Everyday Movements Research Articles

PMS2 EXAMINATION OF A SPORT-SPECIFIC DYNAMIC CORE STABILITY PROGRAMME AMONG FEMALE ACROBATIC ROCK AND ROLL DANCERS

Among acrobatic rock and roll dancers, the exercises for core muscle strengthening are kept in the background because the dancers learn several acrobatics and choreography and they keep preparing for the competitions. The aim of the study was to improve the dancers’ lumbar motor control, their core muscle strength and its stabilizing role, their balancing ability and the functional status of the spine with a three-month dynamic stabilization programme. We carried out a quantitative, prospective and longitudinal study. Our convenience sampling was non-randomised. The participants (n=34) were divided into two groups: the intervention group and the control group. Outcome measurement included Core Test (CT), Flamingo Balance Test (FBT), Lumbar Motor Control Test (LMCT) and the Roland-Morris questionnaire. For summarizing and analysing the data we used Microsoft Office Excel 2010, we did descriptive statistics and difference examinations (two-sample t-tests, paired t-test). There were no significant differences (p=0.054) in the age between the intervention (14.75±1.6) and control group (15.7±1.35). In the intervention group we found significant differences (p<0.001) between the pre and the post-test in the CT (pre-78.69±44.25; post-140± 45.24), FBT (pre-5.74±6.62; post-2.7±4.7) and LMCT (pre-0.9±1.4; post-0.1±0.6). We did not find significant differences in the control group none of the tests (CT- p=0.29; FBT- p=0.4; LMCT- p=0.09). In the intervention group before the training programme there were 9 “yes” responses which mean dysfunction in the spine during everyday movements, after the training we found 7 positive responses. The number of “yes” respondents was also reduced while in the control group it was increased. Based on the international literature and on the results what we achieved, we concluded that a core-strengthening training programme has a beneficial effect on the acrobatic rock and roll dancers, therefore it is worth using such programmes.

Sensor-supported Classification of Gait Patterns in Everyday Movement of Patients With Parkinson's Disease

Sensor-supported Classification of Gait Patterns in Everyday Movement of Patients With Parkinson's Disease

Engineered skeletal muscles for disease modeling and drug discovery

Skeletal muscle is the largest organ of human body with several important roles in everyday movement and metabolic homeostasis. The limited ability of small animal models of muscle disease to accurately predict drug efficacy and toxicity in humans has prompted the development in vitro models of human skeletal muscle that fatefully recapitulate cell and tissue level functions and drug responses. We first review methods for development of three-dimensional engineered muscle tissues and organ-on-a-chip microphysiological systems and discuss their potential utility in drug discovery research and development of new regenerative therapies. Furthermore, we describe strategies to increase the functional maturation of engineered muscle, and motivate the importance of incorporating multiple tissue types on the same chip to model organ cross-talk and generate more predictive drug development platforms. Finally, we review the ability of available in vitro systems to model diseases such as type II diabetes, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, Pompe disease, and dysferlinopathy.

The relationship between guarding, pain, and emotion.

Pain-related behavior in people with chronic pain is often overlooked in a focus on increasing the amount of activity, yet it may limit activity and maintain pain and disability. Targeting it in treatment requires better understanding of the role of beliefs, emotion, and pain in pain behavior. This study aimed to clarify the interrelationships between guarding, pain, anxiety, and confidence in movement in people with chronic pain in everyday movements. Physiotherapists rated extent of guarding on videos of people with chronic pain and healthy controls making specific movements. Bayesian modelling was used to determine how guarding was related to self-reported pain intensity, anxiety, and emotional distress, and observer-rated confidence in movement. The absence of guarding was associated with low levels of pain, anxiety, distress, and higher movement self-efficacy, but guarding behavior occurred at high and low levels of each of those variables. Guarding was not directly dependent on pain but on anxiety; the relationship between pain and guarding was mediated by anxiety, with a high probability. Nor was guarding directly related to the broader distress score, but to self-efficacy for movement, again with a high probability. Pain-related guarding is more likely to be effectively addressed by intervention to reduce anxiety rather than pain (such as analgesia); more attention to how people move with chronic pain, rather than only how much they move, is likely to help to extend activity.

Combining Eye-tracking Data with an Analysis of Video Content from Free-viewing a Video of a Walk in an Urban Park Environment.

As individuals increasingly live in cities, methods to study their everyday movements and the data that can be collected becomes important and valuable. Eye-tracking informatics are known to connect to a range of feelings, health conditions, mental states and actions. But because vision is the result of constant eye-movements, teasing out what is important from what is noise is complex and data intensive. Furthermore, a significant challenge is controlling for what people look at compared to what is presented to them. The following presents a methodology for combining and analyzing eye-tracking on a video of a natural and complex scene with a machine learning technique for analyzing the content of the video. In the protocol we focus on analyzing data from filmed videos, how a video can be best used to record participants' eye-tracking data, and importantly how the content of the video can be analyzed and combined with the eye-tracking data. We present a brief summary of the results and a discussion of the potential of the method for further studies in complex environments.

The "why" of reaching: Second-order planning across the adult lifespan.

Second-order planning, planning that takes into account imminent and subsequent task demands, has been shown to be essential during everyday movement. For example, the kinematics of a "reach to an object" action have been shown to be linked to the intended goal for the object (the prior intention). However, it is unclear whether this type of second-order planning for prior intention is preserved during aging or indeed how this differs across the adult lifespan. Kinematics of a reach action preceding four prior intentions-place in a "tight" hole, place in a "loose" hole, throw, or lift-were measured in 122 people aged 20-81 years. The kinematics of the reach movement demonstrated that all participants tailored their reach movement to the prior intention, with the deceleration period of the reach discriminating across groups. The 20s and 30s group showed a different deceleration period during the reach for tight versus loose place prior intentions; this was not seen after 39 years of age, and the 70 + group showed no discrimination across the deceleration period for the four prior intentions. When considering movement efficiency of the place actions, we found it could be predicted by age and that this relationship was mediated by discrimination across the deceleration period. This study demonstrates that a clear difference is seen in the way in which second-order planning is used across the lifespan and that this has implications for movement efficiency. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Analyzing Gait in the Real World Using Wearable Movement Sensors and Frequently Repeated Movement Paths.

Assessing interventions for mobility disorders using real-life movement remains an unsolved problem. We propose a new method combining the strengths of traditional laboratory studies where environment is strictly controlled, and field-based studies where subjects behave naturally. We use a foot-mounted inertial sensor, a GPS receiver and a barometric altitude sensor to reconstruct a subject’s path and detailed foot movement, both indoors and outdoors, during days-long measurement using strapdown navigation and sensor fusion algorithms. We cluster repeated movement paths based on location, and propose that on these paths, most environmental and behavioral factors (e.g., terrain and motivation) are as repeatable as in a laboratory. During each bout of movement along a frequently repeated path, any synchronized measurement can be isolated for study, enabling focused statistical comparison of different interventions. We conducted a 10-day test on one subject wearing athletic shoes and sandals each for five days. The algorithm detected four frequently-repeated straight walking paths with at least 300 total steps and repetitions on at least three days for each condition. Results on these frequently-repeated paths indicated significantly lower foot clearance and shorter stride length and a trend toward decreased stride width when wearing athletic shoes vs. sandals. Comparisons based on all straight walking were similar, showing greater statistical power, but higher variability in the data. The proposed method offers a new way to evaluate how mobility interventions affect everyday movement behavior.

Ion current and action potential alterations in peripheral neurons subject to uniaxial strain.

Peripheral nerves, subject to continuous elongation and compression during everyday movement, contain neuron fibers vital for movement and sensation. At supraphysiological strains resulting from trauma, chronic conditions, aberrant limb positioning, or surgery, conduction blocks occur which may result in chronic or temporary loss of function. Previous in vitro stretch models, mainly focused on traumatic brain injury modelling, have demonstrated altered electrophysiological behavior during localized deformation applied by pipette suction. Our aim was to evaluate the changes in voltage‐activated ion channel function during uniaxial straining of neurons applied by whole‐cell deformation, more physiologically relevant model of peripheral nerve trauma. Here, we quantified experimentally the changes in inwards and outwards ion currents and action potential (AP) firing in dorsal root ganglion‐derived neurons subject to uniaxial strains, using a custom‐built device allowing simultaneous cell deformation and patch clamp recording. Peak inwards sodium currents and rectifying potassium current magnitudes were found to decrease in cells under stretch, channel reversal potentials were found to be left‐shifted, and half‐maximum activation potentials right‐shifted. The threshold for AP firing was increased in stretched cells, although neurons retained the ability to fire induced APs. Overall, these results point to ion channels being damaged directly and immediately by uniaxial strain, affecting cell electrophysiological activity, and can help develop prevention and treatment strategies for peripheral neuropathies caused by mechanical trauma.

Engineering a uniaxial substrate-stretching device for simultaneous electrophysiological measurements and imaging of strained peripheral neurons

Peripheral nerves are continuously subjected to mechanical strain during everyday movements, but excessive stretch can lead to damage and neuronal cell functionality can also be impaired. To better understand cellular processes triggered by stretch, it is necessary to develop in vitro experimental methods that allow multiple concurrent measurements and replicate in vivo mechanical conditions. Current commercially available cell stretching devices do not allow flexible experimental design, restricting the range of possible multi-physics measurements.Here, we describe and characterise a custom-built uniaxial substrate-straining device, with which neurons cultured on aligned patterned surfaces (50 µm wide grooves) can be strained up to 70% and simultaneously imaged with widefield and confocal imaging (up to 100x magnification). Furthermore, direct and indirect electrophysiological measurements by patch clamping and calcium imaging can be made during strain application. We characterise the strain applied to cells cultured in deformable wells by using finite element method simulations and experimental data, showing local surface strains of up to 60% with applied strains of up to 25%. We also show how patterned substrates do not alter the mechanical properties of the system compared to unpatterned surfaces whilst still inducing a homogeneous cell response to strain.The characterisation of this device will be useful for research into investigating the effect of whole-cell mechanical stretch on neurons at both single cell and network scales, with applications found in peripheral neuropathy modelling and in platforms for preventive and regenerative studies.

Hatescape? A relational geography of disability hate crime, exclusion and belonging in the city

Disabled people experience significant social discrimination and spatial exclusion in their everyday lives in the city. In recent years, discriminatory acts have increasingly been labelled as 'hate crimes'. We argue that hate crime's association with harassment and violence has obscured the more common prejudicial attitudes and actions, which create anxiety and fear. Further, the paper seeks to shift the disability hate crime discourse from its present focus on individual victimisation, to the micro and local spaces, social relations and wider socio-political contexts, within which these acts emerge. We set out a critique of hate crime discourse, offering instead a relational interpretation of people's experiences of place, drawing on aspects of non-representational theory. We argue that everyday movements through the city and encounters with others, produce senses of anxiety and precarity, as well as experiences of belonging, in the context of structural disablist attitudes. The paper draws on a collaborative research project in a city centre in Scotland, using a methodology of walking interviews and focus groups. The findings are presented in four themes, illustrated by qualitative GIS mapping: (i) recorded and experienced hate crime and harassment in the city; (ii) routes into and mobility within the city; (iii) spaces of fear and anxiety, and inclusion and welcome; and (iv) encounters and relations with others. We conclude by arguing that a relational approach, examining the dynamic unfolding or emergence of people's embodied and emotional experiences and encounters (both negative and positive), in a range of contexts, is a significant contribution to the hate crime debate.

Turfing, Desire Pathing, and Modes of Remembrance And Creative Citizenship Under Surveillance: Visuals Traveling Space—movement Traveling Time

Focusing on Oakland as the sociogeographical site, and on turfing as a hood dance practice performed in Oakland, this article discusses modes of resistance, remembrance, as well as the desire to challenge sociocultural and political landscapes. This article introduces the concept of movement-based remapping as a sociocultural and political strategy and in doing so incorporates the architectural concept of desire paths. It frames turfing as event in the sense of it being essentially significant to how a difference in the lives of those who turf and beyond is made and manifested through repetition and the establishment of a movement vocabulary. Through a reliance on a variety of different data types, including visual and (audio)visual data, in this article I will be studying turfing with a focus on the differences it creates and how, and additionally with an attention to the newness it invites to modes of social interaction and processes of creative world making. In doing so, I will be incorporating Hannah Arendt's concept of action. This article suggests that movement-based remapping has the capacity to address racial inequality within the social fabric and cultural architecture of the street as a designed urban site of multiactor flows. I suggest that a movement-based practice of remapping is a tool with which to challenge ideas of power within a space, and to question everyday movement scripts whether spatial, social, or political, through repetition, heightened visibility, and creating pathways for interactions.

Membrane Mechanical Properties Regulate the Effect of Strain on Spontaneous Electrophysiology in Human iPSC-Derived Neurons

Peripheral nerves contain neuron fibers vital for movement and sensation and are subject to continuous elongation and compression during everyday movement. At supraphysiological strains conduction blocks occur, resulting in permanent or temporary loss of function. The mechanisms underpinning these alterations in electrophysiological activity remain unclear; however, there is evidence that both ion channels and network synapses may be affected through cell membrane transmitted strain. The aim of this work was to quantify the changes in spontaneous activity resulting from application of uniaxial strain in a human iPS-derived motor neuron culture model, and to investigate the role of cell membrane mechanical properties during cell straining. Increasing strain in a custom-built cell-stretching device caused a linear decrease in spontaneous activity, and no immediate recovery of activity was observed after strain release. Imaging neuronal membranes with c-Laurdan showed changes to the lipid order in neural membranes during deformation with a decrease in lipid packing. Neural cell membrane stiffness can be modulated by increasing cholesterol content, resulting in reduced stretch-induced decrease of membrane lipid packing and in a reduced decrease in spontaneous activity caused by mechanical strain. Together these results indicate that the mechanism whereby cell injury causes impaired transmission of neural impulses may be governed by the mechanical state of the cell membrane, and contribute to establishing a direct relationship between neural uniaxial straining and loss of spontaneous neural activity.

Distinguishing between typical and atypical motion patterns amongst healthy individuals during a constrained spine flexion task

Despite ‘abnormal’ motion being considered a risk factor for low back injury, the current understanding of ‘normal’ spine motion is limited. Identifying normal motion within an individual is complicated by the considerable variation in movement patterns amongst healthy individuals. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to characterize sources of variation in spine motion among a sample of healthy participants. The second objective of this study was to develop a multivariate model capable of predicting an expected movement pattern for an individual. The kinematic shape of the lower thoracic and lumbar spine was recorded during a constrained dynamic trunk flexion movement; as this is not a normal everyday movement task, movements are considered ‘typical’ and ‘atypical’ for this task rather than ‘normal’ and ‘abnormal’. Variations in neutral standing posture accounted for 85% of the variation in spine motion throughout the task. Differences in total spine range of flexion and a regional re-weighting of range of motion between lower thoracic and lumbar regions explained a further 9% of the variance among individuals. The analysis also highlighted a difference in temporal sequencing of motion between lower thoracic and lumbar regions which explained 2% of the total movement variation. These identified sources of variation were used to select independent variables for a multivariate linear model capable of predicting an individuals’ expected movement pattern. This was done as a proof-of-concept to demonstrate how the error between predicted and observed motion patterns could be used to differentiate between ‘typical’ and ‘atypical’ movement strategies.

Silver nanowire inks for direct-write electronic tattoo applications.

Room-temperature printing of conductive traces has the potential to facilitate the direct writing of electronic tattoos and other medical devices onto biological tissue, such as human skin. However, in order to achieve sufficient electrical performance, the vast majority of conductive inks require biologically harmful post-processing techniques. In addition, most printed conductive traces will degrade with bending stresses that occur from everyday movement. In this work, water-based inks consisting of high aspect ratio silver nanowires are shown to enable the printing of conductive traces at low temperatures and without harmful post-processing. Moreover, the traces produced from these inks retain high electrical performance, even while undergoing up to 50% bending strain and cyclic bending strain over a thousand bending cycles. This ink has a rapid dry time of less than 2 minutes, which is imperative for applications requiring the direct writing of electronics on sensitive surfaces. Demonstrations of conductive traces printed onto soft, nonplanar materials, including an apple and a human finger, highlight the utility of these new silver nanowire inks. These mechanically robust films are ideally suited for printing directly on biological substrates and may find potential applications in the direct-write printing of electronic tattoos and other biomedical devices.

“Alive and kicking” – Moving through and diving into the Soviet kolkhoz and the East German LPG

The MODSCAPES project seeks an understanding of how modernist rural landscapes developed over time, in part calling for an understanding of the landscape as a set of intertwining layers assessed by local mapping. In addition, by understanding the spatial grammar of the landscape as well as perceiving it through different media, other aspects can be revealed which are not visible via mapping alone. The East-German and Baltic cases differ from other European examples by the fact that their existence ended nearly 30 years ago and residents and decision-makers from the time are still alive. Thus, we focused on the importance of actions carried out by residents in their everyday lives and ways to connect them with the respective space. If a landscape is understood by layers, then these actions form the “kebab skewers” metaphorically connecting them. Topographic maps from different periods formed the basis for the experiential data collected and interpreted in related steps accompanied by verbal commentaries. Firstly, we “dived” into the area using filming and field recordings simultaneously like a canvas to paint on and in the sense of a journey. Next, 360° surround films were shot at spots to simulate the view of a person turning around, followed by filming of situations representing everyday movement cycles in the area, such as going to work or taking children to school, which evoked an atmosphere of everyday life linking the space and people’s actions. Finally, go-along interviews were used to trigger and stimulate reflections and memories of residents to understand how the space impacted their experiences and perceptions. This process revealed facets of the daily life of the inhabitants, settlers or workers and their social interaction with the landscape, uncovering so far untouched places and unknown spatial relationships.

Sites of Protest: Rethinking Everyday Spaces as Sites for Protesting the Marginalisation of Difference

Sites of Protest: Rethinking Everyday Spaces as Sites for Protesting the Marginalisation of Difference

Designing technology for spatial needs: Routines, control and social competences of people with autism

Over the years, the relationship between technology and people with autism has been framed mainly in a medical model, where technology is primarily aimed at mitigating deficits and providing helps to overcome limitations. This has yielded a variety of Human-Computer Interaction designs addressed to improve the autistic individuals’ daily tasks and behavior. In this article, we want to explore a different approach, by proposing a phenomenological take on the autistic lived experience, which could integrate the results achieved by the medical model, and offer a “first person perspective” on autism. More precisely, by adopting a cognitive approach to urbanism we want to explore how autistic individuals conceptualize and experience the spaces they inhabit. To this aim, we interviewed 12 adults with a diagnosis of autism asking them to recount their everyday movements and city living activities. Building on the study findings, we identified three kinds of spaces that characterize their life and outlined a series of design considerations to support technology interventions for satisfying their spatial needs. Then, during a design session, we developed our conceptualization as well as our design suggestions, yielding a more nuanced picture of how space is subjectively constructed by autistic people.

Probing multi-scale mechanics of peripheral nerve collagen and myelin by X-ray diffraction.

Peripheral nerves are continuously subjected to mechanical forces, both during everyday movement and as a result of traumatic events. Current mechanical models focus on explaining the macroscopic behaviour of the tissue, but do not investigate how tissue strain translates to deformations at the microstructural level. Predicting the effect of macro-scale loading can help explain changes in nerve function and suggest new strategies for prevention and therapy. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between macroscopic tensile loading and micro scale deformation in structures thought to be mechanically active in peripheral nerves: the myelin sheath enveloping axons, and axially aligned epineurial collagen fibrils. The microstructure was probed using X-ray diffraction during in situ tensile loading, measuring the micro-scale deformation in collagen and myelin, combined with high definition macroscopic video extensiometry. At a tissue level, tensile loading elongates nerves axially, whilst simultaneously compressing circumferentially. The non-linear behaviour observed in both directions is evidence, circumferentially, that the nerve core components have the ability to rearrange before bearing load and axially, of a recruitment process in epineurial collagen. At the molecular level, axially aligned epineurial collagen fibrils are strained, whilst the myelin sheath enveloping axons is compressed circumferentially. During induced compression, the myelin sheath shows high circumferential stiffness, indicating a possible role in mechanical protection of axons. The myelin sheath is deformed from low loads, despite the non-linearity of whole tissue compression, indicating more than one mechanism contributing to myelin compression. Epineurial collagen shows similar load-bearing characteristics to those of other collagenous connective tissues. This new microstructural knowledge is key to understand peripheral nerve mechanical behaviour, and will support new regenerative strategies for traumatic and repetitive injury.

Urban mobility and neighborhood isolation in America's 50 largest cities.

Influential research on the negative effects of living in a disadvantaged neighborhood assumes that its residents are socially isolated from nonpoor or "mainstream" neighborhoods, but the extent and nature of such isolation remain in question. We develop a test of neighborhood isolation that improves on static measures derived from commonly used census reports by leveraging fine-grained dynamic data on the everyday movement of residents in America's 50 largest cities. We analyze 650 million geocoded Twitter messages to estimate the home locations and travel patterns of almost 400,000 residents over 18 mo. We find surprisingly high consistency across neighborhoods of different race and income characteristics in the average travel distance (radius) and number of neighborhoods traveled to (spread) in the metropolitan region; however, we uncover notable differences in the composition of the neighborhoods visited. Residents of primarily black and Hispanic neighborhoods-whether poor or not-are far less exposed to either nonpoor or white middle-class neighborhoods than residents of primarily white neighborhoods. These large racial differences are notable given recent declines in segregation and the increasing diversity of American cities. We also find that white poor neighborhoods are substantially isolated from nonpoor white neighborhoods. The results suggest that even though residents of disadvantaged neighborhoods travel far and wide, their relative isolation and segregation persist.

Belonging, pausing, feeling: a framework of “mobile dwelling” for U.K. university students that live at home

Notions of place and dwelling have become increasingly dynamic of late. No longer is place considered the sedentary equivalent to mobility, instead the spaces at which place and mobility intersect have produced exciting new ways of thinking about liminoid and mobile places, and how one might dwell in and through these intersections. In this paper we develop a framework of mobile dwelling to better understand student mobilities within UK higher education (HE), a sector that is framed by a set of binary dualisms – mobile/immobile, home/away, local/non-local. This dualistic thinking about im/mobility reflects the legacy of the “boarding school” model attached to traditional (and elite) HE participation, and newer permutations of undergraduate entry which is increasingly skewed towards the local. The framework developed here challenges these binary conceptualisations, which unhelpfully cast the growing number of live-at-home (LAH) students as immobile, writing out everyday movements such as commuting, and social and digital interactions with (and off) campus. Thus, by applying our concept of mobile dwelling to two UK-based studies, we reveal the complexities of LAH students’ daily mobilities; illuminating the pauses, the senses of belonging and the emotional reflections that are afforded by performances associated with commuting. By approaching everyday mobility as a tripartite experience of dwelling within/upon the liminoid spaces and experiences that constitute HE, we provide tools for understanding how marginal students make sense of their own identities, relationally understood against more traditional notions of studenthood.