Reliability of center of pressure distance and area sway measurement during one-legged stance in a normal population.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to assess the reliability of center ofpressure distance and area sway during one-legged stance. MATERIAL AND METHOD: One hundred and sixteen participants aged 40-60 years old were recruited. Fifty nine subjects were males and fifty seven subjects were females. Subjects were excluded in cases of abnormal lower extremity structures, neurological deficits related to balance disorder, and inability of right leg stance for more than 30 seconds. All subjects were evaluated with 4 trials ofone-legged stance, each 2 of normal and fast lifting leg conditions. Center of pressure and kinematic data were synchronously collected. RESULTS: Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) of the distance sway was between 0.69 and 0.83, while ICC of the area sway was between 0.06 and 0.25. CONCLUSION: Distance sway provides higher reliability than area sway for static balance assessment. Subjective leg lifting speed was satisfactory.

Hyperbaric oxygenation and blood lactate clearance: study in sixty male naval cadets.

The research was aimed to study the effects of a 30 minute exposure to 2.5 ATA with 100% O2-inhalation on lactate concentration after muscular fatigue from incremental exercise on a cycle ergometer The subjects were 60 male naval cadets aged 20-23 years whose physical fitness was equivalent to the average athletes. All volunteers participated in the first VO2 max exercise test to obtain their baseline data and randomly assigned into 3 groups of 20. The 3 groups were: Rest recovery group (RR), Oxygen recovery group (OR), and the Hyperbaric oxygenation (HBO2) recovery group (HR). The volunteers took the incremental exercise test (Ordinary Lamp Protocol) on a cycle ergometer to exhaustion, then rested according to the above assigned groups. Blood samples were taken from each volunteer before the experiment, at exhaustion and every 5-minute intervals after the exhaustion for 30 minutes and immediately assayed for lactate concentration. The results showed significant decrease of blood lactate concentration at 15, 20 and 25 minutes intervals after the exhaustion in the HR group compared to the others. It might be initially concluded that HBO2 enhanced the rate of lactate removal from peripheral blood vessels, therefore it shortened the recovery time.