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http://www.ptproductsonline.com/news/2012-05-01_02.asp
Although hip flexors help generate total power in gait, no device has
been tested extensively for clinical purposes to cope with weakness in
the hip flexors in patients with stroke. Italy-based researchers
performed a study to assess the efficacy and safety of a newly developed
hip flexion assist orthosis in adult patients with hemiparesis after
stroke. The results were published in the May 2012 issue of Physical Therapy.
Stefano Carda, MD, PhD, from the department of neurorehabilitation
and neuropsychology at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois
(CHUV), Lausanne, Switzerland, and the department of physical medicine
and rehabilitation at the Azienda Universitaria Ospedaliera, Maggiore
della Carità , Novara, Italy, led the study. Inclusion criteria in the
prospective, randomized, before-after trial were hemiparesis resulting
from stroke, with an onset of 8 weeks or more; ability to walk, even if
with assistance; and hip flexion weakness, with a Medical Research
Council Scale score of 4 or less.
Participants were evaluated using the 10-Meter Walk Test and the
6-Minute Walk Test, as well as with the Trunk Control Test, the
Functional Ambulation Categories, the Motricity Index, and hip flexor
strength on the Medical Research Council Scale. In all, 62 stroke
survivors were tested in random order with and without orthosis.
According to the results, both the 6-Minute Walk Test and the
10-Meter Walk Test scores improved with the use of the orthosis. In
addition, the researchers found a reportedly significant negative
correlation for improvement between scores on the two main outcome
measures with the orthosis and the Functional Ambulation Category
scores. The improvement in 6-Minute Walk Test scores with orthosis was
inversely related to hip flexor strength.
The researchers conclude that the data showed the use of a hip
flexion assist orthosis could improve gait in patients with post-stroke
hemiparesis, especially for those with more severe walking impairment.
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