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\"This is a short guide on sit-stand working in the office. It reviews the research on sitting and standing at work from the 1950s to present, and provides guidance for specialists, therapists, practitioners, and managers. The book is illustrated with many photos and figures and is understandable to the layman as well as the specialist. With the increased emphasis on healthy lifestyles, coupled with the obesity and overweight epidemic, many are claiming that we should spend more time standing at work. Some have even claimed that sitting is the new smoking. Readers of the book will learn and understand what is behind these claims, what stacks-up, what doesn't, and be able to make informed decisions about whether to invent in new facilities, and what to invest. This book is of value to human factors specialists, physical therapists, chiropractors and occupational health practitioners, architects, and facilities managers\"-- Provided by publisher.

Background A precise comparison of supine and standing whole spine alignment in both the coronal and sagittal planes, including the pelvic parameters, has not been reported. Furthermore, previous studies investigated positional differences in the Cobb angle only in young patients with idiopathic scoliosis. The difference in alignment has never been investigated in a population of patients with adult spinal deformity (ASD). In most cases, ASD patients are aware of the symptoms when standing and tend to stoop with back pain, whereas the symptoms disappear when lying on a bed. Therefore, it is important to elucidate the positional differences in the deformity in older adults. The purposes of this study are to establish a method for comparing whole spine alignment between supine and standing, and to clarify the positional difference of the alignment in the patients with ASD. Methods Twenty-four patients with ASD (mean age: 60.1 years, range 20–80 years; 24 women) were evaluated. A slot-scanning three-dimensional X-ray imager (EOS) was used to assess the whole spine in the standing position. Computed tomography was used to assess the whole spine in the supine position. The computed tomography DICOM dataset of the whole spine in the supine position was transformed to two-dimensional (coronal and sagittal) digital reconstructed radiography images. The digital reconstructed radiography images were input for three-dimensional measurement by the EOS software and compared with the standing whole spine alignment measured by EOS. Results The mean intraclass correlation coefficients (supine, standing) of intra-rater / inter-rater reliabilities for the measured parameters were 0.981, 0.984 / 0.970, 0.986, respectively. The Cobb and rotation angles of the major curve, mostly the thoracolumbar area, were significantly greater in the standing position than in the supine position. Lumbar lordosis during standing was significantly kyphotic. With respect to the pelvic parameters, the sacral slope was significantly smaller in the standing position than in the supine position. Pelvic tilt and pelvic incidence were significantly greater in the standing position than in the supine position. Conclusions The lumbar to pelvic parameters and the major curve in standing position significantly deteriorate compared with the supine position in patients with ASD.

AimThe aim of this study was to examine the association between toe pressure strength in the standing position and the presence of assistance during standing up in the older adults.FindingsThe results showed that even a strong toe grip strength may not contribute to “no” assistance in standing up. On the other hand, stronger toe pressure strength in the standing position may contribute to “no” assistance in standing up.MessageToe pressure strength in the standing position may be one of the important functions among those associated with standing up. In addition, this study offers the possibility of contributing to the rehabilitation of older adults who need to improve their ability to stand up without assistance.PurposeWe believe that toe pressure strength in the standing position, which is closer to the actual movement, is more associated with standing up in the older adults than the conventional toe grip strength. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine the association between toe pressure strength in the standing position and the presence of assistance in standing up in the older adults.MethodsNinety-five community-dwelling older adults (82 ± 8 years old, 72% female) were included in this study. The patients were evaluated based on their need for assistance in standing up. Physical functions, including toe pressure strength in the standing position, toe grip strength, hand grip strength, knee extension strength, one-leg standing time with eyes open, and maximal walking speed, were measured.ResultsWhen compared with and without assistance to stand up, the group requiring assistance had weaker toe pressure strength in the standing position than the group without assistance (p = 0.015, ES = 0.53). After adjusting for confounding factors, the final model revealed that toe pressure strength in the standing position was associated with the use of assistance in standing up (odds ratio 0.94 [0.88–0.99, p = 0.025]).ConclusionToe pressure strength in the standing position was associated with the use of assistance in standing up in older adults. Improving toe pressure strength in the standing position may facilitate the ability of older adults to stand up.

After a total hip arthroplasty (THA), standing and walking balance are greatly affected in the early stages of recovery, so it is important to increase the weight-bearing amount (WBA) on the operated side. Sometimes, traditional treatments may not be enough to improve WBA and weight-bearing ratio (WBR) on the operated side in a satisfactory way. To solve this problem, we came up with a new weight-shifting-based robot control system called LOCOBOT. This system can control a spherical robot on a floor by changing the center of pressure (COP) on a force-sensing board in rehabilitation after THA. The goal of this study was to find out how rehabilitation with the LOCOBOT affects the WBR and balance in a static standing position in patients with unilateral hip osteoarthritis (OA) who had a primary uncemented THA. This randomized controlled trial included 20 patients diagnosed with Kellgren-Lawrence (K-L) grade 3 or 4 hip OA on the operative side and K-L grade 0 normal hip on the nonoperative side. We used the minimization method for allocation and randomly assigned patients to either the LOCOBOT group or the control group. As a result, 10 patient seach were randomly assigned to the LOCOBOT and control groups. Both groups received 40 min of rehabilitation treatment. Out of the 40 min, the LOCOBOT group underwent treatment for 10 min with LOCOBOT. The control group performed COP-controlled exercises on a flat floor instead of using LOCOBOT for 10 of the 40 min. All theoutcome measures were performed pre-THA and 11.9 ± 1.6 days after THA (12 days after THA). The primary outcome measure included WBR in the static standing position. After12 days of THA, the LOCOBOT group exhibited significantly higher mean WBR and WBA (operated side) values than the control group. Furthermore, the LOCOBOT group exhibited significantly lower mean WBA (non-operated side) and outer diameter area (ODA) values than the control group. From pre-THA to 12 days after THA, the LOCOBOT group exhibited a significant improvement in mean WBR and WBA (operated side). Moreover, the mean WBA (non-operated side) and ODA significantly decreased. From pre-THA to 12 days after THA, the control group showed a significant increase in total trajectory length and ODA. The most important finding of this study was that patients were able to perform the LOCOBOT exercise as early as the second day after THA, and that WBR and ODA significantly improved by the 12th day after THA. This result demonstrated that the LOCOBOT effectively improves WBR in a short period of time after THA and is a valuable system for enhancing balance ability. This expedites the acquisition of independence in activities of daily living after THA and may contribute to optimizing the effectiveness of medical care.

Stand and Stretch is a course in the Pick Me Up Series, designed to help you learn some simple stretching to include in your work day. The benefits of stretching your body are real and have been practiced around the world for centuries. As movement mentor Mike demonstrates, six minutes' mindful stretching each day includes neck stretches, shoulder rolls, back stretching, quad stretches, shaking wrists and rotating hands. Stand and Stretch is easy to follow and motivating. Mike's magic stretch moves literally put you on the path to better physical and mental-emotional health. They are not a quick fix to making you fit, but help you resume what your body was designed to be: more flexible, stronger and more coordinated. Through regular stretching, you will improve your range of motion and thereby your flexibility. You will boost your mental health and productivity.

The relatively large pick-up volume of surface electrodes has for long motivated the concern that muscles other than that of interest may contribute to surface electromyograms (EMGs). Recent findings suggest however the pick-up volume of surface electrodes may be smaller than previously appreciated, possibly leading to the detection of surface EMGs insensitive to muscle activity. Here we combined surface and intramuscular recordings to investigate how comparably action potentials from gastrocnemius and soleus are represented in surface EMGs detected with different inter-electrode distances. We computed the firing instants of motor units identified from intramuscular EMGs detected from gastrocnemius and soleus while five participants stood upright. We used these instants to trigger and average surface EMGs detected from multiple skin regions along gastrocnemius. Results from 66 motor units (whereof 31 from gastrocnemius) revealed the surface-recorded amplitude of soleus action potentials was 6% of that of gastrocnemius and did not decrease for inter-electrode distances smaller than 4 cm. Gastrocnemius action potentials were more likely detected for greater inter-electrode distances and their amplitude increased steeply up to 5 cm inter-electrode distance. These results suggest that reducing inter-electrode distance excessively may result in the detection of surface EMGs insensitive to gastrocnemius activity without substantial attenuation of soleus crosstalk.

In this paper, we perform a systematic study about the on-body sensor positioning and data acquisition details for Human Activity Recognition (HAR) systems. We build a testbed that consists of eight body-worn Inertial Measurement Units (IMU) sensors and an Android mobile device for activity data collection. We develop a Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) network framework to support training of a deep learning model on human activity data, which is acquired in both real-world and controlled environments. From the experiment results, we identify that activity data with sampling rate as low as 10 Hz from four sensors at both sides of wrists, right ankle, and waist is sufficient in recognizing Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) including eating and driving activity. We adopt a two-level ensemble model to combine class-probabilities of multiple sensor modalities, and demonstrate that a classifier-level sensor fusion technique can improve the classification performance. By analyzing the accuracy of each sensor on different types of activity, we elaborate custom weights for multimodal sensor fusion that reflect the characteristic of individual activities.

Heart rate variability (HRV) is a widely recognized biomarker for autonomic nervous system regulation, applicable in clinical and athletic settings to monitor health and recovery. Despite its extensive use, HRV measurement reliability is influenced by numerous factors, necessitating controlled conditions for accurate assessments. This study investigates the reliability of short-term HRV measurements in various settings and positions, aiming to establish consistent protocols for HRV monitoring and interpretation. We assessed morning HRV in 34 healthy, physically active adults across supine and standing positions, at home and in the laboratory, over a 24-hour period. Environment significantly impacted standing HRV. Home measurements exhibited slightly lower variance compared to lab settings, underscoring the importance of environment control. Our findings confirm the high reliability of HRV measurements, indicating their robustness in capturing autonomic changes, provided a rigorous methodology is employed. Here we show that effective and reliable HRV assessment is possible across various conditions, contingent upon strict management of confounding factors. This research supports the utility of HRV as a non-invasive diagnostic tool, emphasizing its importance in health management and potential in broadening applications to diverse populations. Future studies are encouraged to expand these assessments to include varied demographic and clinical profiles, enhancing HRV integration into routine health evaluations.

Optically pumped magnetometer-based magnetoencephalography (OP-MEG) can be used to measure neuromagnetic fields while participants move in a magnetically shielded room. Head movements in previous OP-MEG studies have been up to 20 cm translation and ∼30° rotation in a sitting position. While this represents a step-change over stationary MEG systems, naturalistic head movement is likely to exceed these limits, particularly when participants are standing up. In this proof-of-concept study, we sought to push the movement limits of OP-MEG even further. Using a 90 channel (45-sensor) whole-head OP-MEG system and concurrent motion capture, we recorded auditory evoked fields while participants were: (i) sitting still, (ii) standing up and still, and (iii) standing up and making large natural head movements continuously throughout the recording – maximum translation 120 cm, maximum rotation 198°. Following pre-processing, movement artefacts were substantially reduced but not eliminated. However, upon utilisation of a beamformer, the M100 event-related field localised to primary auditory regions. Furthermore, the event-related fields from auditory cortex were remarkably consistent across the three conditions. These results suggest that a wide range of movement is possible with current OP-MEG systems. This in turn underscores the exciting potential of OP-MEG for recording neural activity during naturalistic paradigms that involve movement (e.g. navigation), and for scanning populations who are difficult to study with stationary MEG (e.g. young children).

Human locomotion involves continuously variable activities including walking, running, and stair climbing over a range of speeds and inclinations as well as sit-stand, walk-run, and walk-stairs transitions. Understanding the kinematics and kinetics of the lower limbs during continuously varying locomotion is fundamental to developing robotic prostheses and exoskeletons that assist in community ambulation. However, available datasets on human locomotion neglect transitions between activities and/or continuous variations in speed and inclination during these activities. This data paper reports a new dataset that includes the lower-limb kinematics and kinetics of ten able-bodied participants walking at multiple inclines (±0°; 5° and 10°) and speeds (0.8 m/s; 1 m/s; 1.2 m/s), running at multiple speeds (1.8 m/s; 2 m/s; 2.2 m/s and 2.4 m/s), walking and running with constant acceleration (±0.2; 0.5), and stair ascent/descent with multiple stair inclines (20°; 25°; 30° and 35°). This dataset also includes sit-stand transitions, walk-run transitions, and walk-stairs transitions. Data were recorded by a Vicon motion capture system and, for applicable tasks, a Bertec instrumented treadmill. Measurement(s) locomotory behavior • able-bodied gait • joint kinematics • joint kinetics Technology Type(s) motion capture • forceplates Sample Characteristic - Organism Homo sapiens Machine-accessible metadata file describing the reported data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16611523