Research Paper on:
Measuring Knee Function and Changes

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
a proposal for a study into the effectiveness and usefulness of a variety of testing techniques and equipment designed to measure static and dynamic balance. The study will focus  on measurement after knee injury or surgery, its aim is to determine which measurement method may be "best" for use in determining precisely where an individual is in his progress  toward healing. Another purpose will be to provide information on testing equipment and techniques that may be able to inform selection of treatment options. Literature Review  Carter, et al. (2001) studied a group of older women with osteoporosis for the purpose of testing the efficacy of a community based exercise program designed  as an exercise intervention to reduce the risk of falling among women with osteoporosis. While this is not a condition directly related to recovery from knee injury, it does  address many of the same issues regarding the knee. The researchers focus was to determine the efficacy of the exercise program; they used as their data sources measurement of  static balance "by computerised dynamic posturography (Equitest), dynamic balance by timed figure of eight run, and knee extension strength by dynamometry" (Carter, et al., 2001; p. 348).  In a review of the dynamics of muscle interaction controlling the function of the knee, Klein (1990) explains that two muscle groups have opposite effects on  hip and knee movement. The "rectus femoris, part of the quadriceps muscle on the front thigh, straightens the knee and causes hip flexion, or bending" (Klein, 1990; p. 731).  The hamstrings, "which run from the lower posterior (back side) pelvis to the back of the knee, cause straightening, or extension, of the hip and flexion of the knee"