Hip, knee, and ankle kinematics during activities of daily living: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Joint angle data from healthy subjects are necessary as baseline information. OBJECTIVE: To analyze the problems of patients who struggle with activities of daily living (ADL) due to restricted range of motion and to provide ADL guidance based on objective data. METHOD: An electromagnetic three-dimensional tracking system (FASTRAK) was used to quantify the hip, knee, and ankle angles of the dominant leg of 26 healthy adults as they performed 22 ADLs related to dressing, using the toilet, bathing, picking up objects, and crouching. For each ADL, the maximum angle was averaged across the 26 subjects. Mean angles of adduction/abduction and internal/external rotation during maximum hip flexion were also measured. RESULTS: The largest mean maximum angle was 101° for hip flexion (trunk rotation during crouching), 17° for hip adduction (putting on shoes), and 149° for knee flexion (trunk rotation during crouching). Analysis of adduction/abduction and internal/external rotation angles during maximum hip flexion showed the largest angle of adduction when putting on shoes, and the largest angle of internal rotation with trunk rotation during crouching. CONCLUSIONS: ADLs such as crouching and putting on pants showed larger joint angles than walking, climbing stairs, and standing up. Results obtained from this study can provide important objective data for ADL guidance for total hip arthroplasty and femoroacetabular impingement patients.

Ranges of active joint motion for the shoulder, elbow, and wrist in healthy adults.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to show highly reliable normal values and three-dimensional characteristics for final range of motion during active movements of the upper extremity joints, and to develop a database from healthy participants, with the advantage of this database lying in the methods of defining shoulder axial rotation angle and of compensating for soft tissue artifacts. METHODS: We used an electromagnetic tracking system (FASTRAK) to measure three-dimensional motions of the shoulder (thoracohumeral), elbow/forearm, and wrist in 20 healthy adults (age range: 18-34 years) during active joint motion tasks of the upper extremity. RESULTS: Joint angles of the upper extremity at the final position of joint motion tasks were determined. Highly reliable data for shoulder axial rotation angle were obtained, using a new definition of joint angle and regression analysis to compensate for estimation errors. CONCLUSIONS: These results should be useful in setting goals for the treatment of upper extremity joint functions in the fields of rehabilitation, orthopedics, and sports medicine.