title: A randomised crossover trial on the effects of foot starting position on calf raise test outcomes: Position does matter

authors: Hébert-Losier, Kim

subjects: Ankle

abstract: Background: This randomised crossover study with repeated measures examined the influence of the three most common foot starting positions used in conducting the calf raise test (CRT) on test outcomes. This study also accounted for the potential influence of gender, age, body mass index (BMI), and level of physical activity on test outcomes. Methods: Forty-nine healthy individuals (59 % female, 21 ± 4 years) performed single-leg calf raise repetitions in a human movement laboratory in three randomised foot starting positions: flat, 10° incline, and step. The validated Calf Raise application was used to track the vertical displacement of a marker placed on the foot using computer vision. The application extracted the following CRT outcomes from the vertical displacement curve: number of repetitions, peak vertical height, total vertical displacement, and total positive work. Data were analysed using mixed-effects models and stepwise regression. Results: There was a significant main effect (P < 0.001) of foot starting position on all outcomes, with all paired comparisons being statistically significant (P ≤ 0.023). Repetitions, total vertical displacement, and total positive work were greatest in flat and lowest in step, whereas peak vertical height was greatest in incline and lowest in step. Gender (P = 0.021; males>females) and BMI (P = 0.002; lower BMI>higher BMI) significantly influenced the number of repetitions. Gender (P < 0.001; males>females) also influenced total positive work. Age and physical activity levels did not significantly influence CRT outcomes. Conclusions: CRT foot starting position mattered and significantly affected all CRT outcomes. CRT foot starting position needs consideration when contrasting data in research and practice.

text: A randomised crossover trial on the effects of foot starting position on calf raise test outcomes: Position does matter Background: This randomised crossover study with repeated measures examined the influence of the three most common foot starting positions used in conducting the calf raise test (CRT) on test outcomes. This study also accounted for the potential influence of gender, age, body mass index (BMI), and level of physical activity on test outcomes. Methods: Forty-nine healthy individuals (59 % female, 21 ± 4 years) performed single-leg calf raise repetitions in a human movement laboratory in three randomised foot starting positions: flat, 10° incline, and step. The validated Calf Raise application was used to track the vertical displacement of a marker placed on the foot using computer vision. The application extracted the following CRT outcomes from the vertical displacement curve: number of repetitions, peak vertical height, total vertical displacement, and total positive work. Data were analysed using mixed-effects models and stepwise regression. Results: There was a significant main effect (P < 0.001) of foot starting position on all outcomes, with all paired comparisons being statistically significant (P ≤ 0.023). Repetitions, total vertical displacement, and total positive work were greatest in flat and lowest in step, whereas peak vertical height was greatest in incline and lowest in step. Gender (P = 0.021; males>females) and BMI (P = 0.002; lower BMI>higher BMI) significantly influenced the number of repetitions. Gender (P < 0.001; males>females) also influenced total positive work. Age and physical activity levels did not significantly influence CRT outcomes. Conclusions: CRT foot starting position mattered and significantly affected all CRT outcomes. CRT foot starting position needs consideration when contrasting data in research and practice.

year: 2024-09-01

title: Inu kava anga-mahení, ʻatamaí mo ʻene fakakaukaú mo e tuʻunga taau ke fakaʻuli saliote mīsiní (Traditional kava-drinking, cognition and driver fitness [Tongan])

authors: Aporosa, S. 'Apo'

abstract: Kava, ʻiloa ko e ngoue ʻa e ngāhi ʻotuá, kuo mafola he ngāhi motu fakatalopiki ʻi he Pasifikí. Kuo ngaue ʻaki ʻi he ngāhi faitoʻo tuʻufonuá, ʻaia ʻoku tuki hono aká ʻo palu3 mo fakatatau ko e vai fakanonga. Ko hono tala he anga fakafonuá ko e meʻa mahuʻinga lahi, ka koeʻuhí ko hono maʻu lahi mo tō-tuʻa ʻo lau houá, ʻoku tupu ai e hohaʻa heʻene uesia tamaki e tuʻunga malu ʻo e fakaʻuli saliote mīsiní. Ko Dr Apo Aporosa, ko e tangata fakatotolo fakaako ʻi he ʻUnivēsiti ʻo Waikató (Niu Sila), ʻaia naʻa ne fekumi ai ki he uesia ʻe he inu kava anga-mahení e fakahoko fatongia ʻa e ʻatamaí mo ʻene ueʻi e tuʻunga malu ʻo e fakaʻuli saliote misiní. Ko e fekumi ne fai ʻe Dr Apo Aporosa ki he uesia ʻe he inu kava anga-mahení e fai fatongia ʻa e ʻatamaí mo ʻene ueʻi e tuʻunga malu ʻo e fakaʻuli saliote mīsiní. 

(Kava, or ‘the plant of the gods’, grows widely across tropical Moananuiākea (the Pacific). Used in traditional medicine, its roots are also pounded and strained through water to make a drink with relaxant effects. Kava has deep cultural significance, but because it is drunk in large quantities over several hours, concerns have been raised about its effects on driver safety. Dr ‘Apo’ Aporosa, a Research Fellow at the University of Waikato in New Zealand, has studied the impact of traditional kava use on cognition and its implications for driver fitness. The findings of that research are presented here in the Tongan language.)

text: Inu kava anga-mahení, ʻatamaí mo ʻene fakakaukaú mo e tuʻunga taau ke fakaʻuli saliote mīsiní (Traditional kava-drinking, cognition and driver fitness [Tongan]) Kava, ʻiloa ko e ngoue ʻa e ngāhi ʻotuá, kuo mafola he ngāhi motu fakatalopiki ʻi he Pasifikí. Kuo ngaue ʻaki ʻi he ngāhi faitoʻo tuʻufonuá, ʻaia ʻoku tuki hono aká ʻo palu3 mo fakatatau ko e vai fakanonga. Ko hono tala he anga fakafonuá ko e meʻa mahuʻinga lahi, ka koeʻuhí ko hono maʻu lahi mo tō-tuʻa ʻo lau houá, ʻoku tupu ai e hohaʻa heʻene uesia tamaki e tuʻunga malu ʻo e fakaʻuli saliote mīsiní. Ko Dr Apo Aporosa, ko e tangata fakatotolo fakaako ʻi he ʻUnivēsiti ʻo Waikató (Niu Sila), ʻaia naʻa ne fekumi ai ki he uesia ʻe he inu kava anga-mahení e fakahoko fatongia ʻa e ʻatamaí mo ʻene ueʻi e tuʻunga malu ʻo e fakaʻuli saliote misiní. Ko e fekumi ne fai ʻe Dr Apo Aporosa ki he uesia ʻe he inu kava anga-mahení e fai fatongia ʻa e ʻatamaí mo ʻene ueʻi e tuʻunga malu ʻo e fakaʻuli saliote mīsiní. 

(Kava, or ‘the plant of the gods’, grows widely across tropical Moananuiākea (the Pacific). Used in traditional medicine, its roots are also pounded and strained through water to make a drink with relaxant effects. Kava has deep cultural significance, but because it is drunk in large quantities over several hours, concerns have been raised about its effects on driver safety. Dr ‘Apo’ Aporosa, a Research Fellow at the University of Waikato in New Zealand, has studied the impact of traditional kava use on cognition and its implications for driver fitness. The findings of that research are presented here in the Tongan language.)

year: 2023

title: Tangi and State Funeral: Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu and Prime Minister Norman Kirk

authors: McRae, Karyn Okeroa

subjects: Tangi

abstract: The tangi of Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu (Te Arikinui) in 2006 paralleled the State funerals for New Zealand Prime Ministers like Norman Kirk who died in 1974. State funerals require the huge mobilization of people and resources and always attract the attention of the national and international media. The death of a Prime Minister is news worthy, but what of a minority indigenous fourth world leader like Te Arikinui? Why did her passing attract so much media attention? In this study I argue that media representation of the tangi of Te Arikinui was largely about social, cultural and symbolic capital. In media saturated societies such as Aotearoa/New Zealand, through mainstream media outlets like TV One News and the Waikato Times, Te Arikinui’s tangi event claimed a dominant space in the lives of Maori and non Maori alike. The data source includes print news media coverage of the tangi of Te Arikinui and the State funeral of Norman Kirk. Descriptive narrative and abductive analysis inform the methodology used in this study. As expected, print media reporting of both events progressed through the three stages identified by Durkheim, those of, separation, liminality and reincorporation. The ownership of death, the deceased and the continued possession of their mortal remains, itself a cultural object with symbolic and cultural capital, reflected the actual power and control of the possessor. State funerals and tangi are about the ritualized performance of grief and mourning, and require the appropriate social, cultural and symbolic capital for its enactment.

text: Tangi and State Funeral: Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu and Prime Minister Norman Kirk The tangi of Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu (Te Arikinui) in 2006 paralleled the State funerals for New Zealand Prime Ministers like Norman Kirk who died in 1974. State funerals require the huge mobilization of people and resources and always attract the attention of the national and international media. The death of a Prime Minister is news worthy, but what of a minority indigenous fourth world leader like Te Arikinui? Why did her passing attract so much media attention? In this study I argue that media representation of the tangi of Te Arikinui was largely about social, cultural and symbolic capital. In media saturated societies such as Aotearoa/New Zealand, through mainstream media outlets like TV One News and the Waikato Times, Te Arikinui’s tangi event claimed a dominant space in the lives of Maori and non Maori alike. The data source includes print news media coverage of the tangi of Te Arikinui and the State funeral of Norman Kirk. Descriptive narrative and abductive analysis inform the methodology used in this study. As expected, print media reporting of both events progressed through the three stages identified by Durkheim, those of, separation, liminality and reincorporation. The ownership of death, the deceased and the continued possession of their mortal remains, itself a cultural object with symbolic and cultural capital, reflected the actual power and control of the possessor. State funerals and tangi are about the ritualized performance of grief and mourning, and require the appropriate social, cultural and symbolic capital for its enactment.

year: 2010