scholarly journals VIGOR: A Versatile, Individualized and Generative ORchestrator to Motivate the Movement of the People with Limited Mobility

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu Liang ◽  
Dalei Wu ◽  
Dakila Ledesma ◽  
Zibin Guo ◽  
Erkan Kaplanoglu ◽  
...  

Physical inactivity is a major national concern, particularly among individuals with chronic conditions and/or disabilities. There is an urgent need to devise practical and innovative fitness methods, designed and grounded in physical, psychological and social considerations that will effectively promote physical fitness participation among individuals of all age groups with chronic health condition(s) and/or disabilities. This research is dedicated to achieving Versatile, Individualized, and Generative ORchestrator (VIGOR) to motivate the movement of the people with limited mobility. Tai-Chi is a traditional mind–body wellness and healing art, and its clinical benefits have been well documented. This work presents a Tai-Chi based VIGOR under development. Through the use of Helping, Pushing and Coaching (HPC) functions by following Tai-Chi kinematics, the VIGOR system is designed to make engagement in physical activity an affordable, individually engaging, and enjoyable experience for individuals who live with mobility due to disease or injury. VIGOR consists of the following major modules: (1) seamless human-machine interaction based on the acquisition, transmission, and reconstruction of 4D data (XYZ plus somatosensory) using affordable I/O instruments such as Kinect, Sensor and Tactile actuator, and active-orthosis/exoskeleton; (2) processing and normalization of kinetic data; (3) Identification and grading of kinetics in real time; (4) adaptive virtual limb generation and its reconstruction on virtual reality (VR) or active-orthosis/exoskeleton; and (5) individualized physical activity choreography (i.e., creative movement design). Aiming at developing a deep-learning-enabled rehab and fitness modality through infusing the domain knowledge (physical therapy, medical anthropology, psychology, electrical engineering, bio-mechanics, and athletic aesthetics) into deep neural network, this work is transformative in that the technology can be applied to the broad research areas of intelligent systems, human-computer interaction, and cyber-physical human systems. The resulting VIGOR has significant potentials as both rehabilitative and fitness modalities and can be adapted to other movement modalities and chronic medical conditions (e.g., yoga and balance exercise; fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson disease).

10.29210/9940 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-36
Author(s):  
Muhammad Husni Tamim ◽  
Rina Nopiana

Doing physical activity can make the body fit and increase the body's immunity to be able to fight the virus during the Covid-19 pandemic. Based on this, sports activities are needed to invite people to maintain their physical health through healthy exercise activities which are held aimed at increasing people's interest in exercising during the Covid-19 pandemic during new normal so that their body endurance is better. This community service (PKM) is a form of real work from the Hamzanwadi University Physical Education and Health Study Program for the people of South Pringgasela Village to participate in healthy gymnastics as an effort to prevent Covid-19. Healthy gymnastics activities can increase public awareness of the importance of maintaining health in the era of the Covid-19 pandemic.


Author(s):  
Ashish D Patel ◽  
Jigarkumar H. Shah

The aged population of the world is increasing by a large factor due to the availability of medical and other facilities. As the number grows rapidly, requirements of this segment of age (65+) are increasing rapidly as well as the percentage of aged persons living alone is also increasing with the same rate due to the inevitable socio-economic changes. This situation demands the solution of many problems like loneliness, chronic conditions, social interaction, transportation, day-to-day life and many more for independent living person. A large part of aged population may not be able to interact directly with new technologies. This sought some serious development towards the use of intelligent systems i.e. smart devices which helps the people with their inability to use the available as well future solutions. Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) is the answer to these problems. In this paper, issues related to AAL systems are studied. Study of challenges and limitations of this comparatively new field will help the designers to remove the barriers of AAL systems.


Thorax ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 76 (3) ◽  
pp. 228-238
Author(s):  
Judith Garcia-Aymerich ◽  
Milo A Puhan ◽  
Solange Corriol-Rohou ◽  
Corina de Jong ◽  
Heleen Demeyer ◽  
...  

BackgroundThe Daily-PROactive and Clinical visit-PROactive Physical Activity (D-PPAC and C-PPAC) instruments in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) combines questionnaire with activity monitor data to measure patients’ experience of physical activity. Their amount, difficulty and total scores range from 0 (worst) to 100 (best) but require further psychometric evaluation.ObjectiveTo test reliability, validity and responsiveness, and to define minimal important difference (MID), of the D-PPAC and C-PPAC instruments, in a large population of patients with stable COPD from diverse severities, settings and countries.MethodsWe used data from seven randomised controlled trials to evaluate D-PPAC and C-PPAC internal consistency and construct validity by sex, age groups, COPD severity, country and language as well as responsiveness to interventions, ability to detect change and MID.ResultsWe included 1324 patients (mean (SD) age 66 (8) years, forced expiratory volume in 1 s 55 (17)% predicted). Scores covered almost the full range from 0 to 100, showed strong internal consistency after stratification and correlated as a priori hypothesised with dyspnoea, health-related quality of life and exercise capacity. Difficulty scores improved after pharmacological treatment and pulmonary rehabilitation, while amount scores improved after behavioural physical activity interventions. All scores were responsive to changes in self-reported physical activity experience (both worsening and improvement) and to the occurrence of COPD exacerbations during follow-up. The MID was estimated to 6 for amount and difficulty scores and 4 for total score.ConclusionsThe D-PPAC and C-PPAC instruments are reliable and valid across diverse COPD populations and responsive to pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions and changes in clinically relevant variables.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anying Bai ◽  
Liyuan Tao ◽  
Jia Huang ◽  
Jing Tao ◽  
Jue Liu

Abstract Background We aimed to examine the effect of physical activity on different cognitive domains among patients with diabetes. Methods We used two waves of data from the Chinese Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS, 2013–2015), a nationally representative dataset of Chinese population aged over 45. Total physical activity scores were calculated based on the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). Executive function and episodic memory were used as measures of cognitive function. We conducted lagged dependent variable models to explore the association between physical activity and cognitive function in full sample as well as two different age groups (45–65, ≥65). Results: 862 diabetic patients were included. We found that diabetic participants who had greater level of physical activity at baseline were associated with better episodic memory function in 2 years (p < 0.05). Moreover, physical activity was significantly associated with less decline in episodic memory in fully adjusted models, and the associations were stronger among patients aged 45–65 years (p < 0.05). No statistically significant association was found between physical activity and executive function in all age groups. Conclusions Physical activity may prevent some of the potential decline in episodic memory in diabetic patients. Clinicians and public health departments should strengthen the promotion of physical activity and develop early screening tools among diabetic participants to prevent the progression of cognitive impairment.


Work ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Emília Martins ◽  
Rosina Fernandes ◽  
Francisco Mendes ◽  
Cátia Magalhães ◽  
Patrícia Araújo

BACKGROUND: The health-related quality of life construct (QoL) implies a relationship with eating habits (EA) and physical activity (PA). Sociodemographic and anthropometric variables (gender, age and Body Mass Index - BMI) are highlighted in the definition of healthy lifestyle habits promotion strategies. OBJECTIVE: We aim to characterize and relate PA, EA and QoL in children/youth and explore gender, age and BMI influences. METHODS: It is a non-experimental study, with 337 children/youth, ages between 8 and 17 years (12.61±2.96), mostly from the rural inland of Portugal. In data collection we used a sociodemographic and anthropometric questionnaire, a weekly register table of EA and Kid-Kindl (QoL). Statistical analysis (p <  0.05) were performed in SPSS-IBM 25. RESULTS: Lower BMI was associated with better EA (p <  0.001), PA (p <  0.05) and self-esteem (p <  0.01) and worse scores on family subscale of QoL. Female showed higher fruit intake (p <  0.05). The older has shown better results. PA is positively correlated with QoL (p <  0.01) and EA (p <  0.05). CONCLUSIONS: It is important to explore other relevant social and family dimensions, to promote intervention programs with parents, school and community, as well as healthy practices policies. The intervention in these age groups is critical for a longer-term impact in improving healthy life habits.


Children ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 161
Author(s):  
Milenko Janković ◽  
Maja Batez ◽  
Dušan Stupar ◽  
Jelena Obradović ◽  
Nebojša Trajković

Background: Monitoring of physical activity within the educational institution is of great importance, primarily because of the orientation and content implemented in the daycare. This research aimed to examine the number of steps children took during their stay in daycare with regards to age, gender and the frequency of going out. Methods: The research was conducted in four daycares in the urban environment of Novi Sad (Republic of Serbia), where 231 children, aged 5 to 7, were monitored (129 boys and 102 girls). Data on the number of steps were obtained using the pedometers. Results: The result of the univariate analysis of the variance test confirmed a statistically significant difference in the number of steps in relation to the age of children (p = 0.04). Boys were more active than girls in both age groups (p = 0.001). Children who were going to the daycare yard three to five times a week took drastically more steps than children who went up to twice a week (p = 0.001). Conclusion: The results of the current study show that age, gender, and time spent outdoors are significant determinants of physical activity in preschool age. Therefore, interventions regarding physical activity should be made during early childhood in order to promote health and prevent disease.


Author(s):  
Anna Ogonowska-Slodownik ◽  
Natalia Morgulec-Adamowicz ◽  
Paula Richley Geigle ◽  
Malgorzata Kalbarczyk ◽  
Andrzej Kosmol

AbstractThe aim of the study was to examine changes in objective and self-reported physical activity (PA) among women aged 60 years and older. The study included 200 women aged over 60 years, divided into three groups according to age (60–65 years, 66–70 years, > 70 years). The subjective assessment was provided with the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) – short version with self-reported PA assessment, and objective data was provided by an Actigraph GT3-BT worn for seven days. Significant differences in moderate and high intensity PA, moderate-to-vigorous PA and steps per day were found between the oldest and youngest groups; as well as in low, moderate, moderate-to-vigorous PA and steps per day between groups middle and oldest. In all three age groups, 1) significant differences were observed between subjective and objective measurements of physical activity and 2) no correlation was found between assessment measures. It was found that only direct PA measurement declined with age in women over 60 years old, and that sedentary behavior is underestimated, and moderate and vigorous PA overestimated, with the self-reported IPAQ.


2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (s2) ◽  
pp. S284-S290 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Delisle Nyström ◽  
Christel Larsson ◽  
Bettina Ehrenblad ◽  
Hanna Eneroth ◽  
Ulf Eriksson ◽  
...  

Background:The 2016 Swedish Report Card on Physical Activity (PA) for Children and Youth is a unique compilation of the existing physical and health related data in Sweden. The aim of this article is to summarize the procedure and results from the report card.Methods:Nationally representative surveys and individual studies published between 2005–2015 were included. Eleven PA and health indicators were graded using the Active Healthy Kids Canada grading system. Grades were assigned based on the percentage of children/youth meeting a defined benchmark (A: 81% to 100%, B: 61% to 80%, C: 41% to 60%, D: 21% to 40%, F: 0% to 20%, or incomplete (INC).Results:The assigned grades were Overall Physical Activity, D; Organized Sport Participation, B+; Active Play, INC; Active Transportation, C+; Sedentary Behaviors, C; Family and Peers, INC; School, C+; Community and the Built Environment, B; Government Strategies and Investments, B; Diet, C-; and Obesity, D.Conclusions:The included data provides some support that overall PA is too low and sedentary behavior is too high for almost all age groups in Sweden, even with the many national policies as well as an environment that is favorable to the promotion of PA.


2017 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan S. Sacko ◽  
Cate Egan ◽  
Dan Michael ◽  
Erin Moore ◽  
Nicole Kaysing ◽  
...  

This study examined the amount of PA (physical activity) students obtain during college PA class-es and reasons for enrolling in classes. Accelerometers measured PA levels of participants (n=66) in nineclasses (archery, flying-disc, jogging, karate, spinning, swing dance, weight-training, Tai Chi, yoga) acrosssix time points during one semester. Only one (flying-disc, period 3) of the 54 class periods accumulatedenough PA to meet PA recommendations. Participants indicated reasons (e.g., increase PA) for takingthe courses. Students did not obtain high levels of PA during course meeting times. College PA instructorsshould design courses to maximize time spent in PA.


2011 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheryl M. Walter ◽  
Rosa Du Randt ◽  
Daniel J.L. Venter

Increased health risks associated with physical inactivity in the Black population have been reported in recent years. Black women, suffering the highest levels of inactivity, overweight and obesity, are at greatest risk of developing chronic diseases of lifestyle. This explorativedescriptive study investigated the physical activity patterns and health status of two generations of Black professional women, reflecting pre-democracy and post-democracy age groups. Quantitative measures were used, including the ActiGraph GT1M accelerometer, the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire and the Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile. Sample groups comprised teachers, nurses, social workers and public sector managers. Participants aged between 35 and 45 years were allocated to the older generation group (n = 111), whilst those aged between 18 and 21 years (students in the mentioned professional fields) were allocated to the younger generation group (n = 69). The results indicated that these women displayed lower levels of health-promoting behavioural practices than expected, significantly lower levels of physical activity and significantly higher levels of overweight and obesity than the South African norms. The observation that the younger group appeared to be replicating the patterns of the older women is a cause of concern. Greater compliance to health-promoting behaviours was expected in this group owing to participants’ professional involvement in health, education and social development fields. Wide-ranging initiatives are necessary to promote physical activity and health amongst the Black female population in South Africa.Opsomming Gedurende die afgelope jare het navorsing onder die Swart bevolking ʼn toename in gesondheidsrisiko’s wat met fisieke onaktiwiteit geassosieer is, getoon. Swart vroue, wat die hoogste vlakke van onaktiwiteit, oorgewig en obesiteit toon, blyk ook die grootste risiko te loop om leefstylverwante chroniese siektes te ontwikkel. Hierdie ondersoekendbeskrywende studie het die fisieke aktiwiteitspatrone en gesondheidstatus van twee generasies van Swart professionele vroue ondersoek. Die tweegenerasiesteekproef verteenwoordig voor- en na-demokrasie-ouderdomsgroepe. Kwantitatiewe meetinstrumente, naamlik die ActiGraph GT1M versnellingsmeter, Globale Fisieke Aktiwiteitsvraelys en die Gesondheidsbevorderende Leefstylprofiel is gebruik. Die steekproef het onderwysers, verpleegkundiges, maatskaplike werkers en bestuurders in die openbare sektor ingesluit. Deelnemers tussen 35 en 45 jaar is aan die ouergenerasie-toetsgroep toegewys (n = 111), terwyl dié tussen 18 en 21 jaar (studente in bogenoemde studierigtings) aan die jongergenerasietoetsgroep toegewys is (n = 69). Die resultate het gewys dat die Swart professionele vroue laer as verwagte gesondheidsbevorderende gedrag, betekenisvol laer vlakke van fisieke aktiwiteit en betekenisvol hoër vlakke van oorgewig en obesiteit toon as die Suid-Afrikaanse norme. Die waarneming dat die jonger groep dieselfde gedragspatrone as die ouer vroue getoon het, is ʼn bron van kommer. ʼn Groter nakoming van gesondheidsbevorderende gedrag is onder die jonger groep vroue verwag, aangesien hulle hul opleiding in die professionele sektor van gesondheid, onderwys en maatskaplike werk ontvang. ʼn Holistiese benadering is nodig om fisieke aktiwiteit en gesondheid onder Swart Suid-Afrikaanse vrouens te bevorder.


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