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The purpose of this paper is to describe ongoing research on appropriate instrumentation and analysis techniques to characterize postural stability, postural agility, and dynamic stability, which collectively comprise the postural control spectrum. This study had a specific focus on using emerging sensors to develop protocols suitable for use outside laboratory or clinical settings. First, we examined the optimal number and placement of wearable accelerometers for assessing postural stability. Next, we proposed metrics and protocols for assessing postural agility with the use of a custom force plate-controlled video game. Finally, we proposed a method to quantify dynamic stability during walking tasks using novel frequency-domain metrics extracted from acceleration data obtained with a single body-worn IMU. In each of the three studies, a surrogate for instability was introduced, and the sensors and metrics discussed in this paper show promise for differentiating these trials from stable condition trials. Next steps for this work include expanding the tested population size and refining the methods to even more reliably and unobtrusively characterize postural control status in a variety of scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel fixation system for a hand‐held dynamometer (HHD) was designed to enable isometric muscle measurements on various muscle groups of strong, healthy individuals in a field setting. The objective of this study was to evaluate the intra‐ and interrater reliability of the system and determine its suitability for use by multiple researchers within large‐scale data collections during field activities. Four researchers tested eight healthy subjects, who each completed eight different maximal isometric muscle strength assessments using the HHD fixation system. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) results were evaluated with a 95% confidence interval. ICC results for interrater reliability demonstrated excellent agreement of all eight measurements tested. ICC results for intrarater reliability demonstrated excellent agreement for six out of eight measurements. This system provides a new opportunity for several different high‐quality maximal muscle strength measurements to be collected by multiple data collectors on large numbers of strong, healthy individuals in a field setting. Highlights: This system is a reliable testing procedure that provides a new opportunity for several different high‐quality maximal muscle strength measurements.The system allows for laboratory quality data to be collected in the field by multiple data collectors on large numbers of strong, healthy individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to compare the magnitude of knee kinematic coupling between genders and among open- and closed-chain tasks. A secondary purpose was to compare the consistency of knee kinematic coupling between genders and among open- and closed-chain tasks. Vector-coding methods were used to quantify coupling in the sagittal and transverse planes of the knee between full extension and 20 degrees of flexion as 10 males and 10 females walked, ascended and descended stairs, and performed a passive pendulum leg drop. An ANOVA showed no main effect of gender. There was a main effect of task, where coupling during the stance phase of walking was significantly greater than each of the other tasks. Intraclass correlation values suggested that males were slightly more consistent than females. A general lack of divergence between genders may be related to the tasks analyzed in this study. It is possible that more strenuous tasks may elicit larger differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]