Effect of Aging on the Lower Limb Kinematics in Karate Practitioners: Comparing Athletes and Their Senseis.

With the life expectancy increasing, older adult population has gained the attention of many researchers. Aging is known to lead to a general decline in bodily functions, which affect the quality of life. The aim of this study was to analyze how the aging process affects veteran active karate practitioners, in the kinematic and temporal structure of the frontal kick. Nine black belt karate practitioners over 50 years old and 24 black belt karate practitioners, aged between 20 and 30 years old, all male, performed the frontal kick mae-geri. Results showed that knee is the structure that holds most differences between young and veterans, both for linear and for angular variables during the mae-geri performance. Statistical differences were found in linear velocity for the knee; linear acceleration of the knee, hip, and RASIS; maximum angular velocity for knee and hip; maximum angular acceleration for ankle and hip; and in the range of motion of knee. The temporal variables show differences, between groups, in maximum linear velocity, maximum linear acceleration, and maximum angular acceleration. However, no differences were found between groups for the time before contact in the maximum linear and angular acceleration, which allow us to remark both the effects of the aging process and the effect of training. This study corroborates the ability of older people to achieve benefits from sports practice, achieving higher efficiency than the younger adults in task execution, but using different motor control strategies.

Three-dimensional kinematic adaptations of gait throughout pregnancy and post-partum.

PURPOSE: The kinematic analysis of gait during pregnancy provides more information about the anatomical changes and contributes to exercise and rehabilitation prescription. The purposes were to describe and quantify the spatial, temporal and kinematic parameters in the joints of the lower limb during gait at the end of the first, second and third trimesters of pregnancy and in the postpartum period. METHODS: A three-dimensional analysis was performed in eleven pregnant women. Repeated measures ANOVA was performed for comparisons between periods. RESULTS: The longitudinal effect of pregnancy was not observed in spatial and temporal parameters. In joint kinematics the effect of pregnancy was observed in all joints for the three planes of motion. The hip joint and pelvis are the structures with more changes, and the results point to an increase in the anterior tilt of the pelvis as the pregnancy progresses, as well as a decrease of the amplitudes of the hip joint. The results suggested that pregnant women need to maintain the stability of the body, and become more efficient in locomotion. CONCLUSIONS: In general, the results retrieve the values from the beginning of pregnancy, indicating that the body was self-organized in order to overcome the morphological and physiological changes which women suffer during pregnancy, indicating that they have the ability to adapt depending on the demands, and after the effect of pregnancy is over, they return to values similar to those found in early pregnancy.