Browsing by Author "Richards, James G."
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Item Biomechanical Analysis of Gait Termination in 11-17 Year Old Youth at Preferred and Fast Walking Speeds(Elsevier, 2016-07-15) Ridge, Sarah Trager; Henley, John; Manal, Kurt; Miller, Freeman; Richards, James G.; Sarah Trager Ridge, John Henley, Kurt Manal, Freeman Miller, and James G. Richards; Ridge, Sarah Trager; Manal, Kurt; Richards, James G.In populations where walking and/or stopping can be difficult, such as in children with cerebral palsy, the ability to quickly stop walking may be beyond the child’s capabilities. Gait termination may be improved with physical therapy. However, without a greater understanding of the mechanical requirements of this skill, treatment planning is difficult. The purpose of this study was to understand how healthy children successfully terminate gait in one step when walking quickly, which can be challenging even for healthy children. Lower extremity kinematic and kinetic data were collected from 15 youth as they performed walking, planned, and unplanned stopping tasks. Each stopping task was performed as the subject walked at his/her preferred speed and a fast speed. The most significant changes in mechanics between speed conditions (preferred and fast) of the same stopping task were greater knee flexion angles (unplanned: +16.49±.54°, p=.00; planned: +15.75±1.1°, p=.00) and knee extension moments (unplanned: +.67±.02 N/kgm, p=.00; planned: +.57±.23 N/kgm, p=.00) at faster speeds. The extra range of motion in the joints and extra muscle strength required to maintain the stopping position suggests that stretching and strengthening the muscles surrounding the joints of the lower extremity, particularly the knee, may be a useful intervention.Item Efficacy of three therapeutic taping configurations for children with brachial plexus birth palsy(Elsevier, 2017-04-25) Russo, Stephanie A.; Zlotolow, Dan A.; Chafetz, Ross S.; Rodriguez, Luisa M.; Kelly, Devin; Linamen, Holly; Richards, James G.; Lubahn, John D.; Kozin, Scott H.; Stephanie A.Russo, Dan A.Zlotolow, Ross S.Chafetz, Luisa M.Rodriguez, Devin Kelly, Holly Linamen, James G.Richards, John D.Lubahn, Scott H.Kozin; Richards, James G.Study Design: Cross-sectional clinic al measurement study. Introduction: Scapular winging is a frequent complaint among children with brachial plexus birth palsy (BPBP). Therapeutic taping for scapular stabilization has been reported to decrease scapular wingi ng. Purpose of the Study: This study aimed to determine which therapeutic tapi ng construct was most effective for children with BPBP . Methods: Twenty-eight chil dren wit h BPBP participated in motion ca pture assessment with 4 taping conditions: (1) no tape, (2) facilitation of rhomboid major and rhomboid minor, (3) faci litation of middle and lower trapezius, and (4) facilitation of rhomboid major , rhomboid minor, and middle and lower trapezius (combination of both 2 and 3, referred to as comb ined taping). The par ticipants held their arms in 4 positions: (1) neutral with arms by their si des, (2) hand to mouth, (3) hand to belly, and (4) maximum crossbody adduction (CBA). The scapulothoracic, glenohumeral and humerothoracic (HT) joint angles and joint angular displace ments were compared using multivariate an alyses of variance with Bonferroni corrections. Results: Scapular winging was significantly decreased in both the trapezius and combined taping con- ditions in all position s compared with no tape. Rhomboids taping had no effect. Combined taping reduced HT CBA in the CBA position. Conclusions: Rhomboid taping cannot be recommended for treatment of children with BPBP . Both trapezius and combined taping approaches reduced scapular winging, but HT CBA was limited with combined taping. Therefore, therapeutic taping of middle and lower trapezius was the most effective configuration for scapular stabi lization in children with BPBP . Resting posture improved, but perfor - mance of the positi ons was not significantly improved. Level of Evidence: Level II.