class, and find out if this can support the student's technique, in addition, to understanding how the participants negotiate colors with their body´s needs. My research is an empirical study that consists of a few workshops with different groups, ages, and abilities and includes an informal survey of the participants. The content analysis will be collected from the informal survey conducted after the workshop. In my research, I find that the participants felt that they got some improvement by using color as a somatic tool and this approach could be a help for their ballet technique.

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Body ownership is a complicated and multifaceted percept. Although we subjectively perceive body ownership to be a stable component of our identity, recent work has illustrated that body ownership is a dynamic construct that is constantly updated by the integration of current endogenous and exogenous body-related information. The goal of this study was to explore the relation between these endogenous (interoceptive) and exogenous (exteroceptive) channels of information. We investigated this by using a heartbeat perception (HBP) task to measure interoceptive accuracy, and the Rubber Hand Illusion (RHI) to measure malleability of body ownership. Based on prior findings, we hypothesized that the less accurate you are at counting your heartbeats, the more susceptible you will be to the RHI (i.e. the more malleable your sense of body ownership will be). In addition, we were also interested in exploring the relationship between interoception and emotion recognition ability (ERA). In this experiment, we failed to induce the RHI, and thus could not investigate the relationship between endogenous and exogenous body-related information. However, we successfully demonstrated the reliability of the interoceptive accuracy HBP task, as well as demonstrated that interoceptive accuracy is not related to ERA. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

The thesis consists of autobiographical soma research-oriented design for bringing somatic attention to the feet by the concept of micro-opportunities embedded in external artifacts to defamiliarize experiences. There is a growing body of work within the HCI community reporting on pressure-sensitive prototypes for raising bodily awareness alongside heat as a positive embodied response. Informed by these, I lead by questioning: How could the feet as the eyes of the body open a space for design estrangement and micro opportunities? Through Research through Design (RtD), I explore where these applications make sense in everyday living. I provide an overview of my somatic explorations within physiotherapy, foot analysis, and physical engagements of materials depicting bodily adjustments, materials, prompts, and objects as tools for estrangement. Lastly, I offer the Soma Design Bodystorming Foot-kit humo encapsulating these insights and drawing on the given premise, seeing feelingly through the feet, to speculate around potential applications and outcomes in everyday living granted by micro-opportunities. Through humo, I provide designers with an open-ended kit for sparking an awakening out of familiar bodily experiences towards somaesthetic (strange) reflections of the being of the feet.

<h2>SYFTE</h2><p>Syftet med denna uppsats är att analysera hur kommunikations- och samspelsförmåga uttrycks över tid när en ung man på tidig utvecklingsnivå och med autism deltar i en dyad i sherbornebehandling. Frågeställningar:</p><ol><li>Hur utvecklas kommunikations- och samspelsförmåga över tid i behandlingssituationen? </li><li>Hur utvecklas kommunikations- och samspelsförmåga i hemmet respektive skolan under samma tidsperiod? </li></ol><h1> </h1><h2>METOD</h2><p>Denna pre-experimentella fallstudie rör en 18-årig man som under drygt ett år kom till habiliteringen för att delta i arton sherbornebehandlingar med en sjukgymnast med mångårig erfarenhet av sherbornemetodik. Sherborne är en rörelsemetodik där rörelser används för att utveckla rums- och kroppsmedvetenhet och skapa relationer till andra. Samtliga arton behandlingar videofilmades och data insamlades via observation. En detaljerad nedteckning av händelseförloppet i en videoinspelning i början av behandlingsperioden och en i slutet gjordes. Under arbetet med att analysera kommunikation och samspel i videoinspelningarna uppkom behovet av att komplettera Sherbornes samspelsskala med ett bedömningsmaterial för att kunna analysera kommunikation och samspel i detalj<em> </em>med <em>personer på tidig nivå</em>, ”Brandquists & Althoffs Samspelsskala: Analys av samspel med personer på tidig utvecklingsnivå - Sherborne”, bilaga 7. För att öka tillförlitligheten i resultatet inhämtades dels kommentarer från deltagande sjukgymnast och mannens förälder under det att de såg de båda videofilmerna, dels gjordes en översiktlig analys av tio övriga videoinspelningar från sherborneperioden. Förälder och lärare intervjuades före och efter behandlingsperioden om den unge mannens kommunikation och samspelsförmåga i hemmet och på skolan.</p><h2>RESULTAT</h2><p>Resultat visar på en positiv effekt på den unge mannens förmåga till kommunikation och samspel. Under sherborneperioden framkommer gradvis en förändring av hur mannen riktade sin uppmärksamhet: från att blicken var ”tom” eller att blicken svepte över rummet till att han allteftersom kroppsligen riktade sig mot sjukgymnasten och sökte blickkontakt. Sjukgymnasten anpassade sitt förhållningssätt för att få till stånd ett så bra samspel som möjligt. Från att hon i början var mer inlyssnande och använde beröring för att bekräfta hans reaktioner, till användandet av ett ökat verbalt inslag mot slutet. I slutet av perioden började den unge mannen ta egna initiativ till samspel genom att rikta sin hand mot sjukgymnasten. Även i hem och skola ökade hans intresse för omgivningen. Han tog initiativ till kommunikation (ett ökat antal handlingssekvenser) och var på gång att utveckla delad uppmärksamhet. Han började säga ifrån mer genom att använda sin röst. Det självskadande beteendet minskade både under sherbornebehandlingen och i hemmet. I övrigt märkte både förälder och sjukgymnast en ökad balans och stabilitet i hans kropp och en förbättrad rörelseförmåga i hans svaga högersida.</p><p> </p><h2>SLUTSATSER</h2><p>Fallstudien tyder på att sherbornemetodik kan ha bidragit till en positiv effekt på såväl kommunikation och samspelsförmåga som rörelseförmåga hos denne unge man på tidig utvecklingsnivå och med autism.</p> / <h2>INTRODUCTION</h2><p>Caregivers perceive many of difficulties in interaction with persons at a presymbolic stage. In Sherborne Developmental Movement the theoretical issue is that movement experiences developing body and spatial awareness contribute to awareness of self. This gaining of body mastery is fundamental to the awareness of others, the ability to relate to others.</p><p> </p><p>The aim of this study is to analyse how communication and interaction is expressed over a period of time as a young man in an early stage of language development (pre-intentional communication) and with autism participates in a dyad in SDM sessions. Research questions:1. How do communication and interaction skills develop over time in the SDM sessions? 2. How do communication and interaction skills develop at home and school during the same period?</p><h2>METHOD</h2><p>In this pre-experimental case study an 18-year-old man with profound autism spectrum disorder, a right-sided motor disorder and a severe language impairment is participating. Giving no responses in communication, caregivers rarely perceived successful interaction. He suddenly burst out in aggressive acts. Lasting over a year he participated in an intervention consisting of eighteen SDM sessions in a dyad with a physiotherapist, skilled in SDM, at Habilitation Centre. Sessions were based on a “caring” SDM-relationship and treatment focused on basic movements. All sessions were videotaped. Communication and interaction skills were thoroughly assessed at the first and last session. In the process of analysing data the SDM scale of type of relation had to be supplemented by scales showing abilities of communication and interaction of the leader and the participant. This scale named "Brandquists & Althoff Interaction Scale: Analysis of the interaction with individuals at an early stage of development - Sherborne”, was used in reporting the data obtained in the study.</p><p>To increase the reliability of the data, comments from the participating physiotherapist and the father of the young man were registered while they individually watched the two video recordings. A somewhat simplified examination of ten of the video recordings was also made. Communication and interaction skills were also investigated at home and school through interviews and questionnaires before and after the SDM treatment. These data were then to be compare to the data of the SDM sessions.</p><p> </p><h2>RESULTS</h2><p>Results show a positive effect on communication and interaction skills of the young man. During the period of sessions he gradually changed the way of directing attention. Initially his eyes were "empty" or his gaze swept across the room to him. Later he focused on the hands of the physiotherapist while rocking his leg and eventually he physically directed himself to the physiotherapist and searched eye contact. The physiotherapist was sensitive to his physical reactions adapting her approach in order to making him feel secure and achieve trust. In the beginning she used tactile methods in her communication, but seeing he felt more secure she introduced more verbal confirming towards the end.  At the end of the period he began to take communicative initiatives by approaching his hand and “pointing” at the physiotherapist.</p><p> </p><p>At home and school caregivers reported an increasing interest in the environment. He used more initiative for communication (an increased number of action sequences) and was on his way to develop joint attention. He started to use his voice to protest. The number of self-destructive behaviours decreased during the Sherborne sessions and at home. Successively he gained greater stability and balance in his body and the mobility of the weak side improved. The data obtained in interviews with caregivers confirmed the results achieved in the study and strengthened the reliability of the results of SDM.</p><h2>CONCLUSIONS</h2><p>The result of the study implies that SDM may have contributed to a positive effect on the communication and interaction skills of this young man.</p>