Lower extremity kinematics during forward heel-slip.

BACKGROUND: Most fall intervention studies attempted to improve the mobility, range of motion of upper and lower extremities, or all major muscle strengths. Yet, there has been little effort to identify movements or actions that may be mainly responsible for recovering from a slipping. It was imperative to link lower extremity kinematics in conjunction with the functional anatomy of lower extremity muscles during forward heel-slipping to identify what muscles should have been activated substantially if a person would have recovered from forward heel-slipping. OBJECTIVE: The present study investigated lower extremity movements, such as the ankle, knee, and hip rotations, which could contribute to falls from forward heel-slipping. Determining changes in positions of foot, shank, and thigh during slipping would provide information to develop the optimal training regimen or interventions that may be effective for improving a chance to recover from the postural disturbance. METHODS: Twenty healthy adults (24-68 years old) participated in this experiment. Among twenty participants, only eight participants' data were analyzed in this study. The 3D position data were used to compute the sagittal foot, shank, and thigh angles and frontal thigh angle. RESULTS: The study results indicated that, during the period of slipping, the angles of the segments of the slipping leg were different from that of the foot, shank, and thigh when walking ordinarily over the dry surface in the present study. CONCLUSIONS: The characteristics or differences in the angular kinematics of lower extremity during unexpected slips in the present study demonstrate possible causes for slip-induced falls.

Relationships among Marital Satisfaction, Spousal Support and Practice of Taekyo in Pregnant Women.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships among marital satisfaction, spousal support and practice of Taekyo among pregnant women. METHODS: This study was conducted by the use of questionnaire surveys with two hundred and eighty-three pregnant women at several hospitals located in Gyeonggi province and Daejeon city from October 2008 to April 2009. Contents of questionnaire included marital satisfaction, spousal support and practice of Taekyo. Descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation, and stepwise multiple regression were conducted for data analysis using SPSS/WIN 17.0 program. RESULTS: Degree of marital satisfaction, spousal support, and practice of Taekyo showed the high ranking among pregnant women. There was a significant difference in order of fetus, need for Taekyo, and time in Taekyo. There was a positive relationship between marital satisfaction, spousal support, and practice of Taekyo. The significant factors influencing the practice of Taekyo was connected with marital satisfaction, order of fetus and time in Taekyo. The total explanatory range was 29.3%. CONCLUSION: There is a need for multidimensional strategy in improving marital satisfaction. This study can be used as a foundation for maternal nursing education program and can be developed for practice of Taekyo.

Factors affecting health-promoting behaviors of community-dwelling Korean older women.

The purpose of the study was to examine a staged theoretical causal model on health-promoting behavior of community-dwelling Korean older women (N = 438). Sixty-two percent of the variance in the health-promoting behaviors of the sample was explained by the direct effect of social support (ß = 0.53), self-efficacy (ß = 0.18), perceived health status (ß = 0.16), education (ß = 0.12), and presence of a spouse (ß = 0.10). Twenty-nine percent of the variance in social support was explained by the direct effect of self-efficacy (ß = 0.31), personal control (ß = 0.10), perceived health status (ß = 0.16), age (ß = -0.31), and religion (ß = 0.15). The results indicate that self-efficacy, personal control, and perceived health status had an indirect influence on health-promoting behavior through social support. The findings of this study suggest that social support is a mediating variable on health-promoting behavior of community-dwelling older women, and further refinement of the underlying model is warranted.