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Research Reports |
WGM Janssen, MD, is Rehabilitation Specialist, Department of Rehabilitation, University Hospital Rotterdam, Dr Molewaterplein 40, 3015 GD Rotterdam, the Netherlands (janssen{at}revd.azr.nl). Address all correspondence to Dr Janssen
HBJ Bussmann, PT, PhD, is Assistant Professor, Department of Rehabilitation, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
HJ Stam, MD, PhD, is Rehabilitation Specialist, Professor and Head of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, University Hospital Rotterdam and Erasmus University Rotterdam
Submitted July 19, 2001;
Accepted March 19, 2002
| Abstract |
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Key Words: Chair Determinants Review Sit-to-stand movement Variables
| Introduction |
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The manner in which the STS movement is defined depends to some extent on the aim of the study. Roebroeck et al,18 for example, defined the STS movement as moving the body's center of mass upward from a sitting position to a standing position without losing balance. Vander Linden et al19 defined the STS movement as a transitional movement to the upright posture requiring movement of the center of mass from a stable position to a less stable position over extended lower extremities. The STS movement also can be described using kinematic or kinetic variables, with definitions supplied for phases and events during this movement.2022 A definition of these phases that is used frequently is the one provided by Schenkman et al21 and is marked by 4 events. Phase I (flexion-momentum phase) starts with initiation of the movement and ends just before the buttocks are lifted from the seat of the chair. Phase II (momentum-transfer phase) begins as the buttocks are lifted and ends when maximal ankle dorsiflexion is achieved. Phase III (extension phase) is initiated just after maximum ankle dorsiflexion and ends when the hips first cease to extend; including leg and trunk extension. Phase IV (stabilization phase) begins after hip extension is reached and ends when all motion associated with stabilization is completed.21
Studying the STS movement, in our opinion, requires a basic knowledge of the factors influencing how the movement is performed. The determinants, we believe, should be independent from the techniques used to study movement. The extent of these determinants' influence can be small and detected only when using specific measurement or research techniques (eg, moments assessed by force plates). Knowledge of the determinants, we contend, is necessary in order to conduct research on the STS movement or to interpret results of reported studies, because the results can be, in part, a function of a determinant.
The STS movement has been studied using standardized clinical tests, which are used in epidemiological studies and clinical testing.13,2328 Measurements of aspects of the STS movement have been obtained using techniques such as use of force plates,20 video analysis,17,2931 use of optoelectronic systems,1315,3235 goniometry,10,36 and accelerometry.37
Because the most recent review on the STS movement was published in 1991,38 we believed an update was necessary to gain insight into studies on the effects of variables on the STS movement, especially in view of the new technology available to study the movement. The aims of our article are to review research on STS movement determinants and to describe the type and magnitude of their influence on the STS movement. In addition, we aimed to expose gaps in the literature and make recommendations for future research.
| Methods |
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The STS movement determinants are factors that influence how the movement is performed. We categorized the studied determinants as chair related (eg, seat height), subject related (eg, age, muscle force), or strategy related (eg, speed or light conditions) (Tab. 1). Strategy-related determinants are those that are related to the execution of the STS movement. Although subject-related determinants can be investigated only by means of comparative studies, which was beyond the scope of our study, the types of patients investigated are indicated in Table 2. We judged studies according to the techniques used (eg, use of force plates, optoelectronic devices, or goniometers), number of movements analyzed, the determinants studied (ie, chair related, subject related, or strategy related), and the dependent variables (Tab. 2).
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| STS Movement Determinants in the Reviewed Studies |
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Chair-Related Determinants
The literature indicates that the chair has an influence on the performance of the STS movement (eg, the height of the seat can make an STS movement impossible).39 Most research has been focused on the height of the seat, and few studies tried to clarify the influence of the armrest position, use of armrests, or the type of chair on the STS movement.
Seat height.
Lowering the height of the seat makes the STS movement more demanding or even unsuccessful according to the literature we reviewed.10,14,30,3943 The minimum height for successful rising for elderly people (community-dwelling and nursing home residents 64105 years of age) with chair rise difficulties appears to be 120% of lower leg length.41 A lower seat apparently leads to increased angular velocity of the hip in order to stand14,30,39,42 and to more repositioning of the feet (also called the "stabilization strategy").14,39 In young subjects (2536 years of age) without impairments, lowering the seat of the chair from 115% to 65% of knee height results in an increase in trunk flexion angular velocity of almost 100% in order to stand.14 A lower seat has been shown to increase trunk, knee, and ankle angular displacement.30,42,43 Changing the seat height affects the maximum moment needed at the hip and knee.15,4244 Differences for hip and knee moments can be as large as 50% to 60%, with seat height having a greater influence on the moments needed at the knee than at the hip.15,4244 The changes in seat height can result in changing biomechanical demands (eg, the need to move the body's center of mass over a larger distance) or in an altered strategy (eg, "stabilization strategy," due to the imposed biomechanical demands by a different foot, trunk, or arm position).
Armrests.
Issues related to the armrest use include positioning of the hands on the armrests, height of the armrests, and the moments exerted. There is no research on the relationship among the height of the armrests, seat height, hand positioning, and their cumulative effect on performance of the STS movement.
Using armrests, according to the articles we reviewed, results in lower moments at knee and hip; at the hip, a reduction of about 50% of the extension moment needed to perform the STS movement has been calculated.40,44,45 Burdett et al40 found no influence of the use of arms on joint angles in subjects without impairments (2541 years of age). In a study by Alexander et al,46 young and old subjects without impairments used a hand bar positioned in front of them to perform the STS movement. They found no differences in body segment rotations in the young subjects (1931 years of age). A difference in trunk rotation was observed in the old subjects (6386 years of age), although this movement was analyzed only at the moment of maximum anterior head displacement.46
Chair type.
We found only 3 studies on the influence of specially designed chairs.30,40,47 Different types of chairs designed to "ease" the STS movement were studied.30,40,47 Wheeler et al47 suggested a negative influence of seat posterior slant because of tilting the body's center of mass farther backward. Use of an ejector mechanism lowered vertical impulses applied to the armrests by 47% in patients with arthritis, but no differences were found for knee and ankle moments.30
Backrests.
We found no experimental studies concerning the influence of backrests on STS movement. In only 8 studies30,39,41,42,4548 was a chair with a backrest used. When a backrest was used, it was to standardize the STS movement starting position. The influence of trunk position has been studied; however, this influence cannot necessarily be related to backrest use or backrest position, because the trunk position studied was not comparable to the trunk position using a backrest.31
Strategy-Related Determinants
Speed.
Increasing speed of the STS movement increases the hip flexion, knee extension, and ankle dorsiflexion joint moments.13 To increase reproducibility and comparability of the results of their studies, some authors14,18,49 did not allow subjects to rise at their self-selected speeds. Subjects had to rise at a preset speed indicated by, for example, a metronome.18 Other researchers studied the influence of speed on strategy, peak joint moment, phase changes, and lateral displacement. Pai and colleagues33,34 reported that a faster STS movement influences the peak vertical momentum of the center of mass while the peak horizontal momentum remains relatively unchanged (data were given in graphs). A faster STS movement gave a shorter flexion and momentum-transfer phase.19,29 Vander Linden and colleagues19 reported no influence of speed on joint excursions. Gross et al50 and Papa and Cappozzo,51,52 however, described less hip flexion at the moment of seat-off in elderly subjects who stood rapidly. In several studies,48,50,53,54 elderly subjects (6484 years of age) were less able to increase the speed of their STS movement.
Foot positioning.
Shepherd and colleagues17 studied the effect of foot position (posterior, preferred, and anterior positions) prior to the start of the STS movement, and they showed a shorter movement time with feet placed posterior. With the posterior placement of the feet, hip flexion and hip flexion speed were lowered, whereas anterior placement of the feet increased the pre-extension phase.17 Kawagoe et al55 also showed an influence of posterior foot placement. Positioning the feet more posteriorly enabled lower maximum mean extension moments at the hip (148.8 N·m versus 32.7 N·m) to be used for the STS movement.55 Hughes et al39 described repositioning of the feet as a movement strategy to lower moments used for the STS movement, which they called "stabilization strategy." Munton et al10 found no difference in electromyographic (EMG) activity of 6 large lower-extremity muscle groups with feet placed normal or posterior. Stevens et al56 studied the effect of the initial lower-extremity posture, including foot posture, on the STS movement and reported that the preferred lower-extremity position gives less head movement and lower ground reaction forces.
Trunk positioning/movement.
According to Shepherd and Gentile,31 changing the initial trunk position to have more flexion did not change the peak support moment, but the duration of maximum support moment did increase. The duration of the extension phase also became longer when the trunk initially was more flexed.31 Starting from a trunk position different from erect alters the kinematics and kinetics of the STS movement. For the condition "flexion of the trunk" (first flex the trunk toward the knees, before rising from the chair), Goulart and Valls-Sole37 described a longer movement time than for normal STS movement condition and delayed seat-off, without joint angular changes. This observation was supported by Schenkman et al,21 who described a momentum transfer strategy in which the momentum generated by the upper body is used during the extension phase.
Doorenbosch et al49 studied the effect of an STS strategy aimed at maximum flexion of the trunk during the STS movement. This strategy resulted in kinematic changes around the hip, but the range of motion of the knee and ankle did not change. Using the maximum flexion strategy, 27% lower (net) knee joint moments than in natural rising were found.49
Arm movement.
Study of the STS movement is often done with constraints on the use of the arms.57 In most studies, use of the arms during the STS movement was not allowed. Subjects were often instructed to stand up with their hands in their lap, folded, sideways, placed on the knees, or fixating an object. Some authors16,47 have reported that use of the arms during the STS movement is very common among elderly people and even among young people. Only Carr57 studied the effect of arm movement strategy on the body's center of mass. Arm position during the STS movement appears, based on the literature, to influence the position of the body's center of mass.57 The body's center of mass moves forward at the end of the STS movement when subjects point with their arms.57 Restricting the arms leads to a different pattern of ankle angular displacement, with a much higher mean standard deviation than occurs with the arms free. This finding suggests that more adjustment of the strategy of rising is needed, using ongoing adjustment at the ankle joint during restricted arm movement.57
Terminal constraint.
The terminal constraint is the required body position or activity at the end of the STS movement. The STS movement has been studied while the motion was aimed at standing quietly at the end of the movement. Pai and Lee35 conducted a study with a constraint to fall after the movement instead of standing quietly at the end. No study has quantitatively explored the sit-to-walk movement.
Dark versus light.
Visual control was manipulated while subjects performed the STS movement in light and darkness at 2 speeds.48,53 No effect on movement time was found in young (2025 years of age) and elderly (7182 years of age) people when visual control was varied.48,53 The speed of the center of mass, however, was lower in the blindfolded condition for the elderly subjects.53
Fixed joints.
Only one study58 concerned the influence of joint fixation on the level of control of STS movement performance using the so-called "uncontrolled manifold concept" (a cybernetic concept to describe results). This analysis showed that the position of the center of mass in the sagittal plane is controlled. No data on joint angle or angular velocity were given. Another study36 analyzed the relationship between the active limitation in range of motion of the knee following total knee arthroplasty and the height of the seat when rising from a seated position. The subjects with larger limitations in active knee flexion (<100° of knee flexion) required a higher angular velocity of the hip to lift the trunk forward than did those with less limitation of knee flexion (>100° of knee flexion).36
Knee position.
Positioning the knee in more extension than preferred prior to the STS movement appeared to lead to an increase of the hip joint angular displacement, with an increase of hip extension moments of 77%.59 This experimental setup is to some extent comparable to the foot-forward setup as used by Shepherd and Koh17 because foot forward will result in more knee extension.
Attention.
No experimental study addressing the influence of attention on the performance of the STS movement in subjects without impairments could be found.
Training.
Training can be a determinant in an experimental study. Hesse et al60 studied the influence of 4 weeks training (4-week inpatient rehabilitation program; the physical therapists trained the patients to distribute equal weight on both legs and to avoid lateral compensatory tilt of the trunk) on the temporal and spatial variables of the STS movement. Only in a subgroup of people with left hemiparetic strokes was a difference noted.
| Discussion and Conclusions |
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Validity.
Our review of studies on the determinants of what makes the STS movement possible led us to believe that many studies have good internal validity, but we did not use evaluative criteria or examination by multiple authors. There is, in our view, also evidence for construct validity for the measures used, because clinical tests for STS movement performance appear to us to be highly correlated with physical functioning in elderly people.2,3 We question, however, whether the reviewed studies are externally valid for predicting changes in standing up. Standing up from a chair is almost never aimed at standing alone but is part of a goal-oriented behavior, such as going for a walk or picking up an object. Nevertheless, there are examples in which standing up is aimed at simple standing (eg, in church, watching sports).
Variability.
There is intrasubject and intersubject variability in the performance of the STS movement. Variability can be the result of problems in defining the STS movement events, technical problems, or analysis of a low number of STS movements, or it can be considered as a sign of flexibility of performance during the STS movement. To lower variability and to ease analysis of the determinants, many constraints were used in the STS movement studies that we reviewed (Tab. 2). We contend that only in clinical physical performance is testing of the natural STS movement imitated (with self-selected speed and strategy).9,23,24 Other explanations for variability may include a learning effect during performance of the STS movement, fatigue in repeating fast and frequent STS movements, and erroneous instructions leading to misinterpretation.
General Conclusions
In our review, we found that in most studies (27 of the 39 studies), a combination of force plate(s) and a motion analysis system (varying from video to a type of optoelectronic system) was used. Surface EMG analysis was used in 10 of the 39 studies. The number of analyzed STS movements per subject ranged from 1 to 15. In 7 of the 39 studies, only one trial was used for statistical analysis. The number of subjects studied ranged from 2 to 51. We believe, however, that general conclusions can be drawn. The height of the chair seat, the use of armrests, and foot positioning have a major influence on STS movement performance. A higher chair seat results in lower moments at hip and knee level (up to 60% and 50%, respectively).10,14,30,39,40,4244 Lowering the chair seat will increase the need for generation of momentum or repositioning of the feet to lower the moments needed.14 Comparison of the results of the studies is difficult because of differences in study design and the fact that chair seat height is not always based on lower-extremity length. Using armrests will lower the moments needed at the knee by 50%, probably without influencing the range of motion of the joints.40,44,46 There were no reports on the interaction between the height of the armrests, chair seat height, or hand positioning and their cumulative effect on STS movement performance. Repositioning of feet appears to influence the STS movement strategy, enabling lower peak moments at the hip and knee.17,19,39,55,65 No experimental study was found that addressed the influence of the use of a backrest. The influence of trunk position has been studied; however, trunk position cannot be related to backrest position, because the studied trunk position is not comparable to the trunk position using a backrest.31
Clinical Significance
The ability to perform an STS movement is an important skill. In elderly people, the inability to perform this basic skill can lead to institutionalization, impaired ADL functioning, and impaired mobility.2,3 Consequently, this movement is frequently assessed in clinical practice. Knowledge of determinants of the STS movement, therefore, is important for clinicians interested in evaluating the ability to do an STS movement. For a proper evaluation of the STS movement in a clinical setting, we contend that standardization of the evaluation should be done in regard to type of chair, chair seat height, positioning of feet, and the use of armrests. Results of experimental studies show that these variables influence the performance of the STS movement. Neglecting these variables may result in an inability to measure actual changes in STS movement performance of a patient. Furthermore, problems in STS movement performance may be obscured without standardization. Another consequence may be that apparent changes or discrepancies may not actually be present. All of these factors can lead to suboptimal choices and decisions with respect to prognosis, planning, and therapy.
Recommendations
We believe that in both experimental and comparative STS movement studies, there needs to be control of variables that can influence STS movement performance. Some determinants (eg, chair seat height, speed, position of feet) have been studied extensively. Others (eg, the effects of footwear on STS movement performance) have not been well studied (although the footwear type does influence the performance of the Timed Up & Go Test66). The interaction among determinants has been studied to some extent.19,30,48,53,55 More research is needed, however, on the interaction of variables such as use of armrests, chair seat height, and foot positioning.
All of the studies we examined were directed at the level of impairment. Studying functional performance, in our opinion, should also include testing at the level of skills.67,68 To analyze the skill of a subject to perform the STS movement, it may be necessary to evaluate the abilities of that subject to cope with changing constraints (eg, STS movement at different speeds, at different chair seat heights, STS movement versus sit-to-walk movement, light versus darkness). To gain insight into the influence of the determinants on the STS movement may entail using other biomechanical models or paradigms.68,69 New techniques (eg, ambulatory techniques that register body posture and movements in the real-life environment of the subject) raise new research questions. To enhance the validity of data obtained in future studies and the generalizability of the results, new methods of research (which can be used outside the gait laboratory70), we believe, should be evaluated.
| Footnotes |
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No grants were received for this study.
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