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Graduation date: 1995

Thesis (M.S.)--Eastern Illinois University. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 40-42).

Thesis (Ph. D., Education)--University of Idaho, December 2007. / Major professor: Dennis Dolny. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 81-93). Also available online (PDF file) by subscription or by purchasing the individual file.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--La Crosse, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references.

Feeding a fat-containing diet to the exercising horse is a facile way to increase energy density without risking the complications associated with hydrolyzable carbohydrates. Fat adaptation may also result in increases in the utilization of free fatty acids for fuel during exercise and sparing of muscle glycogen. Phosphatidylcholine, the main component of lecithins, can influence muscle contraction and improve endurance capacity during exercise. When it is combined with corn oil in a total mixed ration, soy lecithin is both highly digestible and palatable to horses. Our objectives in this study were to compare the effects of incremental exercise and isocaloric control (CON), corn oil (CO), and a soy lecithin/corn oil (LE) diets on plasma free fatty acids (FFA), cholesterol, glycerol, triglyceride (TG), lactate, and glucose. Also three different statistical models were compared for goodness of fit to the lactate curve. Plasma lactate and glucose both increased slowly early in the incremental exercise test (IET), then increased rapidly as the work intensity increased. Both decreased during recovery. No effects of IET or diet were found for either of these variables. Plasma TG was unchanged during exercise, but increased rapidly during recovery. Plasma FFA decreased from resting early in the IET then remained steady throughout the remainder of exercise. During recovery a rapid increase was exhibited. Plasma glycerol was constant during exercise, but increased during recovery. Plasma cholesterol did not change during exercise or recovery. Diet affected plasma FFA. Plasma FFA were lower for the CO and LE diets than the CON diet during the IET. Plasma glycerol was lower for the CO diet than the CON diet during the IET, with the LE diet intermediate between the two. Plasma cholesterol was higher for the CO and LE diets than the CON diet during the IET. A segmented model and an exponential model were found to have a good fit to the lactate curve. A point of inflection for a rapid increase in plasma lactate during incremental exercise was discovered. When this model was applied to diet, no differences in lactate threshold were found between the diets. Some criteria for fat adaptation were met, namely diet affected plasma FFA, glycerol, and cholesterol. However diet did not affect plasma TG, lactate, or glucose. This indicates that the rate of fatty acid oxidation was increased following fat adaptation, but it did not affect the rate of glucose oxidation and glycolysis during exercise. A lactate threshold for the equine can be obtained using a broken line model. Further studies using this approach are needed to establish its correlation with performance. / Master of Science

Background: Treadmill walking should closely simulate overground walking for research validation and optimal skill transfer. Traditional fixed-speed treadmill (FS) walking may not simulate natural walking because of the fixed belt speed and lack of visual cues. Self-paced (SP) treadmill walking, especially feedback controlled SP treadmill walking, enables close-to-real-time belt speed changes with users' speed changes. Different sensitivity levels of SP treadmill feedback determine how fast the treadmill respond to user's speed change. Few studies have examined the differences between FS and SP treadmill walking, or the difference between sensitivity levels of SP treadmills, and their methods were questionable because of averaging kinematics and kinetics parameters, and failing to examine directly treadmill and subjects' speed data. This study compared FS with two SP modes with variation of treadmill speed and user's speed as dependent variables. Method: Thirteen young healthy subjects participated. Subjects walked on a motorized split-belt treadmill under FS, high sensitivity SP (SP-H) and low sensitivity SP (SP-L) conditions at normal walking speed. Root mean square error (RMSE) for subject's pelvis global speed (Vpg), pelvis speed with respect to treadmill speed (Vpt), and treadmill speed (Vtg) data were collected for all trials. Results: Significant condition effects were found between FS and the two SP modes in all RMSE values (p < 0.001). The two sensitivity levels of SP had similar speed patterns. Large subject × condition interaction effects were found for all variables (p < 0.001). Only small subject effects were found. Conclusions: The results of the study reveal different walking patterns between FS and SP. However, the two sensitivity levels failed to differ much. More habituation time may be needed for subjects to learn to optimally respond to the SP algorithm. Future work should include training subjects for more natural responses, applying a feed-forward algorithm, and testing the effect of optic flow on FS and SP speed variation. / text

Thesis (M.Sc.)--York University, 2005. Graduate Programme in Kinesiology and Health Science. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 70-88). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url%5Fver=Z39.88-2004&res%5Fdat=xri:pqdiss &rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:MR11787

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The majority of people with stroke regard walking in their community as very important (Lord et al 2004). Walking in the community is limited by slow walking speeds and poor walking capacity (Lord et al 2004; Patterson et al 2007). Slow walking speeds and poor walking capacity are identified sequela in people with stroke (Hill et al 1997). By the end of rehabilitation approximately 80% of people with stroke achieve independent walking (Dean & Mackay 1992; Hill et al 1997). However, less than 10 percent are able to easily walk in their community (Hill et al 1997). Optimal motor learning requires task-specific practice (Carr & Shepherd 2003). Treadmills offer the opportunity for repetitive practice of complete gait cycles (Shepherd & Carr 1999), potentially providing greater intensity and longer duration walking practice than usual physiotherapy rehabilitation. Recently there has been some suggestion that high-intensity interventions may improve walking in people with stroke (Moseley et al 2005). Low levels of cardiorespiratory fitness in people with stroke have been shown to impact on walking, in particular walking capacity (Kelly et al 2003). Treadmills, commonly used to retrain cardiorespiratory fitness in the healthy population, have been used to implement high-intensity interventions, improving cardiorespiratory fitness in people with chronic stroke (Macko et al 2005). Therefore it is possible that exercise aimed at improving cardiorespiratory fitness may improve walking in people with stroke. The aim of these four studies was to investigate in those following stroke if walking on a treadmill at high-intensity during inpatient rehabilitation could improve walking capacity without compromising pattern and quality. The first study determined, in an Australian setting, the duration and intensity of usual physiotherapy rehabilitation. Study 2 compared walking pattern immediately following overground and treadmill walking practice at the same intensity. Study 3 examined the effect of treadmill walking at intensities high enough to influence cardiorespiratory fitness on walking pattern and quality. The final study, investigated the feasibility of implementing a high-intensity treadmill intervention in addition to usual physiotherapy rehabilitation in people following stroke able to walk undergoing inpatient rehabilitation. Intensity in all studies was calculated using heart rate reserve or the Karvonen method. Heart rate is a valid, accurate and stable indicator of exercise intensity due to its relatively linear relationship with oxygen consumption (ACSM 2006). For those people taking beta-blocker medication, the heart rate-lowering effect of this type of medication was accommodated. A target intensity of 40% heart rate reserve was used; as this is the minimum required improve cardiorespiratory fitness (ACSM 2006). Walking pattern and quality were measured in Studies 2-4. Walking pattern was measured by linear kinematics using GAITRite (CIR Systems, Clifton, NJ, USA) and angular kinematics using a 2-dimensional webcam application. Walking quality was determined by observation of the webcam footage and scored using the Rivermead Visual Gait Assessment, Wisconsin Gait Scale and a vertical visual analogue scale by blinded assessor. The first study found that people with stroke spent an average of 21 (SD 11) minutes participating in standing and walking activities that are associated with reaching the target intensity during physiotherapy rehabilitation. Those who could walk spent longer in these activities (25 minutes, SD 12) compared to those would couldn’t walk (17 minutes, SD 9). However, the intensity of these activities was low; walkers reached a maximum of 30% heart rate reserve and non-walkers reached 35% heart rate reserve. Using the treadmill as a mode of task-specific physiotherapy rehabilitation, the second study in this thesis found that walking pattern was similar following 10 minutes of treadmill and overground walking practice at the same intensity. The third study found that during walking on the treadmill at intensities high enough to influence cardiorespiratory fitness (up to 60% heart rate reserve), many of the linear and angular kinematic parameters moved closer to a more normal pattern and walking quality was not compromised. The final study in this thesis, a randomised controlled trial, found that a 6-week high-intensity treadmill walking intervention was feasible in people with stroke able to walk who were undergoing rehabilitation. Participants attended 89% of the treadmill sessions, reaching an average duration of more than 20 minutes and an intensity of 40% heart rate reserve after two weeks. The intervention also appeared effective with significant improvements in walking speed and capacity following the treadmill walking intervention. Improvements in walking speed were maintained at 3 months. In summary, these studies found that usual physiotherapy in people with stroke was of low intensity. In addition, it was found that treadmill walking was safe and feasible as a means of increasing the intensity of physiotherapy rehabilitation, without compromising walking quality and pattern. Therefore, it may be possible to improve walking in people with stroke using high-intensity treadmill walking.