An 8-month adapted motor activity program in a young CMT1A male patient

A short battery of physical performance tests was used to assess lower extremity function in more than 5,000 persons age 71 years and older in three communities. Balance, gait, strength, and endurance were evaluated by examining ability to stand with the feet together in the side-by-side, semi-tandem, and tandem positions, time to walk 8 feet, and time to rise from a chair and return to the seated position 5 times. A wide distribution of performance was observed for each test. Each test and a summary performance scale, created by summing categorical rankings of performance on each test, were strongly associated with self-report of disability. Both self-report items and performance tests were independent predictors of short-term mortality and nursing home admission in multivariate analyses. However, evidence is presented that the performance tests provide information not available from self-report items. Of particular importance is the finding that in those at the high end of the functional spectrum, who reported almost no disability, the performance test scores distinguished a gradient of risk for mortality and nursing home admission. Additionally, within subgroups with identical self-report profiles, there were systematic differences in physical performance related to age and sex. This study provides evidence that performance measures can validly characterize older persons across a broad spectrum of lower extremity function. Performance and self-report measures may complement each other in providing useful information about functional status.

The knowledge of surface electromyography (SEMG) and the number of applications have increased considerably during the past ten years. However, most methodological developments have taken place locally, resulting in different methodologies among the different groups of users.A specific objective of the European concerted action SENIAM (surface EMG for a non-invasive assessment of muscles) was, besides creating more collaboration among the various European groups, to develop recommendations on sensors, sensor placement, signal processing and modeling. This paper will present the process and the results of the development of the recommendations for the SEMG sensors and sensor placement procedures. Execution of the SENIAM sensor tasks, in the period 1996-1999, has been handled in a number of partly parallel and partly sequential activities. A literature scan was carried out on the use of sensors and sensor placement procedures in European laboratories. In total, 144 peer-reviewed papers were scanned on the applied SEMG sensor properties and sensor placement procedures. This showed a large variability of methodology as well as a rather insufficient description. A special workshop provided an overview on the scientific and clinical knowledge of the effects of sensor properties and sensor placement procedures on the SEMG characteristics. Based on the inventory, the results of the topical workshop and generally accepted state-of-the-art knowledge, a first proposal for sensors and sensor placement procedures was defined. Besides containing a general procedure and recommendations for sensor placement, this was worked out in detail for 27 different muscles. This proposal was evaluated in several European laboratories with respect to technical and practical aspects and also sent to all members of the SENIAM club (>100 members) together with a questionnaire to obtain their comments. Based on this evaluation the final recommendations of SENIAM were made and published (SENIAM 8: European recommendations for surface electromyography, 1999), both as a booklet and as a CD-ROM. In this way a common body of knowledge has been created on SEMG sensors and sensor placement properties as well as practical guidelines for the proper use of SEMG.