Treadmill walking/jogging in water is a potentially useful therapeutic modality. Since energy costs of this activity are unknown, we compared oxygen consumption (VO2) of treadmill walking/jogging in water to a dry treadmill at speeds of 40.23 to 160.9 meters/min (m/m) in 13.4 m/m increments in 11 subjects. At speeds greater than or equal to 53.6 m/m, ankle depth, below knee, midthigh, and waist depth walking/jogging in water significantly elevated VO2 and heart rate (HR) above dry treadmill walking (P less than 0.05). At speeds greater than or equal to 134.1 m/m, VO2 of waist depth jogging was not significantly greater than dry jogging. These findings showed no gender specificity. Treadmill walking/jogging in waist depth water at temperatures of 30.5 degrees C and 36.1 degrees C was compared to dry treadmill walking in five subjects. The rate of increase of HR compared to VO2 was significantly greater at 30.5 degrees C than dry walking, and greater at 36.1 degrees C than 30.5 degrees C (P less than 0.05). Treadmill walking in water can double the oxygen cost of movement depending on the depth and speed, and the response to increasing speed is nonlinear. Water temperature affects the relationship of HR to VO2 at waist depth, suggesting that water temperature can add a significant thermal load to the cardiovascular system. Metabolic and cardiovascular demands of treadmill walking/jogging in water must be considered when using this modality since greater external work results at much lower speeds than on land.

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The relationship of 11 measures of trunk and lower limb flexibility to the economy of treadmill walking and jogging as measured by steady-state oxygen consumption (VO2) was studied. Subjects (38 women, 62 men, aged 20-62 years) were tested at six speeds between 53.6 and 187.7 m/min. By combining scores from all flexibility tests, and beginning at speeds of 107.3 m/min, the "tightest" third used significantly less O2/m/kg (9%, p less than 0.05) than the "loosest" third, with "normals" in between. Two tests, trunk rotation and lower limb turnout, gave the best separation for walking/jogging economy, with the "tightest" third differing significantly from the "loosest" (8-12%) at all speeds tested (ANOVA with Scheffe). We conclude that nonpathological musculoskeletal tightness was associated with a decreased steady-state VO2 for treadmill walking and jogging.

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It has long been recognized that limb injury produces relative atrophy and weakness, which can cause an increased susceptibility to reinjury. In 1964, Bender et all concluded from a study of the lower body strength of 806 West Point Cadets that &dquo; ... individuals who have strength differences greater than 10% between the limbs, and also those in the lower quartile strengthwise, are more likely to be injured than are those who possess normal strength levels.&dquo; These studies were limited to isometrics, with the subjects tested according to the multiple angle testing method and then exercised with an isometric program. There are few data concerning which muscles are weakened in response to particular injuries, other than the prime movers of joints, for example, the quadriceps when there is a knee injury.There have been many devices used to measure strength and power -but investigators have for the most part studied isometric and isotonic contractions. Martin2 published as far back as 1921 the ergographic, dynamometric, and resistive strength tests and compared the efficiency of these methods. Despite the invention by Mosso of the ergograph in 1884,~ there is still a great difficulty in obtaining uniform data to test muscular efficiency in the knee. With the advent of an isokinetic apparatus such as the Cybex II, we have attempted to extend 3ender's findings isometrically to isokinetic findings. Whereas Bender studied muscle imbalances in and around the site of injury, and described what occurs in muscles which control the leg injury, our study was aimed at defining the existing relationships between an injured part of the extremity and muscle groups far removed anatomically from the site of injury. This is in accordance with what we feel are valid postulates, described by Schmier in 1945. METHODS Patient groupsPatients who were examined at the Lenox Hill Hospital, Institute of Sports Medicine and Athletic Trauma, were classified into a number of categories according to the nature of their musculoskeletal disease or injury. These were defined by orthopedic surgeons after a comprehensive musculoskeletal examination. Most of the patients in these categories continued to have a disability long after their original acute injury was assumed to have healed, and continued to

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To quantify normal biological variability of shoulder abduction strength testing with an isokinetic and a hand-held dynamometer, we tested nine healthy subjects over a clinically relevant period. One side was tested with a Cybex at 60 deg/sec and the other with a hand-held dynamometer. Six maximal trials, following warmup, were conducted on each of 5 days, separated by 1 to 2 weeks. Intraday correlations of individual trials ranged from 0.82 to 0.995 for hand-held dynamometer, and 0.88 to 0.996 for Cybex. Interday correlations ranged from 0.94 to 0.98 for hand-held dynamometer, and 0.88 to 0.97 for Cybex. The best values to use for Cybex interday variability were the average of the first three repetitions, and yielded standard errors of 8.6% to 19.2% of the sample mean. The average of the last three repetitions were the best for hand-held dynamometers, and yielded standard errors of 5.5% to 10.8%. There was a significant decline (P less than 0.05) in strength of the mean of the last three versus the mean of the first three daily repetitions on Day 1 and 4 for hand-held dynamometers, and a trend toward this on the other days, that was not seen with Cybex. Regression of average Day 1 values for Cybex and hand-held dynamometer yielded r = 0.86 (P less than 0.01) with a slope of 1.07 indicating good agreement between modalities. In conclusion, intraday/interday correlations were high for Cybex and hand-held dynamometer. Interday variability was minimized by using the mean score of the first three and last three repetitions for Cybex and hand-held dynamometer, respectively. Changes in Cybex and hand-held dynamometer strength of less than 19% and 11%, respectively, are within the area of "measurement error" and should therefore not be considered clinically significant.

Liquid-solution polymerization and vapor-phase polymerization (VPP) have been used to manufacture a series of chloride- and tosylate-doped poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) carbon paper electrodes. The electrochemistry, specific capacitance, and specific charge were determined for single electrodes in 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium dicyanamide (emim dca) ionic liquid electrolyte. VPP-PEDOT exhibits outstanding properties with a specific capacitance higher than 300 F g(-1) , the highest value reported for a PEDOT-based conducting polymer, and doping levels as high as 0.7 charges per monomer were achieved. Furthermore, symmetric PEDOT supercapacitor cells with the emim dca electrolyte exhibited a high specific capacitance (76.4 F g(-1) ) and high specific energy (19.8 Wh kg(-1) ). A Ragone plot shows that the VPP-PEDOT cells combine the high specific power of conventional ("pure") capacitors with the high specific energy of batteries, a highly sought-after target for energy storage.