John M Barden

University of Regina · Faculty of Kinesiology and Health Studies

Background: Breast reconstruction after curative breast cancer surgery is becoming increasingly common. There is evidence to suggest that these surgeries have negative effects on shoulder function, but to date there are no investigations of shoulder biomechanics during functional tasks in this group. The purpose of this study was to define and com...

Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) affects 20-30% of older adults and is associated with intermittent claudication (IC), which is walking-induced pain. This study compared the regularity and symmetry of gait between healthy older adults and adults with PAD, and between IC and non-IC conditions in the PAD group. Eighteen control (70.7 ± 6.3 years) an...

Background Three-dimensional (3D) motion measured at the lower back during walking can describe the regularity and symmetry of gait that may be related to osteoarthritis (OA) and functional status. However, gait speed and inherent sex differences, regardless of the presence of OA, may confound these measures. Therefore, there is a need to understan...

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of breathing laterality on hip roll kinematics in submaximal front crawl swimming. Eighteen elite competitive swimmers performed three 100 m front crawl trials at a consistent sub-maximal speed (70% of seasonal best time) in a 25 m pool. Each trial was performed with one of three different breat...

Background Although movement variability and long-range correlations (LRCs) have been assessed in relation to neuropathology and aging during walking, to date only a few studies have investigated these aspects in subjects of different skill levels during prolonged overground running. Research question What effect does skill level and run duration...

Quantitative tracking of equine movement during stall confinement has the potential to detect subtle changes in mobility due to injury. These changes may warn of potential complications, providing vital information to direct rehabilitation protocols. Inertial measurement units (IMUs) are readily available and easily attached to a limb or surcingle...

Studies have investigated the reliability and effect of walking speed on stride time variability during walking trials performed on a treadmill. The objective of this study was to investigate the reliability of stride time variability and the effect of walking speed on stride time variability, during continuous, overground walking in healthy young...

Several studies have identified body roll as an important variable that affects shoulder pain due to its potential to modify upper limb kinematics. This study aimed to investigate potential differences in body roll between swimmers with and without shoulder pain. Twenty-four competitive swimmers participated in the study, 12 with unilateral shoulde...

Introduction: Gait speed is slower in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) compared to cognitively healthy individuals (CHI). We examined the patterns of brain gray matter (GM) volume association and covariance with gait speed in CHI and patients with MCI. Methods: A total of 96 CHI and 99 patients with MCI were recruited in a cross-sec...

Background: Motoric cognitive risk syndrome (MCR) is a pre-dementia stage, which associates slow walking speed with subjective cognitive impairment (SCI). MCR's clinical utility for the prediction of dementia and its pathophysiology are unclear. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to examine the association of MCR with incident...

Context/Objectives: Spinal cord injury (SCI) results in significant neuronal and glial cell death resulting in impaired neurological and motor function. Uncontrolled Ca²⁺ entry results in excitotoxicity and cell death. In this study, we examine the use of a BK channel activator, Isopimaric acid (ISO), as a neuroprotective agent post-SCI as this cha...

Background: Motoric cognitive risk (MCR) syndrome, a recently described pre-dementia syndrome, has been associated with cardiovascular disease and their risk factors (CVDRF). Objective: To determine whether MCR syndrome was associated with CVDRF in French community-dwelling older adults, and to quantitatively evaluate, with a systematic review a...

From a research perspective, detailed knowledge about stride length (SL) is important for coaches, clinicians and researchers because together with stride rate it determines the speed of locomotion. Moreover, individual SL vectors represent the integrated output of different biomechanical determinants and as such provide valuable insight into the c...

Background: Gait disorders, a highly prevalent condition in older adults, are associated with several adverse health consequences. Gait analysis allows qualitative and quantitative assessments of gait that improves the understanding of mechanisms of gait disorders and the choice of interventions. This manuscript aims (1) to give consensus guidance...

This session will focus on the use of body-fixed sensors (particularly accelerometers) to assess gait variability in older adults. An overview of different gait variability measures and processing methods will be provided (e.g., gait symmetry, stride regularity, fractal structure) including information on the relationship of these measures to dimin...

This symposium will present recent advances in gait rehabilitation (GR) programs in older adults. Gait is the medical term use to describe human bipedal locomotion. Gait impairment leads to unsafe gait and several adverse consequences such as falls. GR is the act of restoring safe gait. It is a key component of preventive, symptomatic and curative...

Falls are a consequence of gait instability. Cortical and subcortical abnormalities have been associated with gait instability but not yet with falls. This study aims to compare the global and regional brain subvolumes between healthy older fallers and non-fallers. A total of 77 healthy older individuals (23 fallers and 54 non-fallers, 69.8 ± 3.5 y...

Purpose: To compare the regularity and symmetry of gait between a cohort of older adults with bilateral knee osteoarthritis (OA) and an age and sex-matched control group of older adults with healthy knees. Methods: Fifteen (8 females) older adults with knee OA (64.7 ± 6.7 years) and fifteen (8 females) pain-free controls (66.1 ± 10.0 years) complet...

Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) can affect the spatiotemporal (ST) aspects of gait as well as the variability of select ST parameters based on standard linear measures of variability (e.g., standard deviation (SD) and coefficient of variation). Non-linear measures (e.g., fractal scaling index (FSI) and sample entropy) can be more sensitive to changes in...

Background Few studies have examined the effect of anti-dementia drugs (i.e., acetylcholinesterase inhibitors and N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor antagonists) on gait performance. Past studies have focused on the stride time (i.e., gait cycle duration) but not on the mental imagery of gait. Objectives To compare mental imagery of gait and spatiotempo...

Spinal cord injury results in significant neuronal and glial cell death resulting in impaired neurological and motor function. While there are often surviving axonal tracts, these are frequently dysmyelinated or demyelinated. Key to this pathology is uncontrolled Ca ²⁺ entry, resulting in excitotoxicity and cell death. We propose that by activating...

The role of the hippocampus in postural control, in particular in maintaining upright stance, has not been fully examined in normal aging. This study aims to examine the association of postural sway with hippocampal volume while maintaining upright stance in healthy older individuals. Seventy healthy individuals (mean age 69.7 ± 3.4 years; 41.4 % w...

When using motion capture to measure pelvic motion, situations in which the anterior superior iliac spines (ASISs) or posterior superior iliac spines (PSISs) are obscured from view require that an alternative technical marker set be used to track the pelvis. The current study evaluated the accuracy and temporal similarity (i.e., cross-correlation)...

This paper presents a novel stance phase detection procedure based on observations from a foot-mounted inertial measurement unit (IMU). A frequency-tracking algorithm from the field of audio analysis was applied to the inertial signal to obtain information about gait cycle duration. Afterwards, this information was used to determine the stance phas...

This paper presents a novel approach for extracting swimming performance parameters from accelerometer data using techniques traditionally applied to audio analysis. The recorded acceleration data is treated as sampled audio data, with the stroke rate (one of the main parameters to extract) treated as the fundamental frequency. A pitch detection al...

INTRODUCTION: In recent years, several studies have tried to estimate stride length (SL) using body-mounted IMUs and reported promising results. However, many studies have focused on estimating SL for walking and, to the best of our knowledge, no study has explicitly investigated the concurrent validity of a single foot-mounted IMU to estimate SL f...

A single tri-axial accelerometer has the ability to collect a large amount of continuous gait data to quantitatively assess the control of gait. Unfortunately, there is limited information on the validity of gait variability and fractal dynamics obtained from this device. The purpose of this study was to test the concurrent validity of the variabil...

ABSTRACT This study used electromyography to compare the frequency of anticipatory postural adjustments for three bilateral trunk muscles and unilateral tibialis anterior muscle between children with and without developmental coordination disorder (DCD; n = 22, ages 7 to 14 years) during three tasks (kicking a ball, stepping onto a step, standing o...

Current evidence suggests that movement quality is impacted by postural adjustments made in advance of planned movement. The trunk inevitably plays a key role in these adjustments, by creating a stable foundation for limb movement. The purpose of this study was to examine anticipatory trunk muscle activity during functional tasks in children with a...

According to traditional conceptualizations of the relationship between fear of falling and falls in older adults, fear of falling is considered to be predictive of falls because it leads to activity avoidance which, in turn, leads to de-conditioning that increases fall risk. The recent literature has begun to challenge such conceptualizations. Spe...

Chronic nonspecific low back pain (CLBP) is a common musculoskeletal health issue associated with pain and disability reduced quality of life (QoL). Pain initiates a fear-avoidance cycle, which needs to be broken if rehabilitation is to work. To break this cycle, exercise must be gradual and focused on strengthening the weakened musculature. Recent...

The main aim of this study was to determine the absolute temporal relationship between the power and recovery phases of the stroke cycle in front crawl swimming in response to progressive changes in exercise intensity that occurred before and after critical speed. A second objective was to determine whether intensity-related changes in the power/re...

Although ankle-foot orthoses (AFOs) are often used to improve gait parameters in individuals with myelomeningocele (MMC), it can be challenging to predict which type of orthosis will best optimize a child's gait mechanics and function. This case report illustrates the clinical application of three-dimensional motion analysis technology to quantify...

Hopping is a complicated dynamic behaviour in the animal kingdom. Development of a hopping machine that can mimic the biomechanics of jumping in Homo sapiens is envisioned. In this context, the design, development and control of a cost-effective, pneumatically actuated, one-legged hopping machine were initiated at the University ofRegina in 2005. T...

Intra-cyclic Stroke Parameter Changes Associated with Increased Speed in Competitive Front-Crawl Swimming John M. Barden*, Robert T. Kell† and Dylan Kobsar*. *University of Regina, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada & †University of Alberta, Camrose, Alberta, Canada. Studies of stroke parameter relationships in swimming have shown that the basic strateg...

The aim of this study was to determine whether a relationship exists between stroke parameters and critical swimming speed (which is defined as the speed that can theoretically be maintained without exhaustion). Stroke parameters (stroke rate and length) and velocity were recorded for each 25-m length during a controlled sprint interval training se...

In this paper we present a new method to tune the rule base in a fuzzy logic controller using a neural network approach trained by human data, with application of servo-control of a cart moving on a linear track. We take advantage of direct implementation of human data into this Adaptive-Network-based Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) to optimize the...

Primary simulation results of the control of a pneumatically actuated hopping robot along with the mathematical model are presented in. This paper presents the next phase of the research: design of a robust controller for an experimental hopper. Dynamic stability of the hopping robot is investigated using an artificial neural network (ANN)-based pr...

Surface and intramuscular electromyography was used to investigate shoulder muscle activity in subjects with multidirectional instability (MDI). Subjects (seven MDI, 11 control) performed repetitive shoulder abduction/adduction, flexion/extension and internal/external rotation movements on an isokinetic dynamometer. The activity of the deltoid, inf...

Repetitive pointing movements to remembered proprioceptive targets were investigated to determine whether dynamic proprioception could be used to modify the initial sensorimotor conditions associated with an active definition of the target position. Twelve blindfolded subjects used proprioception to reproduce a self-selected target position as accu...

The ability of subjects with multidirectional shoulder instability to use proprioception to complete a series of upper limb repositioning tasks was investigated. Twelve subjects with multidirectional instability and 12 control subjects were blindfolded and instructed to use proprioception to reproduce a self-selected target position as accurately a...

Competition analyses of middle-distance freestyle events has revealed that progressive decreases in swimming velocity (V) are frequently associated with decreased stroke length (SL). The purpose of this study was to analyze V, SL and stroke rate (SR) parameters during an interval training test set and to determine which parameters, if any, were ass...