Browsing by Subject "gait"
Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
- Results Per Page
- Sort Options
Item Gait Analyses in Mice: Effects of Age and Glutathione Deficiency(International Society on Aging and Disease, 2018-08-01) Mock, J. Thomas; Knight, Sherilynn G.; Vann, Philip H.; Wong, Jessica M.; Davis, Delaney L.; Forster, Michael J.; Sumien, NathalieMinor changes (~0.1 m/s) in human gait speed are predictive of various measures of decline and can be used to identify at-risk individuals prior to further decline. These associations are possible due to an abundance of human clinical research. However, age-related gait changes are not well defined in rodents, even though rodents are used as the primary pre-clinical model for many disease states as well as aging research. Our study investigated the usefulness of a novel automated system, the CatWalk XT, to measure age-related differences in gait. Furthermore, age-related functional declines have been associated with decreases in the reduced to oxidized glutathione ratio leading to a pro-oxidizing cellular shift. Therefore the secondary aim of this study was to determine whether chronic glutathione deficiency led to exacerbated age-associated impairments. Groups of male and female wild-type (gclm(+/+)) and knock-out (gclm(-/-)) mice aged 4, 10 and 17 months were tested on the CatWalk and gait measurements recorded. Similar age-related declines in all measures of gait were observed in both males and females, and chronic glutathione depletion was associated with some delays in age-related declines, which were further exacerbated. In conclusion, the CatWalk is a useful tool to assess gait changes with age, and further studies will be required to identify the potential compensating mechanisms underlying the effects observed with the chronic glutathione depletion.Item Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine in Pregnancy: Acute Physiological and Biomechanical Effects(2009-05-01) Hensel, Kendi L.; Smith, Michael L.Introduction: During pregnancy, a woman’s body is challenged by significant physiological and biomechanical changes which can adversely affect normal function, mobility and quality of life. These changes may also contribute to co-morbid conditions accompanying pregnancy. Osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM) is theorized to facilitate the body’s adjustment to the physiological and biomechanical demands of pregnancy and improve the outcomes of pregnancy, labor and delivery. Thus, this dissertation research was designed to examine the possible effects of an acute regimen of OMM on the autonomic and hemodynamic control mechanisms and gait and mobility function in women during the third trimester of pregnancy. Methods: Two studies were performed with 60 women at the 30th week of pregnancy. Study 1: The hemodynamic and autonomic (heart rate variability) responses to head-up tilt with and without engagement of the muscle pump via toe raising were assessed before and after a regimen of either randomly assigned OMM, sub-therapeutic placebo ultrasound, or a timecontrol. Study 2: Assessment of a cadre of gait parameters and functions was performed before and after application of the same randomized treatment regimens. Results: In Study 1, the response to tilt was not affected by OMM or placebo ultrasound, however, the systolic blood pressure response to toe raising was increased after OMM and was accompanied by a lower heart rate and enhanced vagal control of heart rate. In study 2, there were no statistically significant differences between groups at baseline. In addition, there were no statistically significant differences between pre-and post-treatment values for any spatiotemporal gait parameters. However, improvements in stride width and base of support trended toward significance. Conclusions: These data suggest that OMM improved hemodynamic control during engaging of the skeletal muscle pump that was most likely due to improvement of structural impediments to venous return. The gait data fail to elucidate a significant effect of OMM on gait parameters during the third trimester of pregnancy.Item Study of Kinematics and Gait in Dynamic Response Feet across Functional K-Level Categories.(2016-12-01) Donevant, Russell J.; Patterson, Rita; Bugnariu, Nicoleta; Rosales, ArmandoIn the United States, the Medicare Functional Classification Level (MFCL or K-level) classification system exists in order to estimate a patient’s rehabilitation potential. Physicians assign a K-level rating from 0-4 of increasing functionality, which serves to designate what kind of prosthetic device to provide a patient with and what insurance will cover. This study aims to interpret kinematic data recorded from transtibial amputees with two different functional levels of prosthetic feet and interpret the effect on gait and functional performance when switching to a higher/lower prosthetic level than the one currently equipped with. Kinematic data are collected via motion-capture and force-plate technologies while subjects interact with a virtual reality environment and processed using the GOAT (Gait Offline Analysis Tool) analysis software.