Rehabilitation Engineering - Medical Engineering

Site search

Pubmed Journal Search

Search OmniMedical

Phantom Pain

Ahmed Bilal Friday 24th September 2004

While prosthetics is essentially a scientific field dealing primarily with helping amputees regain their ease of movement and ability, there is much research and interest in dealing with the psychological effects of amputation. From cutting-edge research in cognitive patterns of amputees to help quicken the rehabilitation process to helping patients deal with residual issues such as the constant realization that they’ve permanently lost a part of themselves, prosthetics is as much a science as it is about healing the minds of patients.

Phantom pain is just one of such problems facing doctors and patients. Essentially, phantom pain is the sensation of a limb when it’s not present, or the extreme deformation or shortening of the limb (for example, some amputees have reported that they’ve felt their hands attached directly to their shoulders), sensation known as ‘telescoping’. Phantom limb pain is usually a burning, stinging, electric pain, and can increase under anxiety an…

The biomechanics of running

Ahmed Bilal Friday 24th September 2004

Running injuries and what the biomechanics of the human body tells us to prevent them

Running is without doubt the most popular of cardiovascular exercises. It forms an integral part of any serious fitness regime, and millions partake in the activity every year, be it for sport, training or just losing weight.

And yet, there is a serious downside to running most of us are not aware of. While it provides us with a variety of health-related benefits, studies show that around 60 percent of all runners experience some sort of lower-extremity injury due to the activity. The critical areas usually affected are your knees and ankles. Most of the running injuries are due to overuse, which occurs when your muscles, bones and joints are repeatedly subjected to high stress. The cumulative effect of these stresses can cause structural damage at a greater rate than at which the body can repair itself.

But running is not the actual cause of such problems. In fact, if you’re free …

Muscle Contraction and Hills Model

V F Murphy Monday 10th May 2004

Structure of Muscle

Muscle is made up of fibrous components termed myofibrils. Each of these is formed by a large number of sarcomeres. Each sarcomere feature repeated bands of Actin and Myosin, causing a banded apperance during microscopy.

The Sliding Filament Model

Huxley proposed that not only did muscles contract by changing the degree of overlap between the actin and myosin filaments, but the force was determined by the degree of such overlap.

Testing the Sliding Filament Model …

Gait Analysis

V F Murphy Tuesday 23rd March 2004

The Efficacy of Subplantar Cushioning in Modulating Ground Reaction Force and Total Impulse in Normal Walking Gait

Abstract

Footwear is prevalent in modern society, and rarely does one undertake locomotive actions unshod. A detailed understanding of the long term influence of such orthotics is a prerequisite to attempting reduction of those geriatric conditions associated with gait, e.g. osteoarthritis. Whilst a considerable body of evidence exists to support the role of cushioning in modulating ground reaction force (GRF) and impulse during sporting activities, few studies consider the more common case of walking with normal gait. The present study evaluates the effect of wearing footware with reference to being unshod, and the effect of increasing the cushioning effect of footware by means of a removable insole. The presence of footware has been shown to modulate both GRF and impulse during normal gait, a finding which may have implications in terms of the treatment of d…

Gait Analysis I

V F Murphy Saturday 31st January 2004

Gait analysis is the process of quantification and interpretation of human locomotion. The gait may reflect compensations for underlying pathologies, or be responsible for causation of symptoms in itself. Aside from clinical applications, gait analysis is widely used in professional sports training to optimise and improve atheletic performance.

Normal or Standard Gait

So that the aforementioned pathologies may be identified and isolated, it becomes essential to understand the characteristics of what has been termed 'Normal Gait'. M W Whittle in his book 'Gait Analysis' defined this normal gait as 'A method of locomotion involving the use of the two legs, alternately, to provide both support and propulsion'.

(On normal gait) A method of locomotion involving the use of the two legs, alternately, to provide both support and propulsion:M W Whittle

Webster puts it in somewhat more compact terms in expressing Gait in terms of 'Manner of walking or stepping; bearing or carriage…

Wheelchair steered by brainpower

Based on the BBC Sunday 27th July 2003

The BBC reports today upon ongoing research by the Dalle Molle Institute for Perceptual Artificial Intelligence into the use of EEG (electroencephalography) for navigation of wheelchairs.

The technology relies upon improvements in EEG to allow a greater signal to noise ratio to be obtained.

Read the full article [BBC] …

Kistler Instruments

R Cooper Thursday 1st January 1970

When you say force plates, you think Kistler. Since its inception in 1966, Kistler have been at the forefront of biomechanics and gait research.

Their present technology includes piezoelectric force sensors to measure the forces exerted between foot and floor in walking, standing, running, jumping, or pretty much any movement activity. It is even possible to measure such things as wheelchair usage (Kirby et al 1996), or weight lifting (Wretenberg et al 1996).

Typical applications of the Kistler Range are shown below:

Gait Analysis

The high frequency and high dynamic range of Kistler force platforms makes them ideal for a full multi-component analysis of gait. Kistler distribute the Bioware software, highly specialised software for analysis of multi-component force data, able to calculate GRF vectors and apply hi and lo pass filters with ease.

Balance Analysis

Perhaps not the first th…

Achilles Tendon Repair

Diana Oprean Thursday 1st January 1970

Achilles tendon, the largest and strongest tendon in the human body, is most commonly injured in sports, and therefore, there has been an increasing incidence of injuries of the tendon over the past decade, particularly in the more developed countries.

To avoid confusing terminology referring to Achille tendon injuries, the clinical syndrome in and around the tendon characterized by pain, swelling and impaired ability to perform certain movements or activities has been generically called Achilles tendinopathy (55-65% of injury cases).

Specialists have identified two main sources of tendinopathies: loading-induced degeneration, caused by overuse (strenuous physical activities, running, jumping) and systemic, predisposing diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis (only 2% of cases).

Among the factors that predispose a person to these problems, there are a few intrinsic risk factors “ œlower extremity malalignments, leg length discrepancy, muscle weakness and imbalance, d…

Orthotics

Ahmed Bilal Thursday 1st January 1970

Orthotics are orthopaedic devices designed to treat or adjust various biomechanical foot disorders. When the foot is not functioning correctly, it will produce painful areas. The signs and symptoms of altered biomechanics of the foot are usually registered as pain. An orthotic can relieve that pain by supporting the ligaments and the osseous (bone) structures of the feet. There are several ways to construct an orthotic such as taking a plaster impression of the foot or using a foam based impression. The newer, more advanced way is to take an optical impression of the foot.

Orthotics are usually divided into four categories:

Functional orthotics are designed with the primary goal of controlling an individual's biomechanics. They correct defects in the arch that cause poor shock absorption such as excessive pronation (flattening of the arch) and supination (a high arch) of the lower ankle or subtalar joint. Pronation is a complex movement involving eversion (turning out) of the h…