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Biomedical subjects

C D Mote

Publications and source records attributed to C D Mote.

25 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Contribution of the musculature to rotatory laxity and torsional stiffness at the knee.

The relationships between the mean rectified EMG from two muscle groups crossing the knee joint and the rotational stiffness and laxity about the longitudinal axis of the lower leg were investigated. The EMG signals from three of the quadricep muscle group and two of the hamstring muscle group were monitored using surface electrodes. Each subject sustained self-induced muscle activity from specific muscle combinations while the foot was twisted internally and externally by the researcher. Joint rotation was measured using an electrogoniometer. Analyses of the data showed increased joint stiffness with increased numbers of active muscles. The stiffness measurements ranged from 0.16 to 2.54 Nm degree-1 depending upon the combination of active muscles. The stiffness measured in different tests were very repeatable with standard deviations ranging from 0.02 to 0.25 Nm degree-1. Increases in joint stiffness of over 400% by activation of these muscles were measured.

Adult↗

Surface EMG and torsion measurements during snow skiing: laboratory and field tests.

The relationship between mean rectified EMG (MREMG) measured with surface electrodes and the longitudinal torsion of the lower extremity was investigated in laboratory and snow skiing experiments. Linear regression of the MREMG from the gluteus medius and the peroneus longus with the torsion measured at the foot in the laboratory tests showed that torsion can be predicted with correlation coefficients greater than 0.95 and with a standard deviation less than 5 Nm over all knee flexions and weight bearing. A similar correspondence between MREMG and torsion during skiing does not exist. MREMG is dominantly correlated to posture and body position control functions in skiing. During falling, during ski binding release, and during possible injury sustaining situations, the MREMG was always relatively large, but it was not distinguishable from that associated with smaller torsion of the lower extremity.

Adult↗

Field measurements in snow skiing injury research.

Field measurements during skiing experiments simultaneously recorded the complete excitation of the toe and heel of one foot, the absolute spatial orientation of the pelvis and the foot, muscle activity at the hip, knee and ankle and the complete rotation of the femur relative to the tibia across the knee in three test subjects. Data were transmitted from test subjects during the skiing experiments by a 100K bits-1. PCM-FM system and recorded in digital form. Analyses of field data show the magnitude of the loading applied to the lower extremity during normal skiing often exceeds the expected, quasi-static ultimate strength of the tibia. Anterior-posterior bending of approximately 600 Nm has been recorded during skiing without binding release or injury to the test subjects. The standard heel binding design can not effectively control the bending moment in the lower extremity during skiing. Longitudinal rotation across the knee was in-phase with, though not proportional to, the applied torsion at the foot by the ski.

Athletic Injuries↗

Fundamental considerations in ski binding analysis.

1. The static adjustment of a ski binding by hand or by available machines is only an adjustment and is neither a static nor a dynamic evaluation of the binding design. Bindings of different design with identical static adjustments will perform differently in environments in which the forces are static or dynamic. 2. The concept of binding release force is a useful measure of binding adjustment, but it is inappropriate as a criterion for binding evaluation. First, it does not direct attention toward the injury causing mechanism, strain, or displacement in the leg. Second, it is only part of the evaluation in dynamic problems. 3. The binding release decision in present bindings is displacement controlled. The relative displacement of the boot and ski is the system variable. For any specified relative displacement the binding force can be any of an infinite number of possibilities determined by the loading path. 4. The response of the leg-ski system to external impulses applied to the ski is independent of the boot-ski relative motion as long as the boot recenters quickly in the binding. Response is dependent upon the external impulse plus system inertia, damping and stiffness. 5. When tested under half sinusoidal forces applied to a test ski, all bindings will demonstrate static and impulse loading regions. In the static region the force drives the binding to a relative release displacement. In the impulse region the initial velocity of the ski drives the binding to a release displacement. 6. The transition between the static and impulse loading regions is determined by the binding's capacity to store and dissipate energy along the principal loading path. Increased energy capacity necessitates larger external impulses to produce release. 7. In all bindings examined to date, the transmitted leg displacement or strain at release under static loading exceeds leg strain under dynamic or impact loading. Because static loading is responsible for many injuries, a skier should be able to release his bindings in every mode by simply pulling or twisting his foot outward. If that cannot be done without injury, the skier has identified for himself one type of fall that will result in injury. 8. And lastly, a little advice from Ben Franklin--"Carelessness does more harm than a want of knowledge."

Athletic Injuries↗

Pulse code modulation telemetry in ski injury research. II. Preliminary results.

The excitation between the boot and the ski was measured in maneuvers skied over a variety of snow conditions. A precision pulse-code modulation (PCM) - frequency modulation (FM) telemetry system was custom built to transmit data from strain-gage force transducers mounted inside the test ski to a receiving station about 3 km distant. Field tests gathered cruising data from three basic maneuvers - snowplow, stem christiana, and parallel christiana. Some classic falls resulting from inadvertent release of the ski bindings were also recorded. For comparative purposes, the maneuvers were skied over a standard five-turn slalom course. Examination of the loading histories reveals that: (1) the data are nonstationary random; (2) boot compression for the test binding system exceeds 500 N and is caused by ski flexure; (3) an 80 Hz resonance of the particular toe binding mechanism is excited; (4) combined impulsive loading is significant; (5) the loading is related to the maneuver type; (6) bending components during forward falls exceed the tibia flexural strength even though heel binding release occurs at the laboratory setting, and (7) torsion and bending components exceed tibia fracture levels during elementary ski maneuvers.

Athletic Injuries↗

Pulse code modulation telemetry in ski injury research. I. Instrumentation.

Measurement problems can be classified into instrumentation, data transmission and recording, and analysis. This paper focuses on the transmission of multichannel, high-volume, high-frequency, high-accuracy data. Boot-ski dynamometer and skier velocity anemometer data provide 13 channels of max. 8-mV signals requiring 8-microvolt resolution or 4.45-Newton dynamometer resolution. The data transmission system features durability, power consumption approx. 10 Watts, weight 4.54 kp, range greater than 3,500 m, frequency response 250 Hz, accuracy 1 per cent, temperature stability, dynamic range plus or minus 2 inches. The transducer signals are ampflified to plus or minus 10 V for the 100-kbps PCM system. Special AC amplifiers, driven by an amplitude-stabilized power oscillator, were designed for elimination of radio frequency interference (RFI), improved stability and high signal/noise. Sixteen words are sequentially sampled at 521/sec-13 data, 2 frame counters, and 1 sync. The ground station consists of the PCM decoder with real-time capability and an analog tape recorder. Data is subsequently buffered and formatted onto digital tape by mini-computer.

Athletic Injuries↗