Title: The effect of kinesiotaping for flat foot correction in association with selected parameters of gait for a specific group of people Objectives: The primary objective of this experiment was to determine whether and to what extent the application of kinesio tape to flat foot (utilising a functional correction technique) can influence the positioning of the specific segments of the body and thereby implement change to walking stereotype. Methods: Biomechanical measurement of the gait of eleven specifically selected people with the clinical symptoms of flat foot was implemented. First we recorded measurements prior to the intervention and then again, subsequent to the application of kinesio tape for a defined period. Probands retained the tape in place for the following four days and then the measuring was repeated both prior and subsequent to the removal of the tape. To determine any potential changes to the statics, initially the measuring of the postural stability prior to the intervention was first implemented in the experiment and subsequently again when the kinesio tape was removed after it had been worn for four days. This measurement was carried out using the Footscan apparatus (RSscan International, Belgium) and any potential differences in six variant modes of posture were determined....

Title: Detection of Signs of Fatigue in Functional Tests in Healthy Population by OpenPose Objectives: The aim of this study is if the OpenPose system can detect changes in range of motion and unwanted movements of other segments in repetitive a full arm abduction test with weight and a single leg stance based on comparation of changes in angles and relative distances between first and last seconds of the movement. Methods: This pilot study was dedicated to healthy people between 18 and 65 years. A video recording was made within an intervention while subjects were doing a full arm abduction test with weight and a single leg stance until the maximum endurance. Videorecording was processed by the OpenPose software which detects human movements base on algorithm without using a physical markers. Key point combinations (markers) were defined to obtain information about changes in movement and posture (angles, relative distances). Basic statistical measurements were done and compared between first and last seconds of the movement. Temporospatial data were collected to reach the results. Results: Almost all differences in key point combinations to detect arm abduction movement were evaluated as statistically significant. Changes in single leg stance were usually evaluated as not statistically...

Title: Methodology for development of skating technique on a skatemill Goals: The objective of the present study is to compile available methodology knowledge re-garding the improvement of skating technique using a skatemill, and to analyse the pro-gress of skating technique in selected ice-hockey players during a comprehensive train-ing programme, where a skating simulator is used. Keywords: Ice Hockey, skatemill, kinematic analysis, hockey skills, motoric skills, ska-ting, modern aids. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

O objetivo do trabalho é investigar como as condições biomecânicas de portadores de Osteoartrite (OA) de joelho afetam a capacidade de realizar atividades de vida diária. Participaram desse estudo 39 indivíduos, sendo 18 indivíduos com OA de joelho bilateral grau 3, na escala Kellgren Lawrence, e 21 indivíduos saudáveis. Foram utilizadas duas plataformas de força (AMTI) para registrar a Força de Reação do Solo, cinco câmeras (Sistema Vicon) para registrar as variações angulares das articulações do quadril, joelho e tornozelo, nos planos sagital e frontal, e cinco sensores de eletromiografia wireless (Sistema Noraxon) para registrar as atividades dos músculos reto femoris (RF), vastus lateralis (VL), biceps femoris (BF), tibialis anterior (TA) e gastrocnemius lateralis (GL) no segmento dominante (segmento D) dos sujeitos do grupo controle e no segmento com maior gravidade de lesão nos indivíduos com OA (segmento OA). Também foram calculados por meio de dinâmica inversa os momentos articulares nos planos sagital e frontal. Três atividades de vida diária foram investigadas, a marcha, o levantar e sentar em uma cadeira e o descer de um degrau de 20cm. Nos resultados, foi observada uma menor variação angular de forma geral nas articulações do quadril e joelho. Não foi observada diferença nas cargas mecânicas aplicadas ao aparelho locomotor. Nas três atividades cotidianas, os indivíduos com OA apresentaram adução no quadril e abdução no joelho, que denota um alinhamento em valgo durante a execução das tarefas. Poucas diferenças foram observadas nos momentos articulares flexores e extensores, nas três atividades de vida diária investigadas. No levantar e sentar menores momentos extensores foram observados no joelho durante as duas fases do movimento. Nos momentos adutores, poucas diferenças foram observadas na marcha. No levantar e sentar, o segmento OA não apresentou momentos adutores de joelho maiores que nos outros segmentos. No descer degrau, o segmento CL apresentou maior momento adutor que o segmento OA e D. De forma geral, as diferenças na ativação muscular indicam maior intensidade de ativação no grupo controle. O músculo VL nas três atividades apresentou intensidade de ativação menor nos indivíduos com OA. Observou-se maior co-ativação na marcha e no descer degrau, mas não no levantar e sentar. Na marcha a maior co-ativação ocorreu nas três articulações. No descer degrau, ocorreu no quadril e no joelho. Nas três atividades, maior co-contração foi observada e principalmente no joelho. Conclui-se que as alterações na técnica de movimento mostram-se tarefa dependente. As alterações na execução do movimento no plano sagital não foram suficientes para afetar o controle das cargas mecânicas, na marcha e no descer degrau. Apenas na tarefa de levantar e sentar surgiu algum indicio de que a eficiência seria pior. O alinhamento no joelho e os momentos adutores não sugerem maior magnitude de força no compartimento medial do joelho. Aparentemente, as características temporais sejam mais sensíveis à presença da OA no joelho do que a intensidade de ativação / The aim of this study is to investigate the biomechanical characteristics of patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA) and hoe it affects the ability to perform daily living activities. Thirty nine subjects participated in this study, 18 subjects with bilateral knee OA grade 3 Kellgren Lawrence scale) and 21 healthy individuals. Two force platforms (AMTI) were used to register the Grourd Reaction Force (GRF). Five cameras (System Vicon) were used to register the angular variations of the hip, knee and ankle in the sagittal and frontal planes. Five electromyographic electrodes (Noraxon System) were used to record the activities of the rectus femoris (RF), vastus lateralis (VL), biceps femoris (BF), tibialis anterior (TA) and gastrocnemius lateralis (GL) in the dominant segment (D segment) on control group and the segment with greater severity of injury in individuals with OA (OA segment). Inverse dynamics was used to calculate joint moments sagittal and frontal planes. Three daily living activities were investigated, the gait, the Sit-to stand and Stand-to-sit and Stepping down from a 20cm height step. In results, there was a smaller angular variation in hip and knee joints. No difference was observed in the mechanical loads applied to the locomotor system. In the three daily activities, people with knee OA showed hip adduction and knee abduction, in the three daily activities, which suggests an alignment valgus in the knee. Few differences were observed in joint moments in the three daily living activities. In sit-to-stand and stand-to-sit lower peak extensor moments were observed in the knee. Few differences were observed in adductor moments in gait. In sit-to-stand and stand-to-sit, no difference was observed in knee adductor moments. In stepping down, the CL segment showed greater adductor moment than OA segment and D. In general, differences in muscle activation indicate greater activation intensity in the control group. The VL muscle showed lower activation intensity in individuals with OA in all three activities. A higher co-activation was observed in gait and in stepping down, but not in sit-to-stand and stand-to-sit. In gait the higher co-activation occurred subjects with knee OA in the three joints. In stepping down, higher co-activation occurred in the hip and knee. In the three activities, greater co-contraction was observed and especially in the knee. It can be concluded that changes in movement technique appears to be task dependent. Changes in movement technique in the sagittal plane were not enough to affect the control of the mechanical loads on gait and stepping down movements. Only in sit-to-stand and stand-to-sit some indication of worse efficiency to perform the task was observed. Knee alignment and knee adductor moments do not suggest greater magnitude of force in the medial compartment of the knee. Apparently, the temporal characteristics of muscle activity are more sensitive to the presence of knee OA than the intensity of activation

In this thesis, the inertial parameters of a spatial mechanism are used in order to optimize various aspects of the dynamic behaviour of the mechanism (such as minimizing actuator torque/ force fluctuations, shaking force/moment balancing, etc.) while the effects of loads are considered as well. Here, inertial parameters refer to the mass, 6 elements of the inertia tensor and coordinates of the center of mass of the links. The concept of Force Fluctuation Number (FFN) is utilized to optimize the dynamic behaviour of the mechanism. By using the FFN concept, one obtains a number of linear equations to be satisfied by the optimal inertial parameters. In general, the number of such equations is less than the number of the inertial parameters. Therefore, some of the inertial parameters may be selected freely in order to satisfy other design constraints. Using MATHEMATICA, a program has been developed to obtain the linear equations to be satisfied by the optimal inertial parameters. The developed program includes a kinematic and force analysis module, which can be used independently for a complete kinematic and dynamic analysis of any one degree of freedom, single loop, spatial mechanism. The different closures of the mechanism may be identified by using the developed package and these analyses can be performed on any selected closure of the mechanism.

Vertebrate evolution has resulted in a diversity of feeding mechanisms. Cetaceans are secondarily derived tetrapods that have returned to a marine habitat. As a result, they display feeding modes that have converged with more basal aquatic vertebrates, but display a diversity of new solutions and adaptations. To begin to explore the diversity of feeding adaptations among odontocetes, kinematics of feeding modes and feeding adaptations for belugas (Delphinapterus leucas), Pacific white-sided dolphins (Lagenorhynchus obliquidens), and long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala melas) were characterized. In addition, direct measurements of intraoral pressure were collected to determine maximum suction performance. Characters from these analyses were combined with data for other odontocetes, and were mapped onto a phylogeny of Odontoceti to begin to explore where changes in feeding modes took place. Feeding modes were diverse in belugas, Pacific white-sided dolphins, and pilot whales and included suction, ram, and a combination of both. In general, four phases were observed: (I) preparatory, (II) jaw opening, (III) gular depression, and (IV) jaw closing. Suction was a large component of the prey capture method in belugas and subambient pressures in excess of 100 kPa were generated. Belugas were also capable of lateral lip gape occlusion and anterior lip pursing to form a small anterior aperture. Pacific whitesided dolphins relied on ram to capture prey. However, some degree of pursing and resultant subambient pressure was observed that was likely used to compensate for high ram speeds or for prey manipulation and transport to the esophagus. Pilot whales were more similar to belugas in kinematics, but maintained high approach velocities and did not generate significant suction pressures; suction and ram were used in combination. Belugas and pilot whales appeared to employ hyolingual depression as a primary suction generation mechanism, whereas Pacific white-sided dolphins relied on fast jaw opening. Ancestral state reconstructions indicated that suction feeding capability evolved independently at least six times within Odontoceti. These results indicate the diversity of feeding behaviors in odontocetes and provide directives for future studies on the diversity of feeding in secondarily aquatic mammals.

The challenges in automating the design of planar mechanisms are tremendous especially in areas related to computational representation, kinematic analysis and synthesis of planar mechanisms. The challenge in computational representation relates to the development of a comprehensive methodology to completely define and manipulate the topologies of planar mechanisms while in kinematic analysis, the challenge is primarily in the development of generalized analysis routines to analyze different mechanism topologies. Combining the aforementioned challenges along with appropriate optimization algorithms to synthesize planar mechanisms for different user-defined applications presents the final challenge in the automated design of planar mechanisms. The methods presented in the literature demonstrate synthesis of standard four-bar and six-bar mechanisms with revolute and prismatic joints. But a detailed review of these methods point to the fact that they are not scalable when the topologies and the parameters of n-bar mechanisms are required to be simultaneously synthesized. Through this research, a comprehensive and scalable methodology for synthesizing different mechanism topologies and their parameters simultaneously is presented that overcomes the limitations in different challenge areas in the following ways. In representation, a graph-grammar based scheme for planar mechanisms is developed to completely describe the topology of a mechanism. Grammar rules are developed in conjunction with this representation scheme to generate different mechanism topologies in a tree-search process. In analysis, a generic kinematic analysis routine is developed to automatically analyze one-degree of freedom mechanisms consisting of revolute and prismatic joints. Two implementations of kinematic analysis have been included. The first implementation involves the use of graphical methods for position and velocity analyses and the equation method for acceleration analysis for mechanisms with a four-bar loop. The second implementation involves the use of an optimization-based method that has been developed to handle position kinematics of indeterminate mechanisms while the velocity and acceleration analyses of such mechanisms are carried out by formulating appropriate linear equations. The representation and analysis schemes are integrated to parametrically synthesize different mechanism topologies using a hybrid implementation of Particle Swarm Optimization and Nelder-Mead simplex algorithm. The hybrid implementation is able to produce better results for the problems found in the literature using a four-bar mechanism with revolute joints as well as through other higher order mechanisms from the design space. The implementation has also been tested on three new challenge problems with satisfactory results subject to computational constraints. The difficulties in the search have been studied that indicates the reasons for the lack of solution repeatability. This dissertation concludes with a discussion of the results and future directions. / text

Après un accident vasculaire cérébral (AVC), l’utilisation de stratégies compensatoires dans les activités de la vie quotidienne peut freiner la récupération motrice du membre supérieur parétique. En effet, lors d’une tâche d’atteinte, les individus post-AVC présentant un déficit sévère limitant les mouvements épaule-coude, doivent utiliser la flexion du tronc afin de réaliser une tâche d’atteinte. Dans ce cas, il s’agit d’une compensation obligatoire-adaptative. D’autre part, certains individus post-AVC ayant suffisamment récupéré la motricité épaule-coude, continuent de solliciter une flexion du tronc, et cette compensation non-obligatoire du tronc est dite maladaptative car elle reflète la non-utilisation épaule–coude (proximal arm non-use - PANU) ayant pour effet d’entraver la récupération du bras parétique.Dans la première étude, 45 sujets post-AVC et 45 sujets contrôles sains appariés en âge ont effectué une tâche d’atteinte, le tronc libre (utilisation spontanée du bras) et le tronc auto-fixé (utilisation maximale du bras). L’analyse a montré que les scores PANU des sujets post-AVC étaient compris entre 1,9% et 40,7% avec une médiane à 11,7%. La mesure du score PANU est reproductible, valide et représente la réserve motrice épaule-coude. Le seuil significatif du PANU a été fixé à 6,5% (limite supérieure chez les sujets sains). Enfin, le score PANU est complémentaire aux tests usuels de déficience et de fonction du membre supérieur (Box and Block test, Fugl-Meyer)La deuxième étude a montré la possibilité d’utiliser un système Kinect dans l’obtention du score PANU. Des mesures ont été effectuées simultanément avec les deux systèmes (Kinect et Zebris-CMS20s) chez 19 sujets post-AVC. Cette étude a montré que le score PANU mesuré avec la Kinect pourrait être utilisé comme un outil de diagnostic qui permettrait de proposer aux sujets post-AVC une rééducation spécifique d’utilisation forcée du bras par tronc bloqué ou bien par feedback.La troisième étude est une revue de la littérature sur les technologies innovantes appliquées à la rééducation sensorimotrice post-AVC suggérant que le score PANU puisse être intégré dans un traitement rééducatif par réalité virtuelle.En conclusion, ces travaux démontrent que quantifier objectivement la non-utilisation épaule-coude (score PANU) lors d’une tâche d’atteinte est possible et reproductible. Les scores PANU peuvent être déterminés également par un système très accessible (Kinect) ce qui permettrait d’intégrer le score PANU dans un jeu de rééducation par réalité virtuelle. / The use of compensatory strategies to perform activities of daily living after a stroke can reduce the upper limb recovery. In fact, post-stroke individuals with severe upper limb impairment that limits shoulder-elbow motion, have to use trunk compensation to achieve a reaching task within arms’ length, which is a form of mandatory/adaptive compensation strategy. Whereas, post-stroke individuals having adequately recovered shoulder-elbow motion, continue to use the trunk when they could use the proximal arm to achieve the reach; and this non-mandatory trunk compensation is considered maladaptive because it reflects proximal arm non-use or PANU, which is detrimental to true recovery of the paretic arm.In the first study, 45 post-stroke individuals and 45 age matched healthy controls performed a seated reaching task within arm’s length with the trunk free to move (spontaneous use) and trunk restrained (maximal use) to measure their PANU score. The analysis showed that PANU scores for the post-stroke individuals ranged between 1,9% and 40,7% with a median of 11,7%, and these PANU scores were a reliable and reproducible measure of the functional reserve of the upper limb. The PANU score threshold for clinical significance was set as 6.5% (upper limit in healthy subjects). The PANU score seems pertinent as a complement to usual clinical assessments of upper limb function and impairment (Box and Block test, Fugl-Meyer).The second study explored the applicability of the Kinect system to measure PANU scores in 19 post stroke individuals in comparison to the standard Zebris-CMS20s method. The analysis showed that the PANU score measured by the Kinect was valid and reliable, and therefore should be used as a tool to classify patients in order to propose specific upper limb rehabilitation with arm-forced use by trunk restraint or feedback.Study three was a review of innovative technologies applied to sensorimotor rehabilitation after a stroke suggesting that PANU scores could be implemented in virtual reality rehabilitation and be used as a tool to determine the efficacy of the specialised treatment.In conclusion, this thesis showed that i) objectively quantifying the proximal arm non-use (PANU score) during a reaching task using a 3D motion capture system is feasible and reliable, and ii) PANU scores are accurately determined also using a more widely available and less expensive Kinect-based motion sensor with the future aim of PANU being integrated in a Kinect-based upper limb virtual reality rehabilitation.

The diploma thesis deals with the kinematic analysis of the most frequently used technique in sports karate. Specifically, it analyzes the technique of the direct punch Gjaku cuki from the perspective of kumite discipline. The thesis describes its theoretical implementation on the basis of professional publications dedicated to the general public as well as experts and points to the various factors that affect performance in kumite. The strike technique is analyzed in practice with various technical advances by using 3D kinematic analysis (SIMI Motion). The work analyzes in detail the movements of the individual segments of the body, the angular changes between them and examines the variables such as hull inclination, speed, acceleration, height and center of gravity track during the direct punch. The results are partially compared with the theoretical description and the differences in the results of the members of Czech national karate team with different technical maturity are examined. The conclusion are summarized the acquired knowledge from kinematic analysis, which provide a recommendation for the training practice and appropriate advice on quality of Gjaku cuki.

Title: 3D analysis of immediate effect on posture of shoe with postural insoles based on Rašev and with proceptor insoles PodoAktiv® Objective: The aim of this study is to evaluate the immediate effect of shoe insoles with postural pelote by Rašev and shoe insoles with proceptors PodoAktiv® on the postural hold with main focus at the pelvis and shoulder. Methodology: In this thesis we examined 9 participants who agreed joining the study. To messure postural hold body segments which we have chosen, we have used the Balance® 4D device. The selected body segments were marked by white spheric stickers. To compare postural hold of selected body segments we examined the participants in altogether 4 situations. Barefoot stand, stand in shoes without insoles, stand in shoes with custom-made postural insoles based on Rašev and stand in shoes with custom-made insoles PodoAktiv® . Results: In this study we confirmed that postural insoles based on Rašev have immediate effect on the hold of pelvis and shoulders. The insoles PodoAktiv® don't show such an effect on the hold of those segments we have tested. The hypothesis H1 and H2 have been confirmed, hypothesis H3 and H4 have been rejected. There was not found any trend which would describe the immediate reaction of the participants (postural hold with main...