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The influence of a hip extension strengthening programme on gait performance in individuals following stroke

Gait difficulties experienced by individuals following a stroke may be related to the commonly observed reduced hip extension in the stance phase of gait. The aim of this initial exploratory study was to evaluate the effects of a home-based strengthening programme on hip muscle strength and gait per...

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Main Author: Busse, Monica
Other Authors: Vaughan, Christopher Leonard (Kit)
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Human Biology 2017
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access_status_str Open Access
author Busse, Monica
author2 Vaughan, Christopher Leonard (Kit)
author_browse Busse, Monica
Vaughan, Christopher Leonard (Kit)
author_facet Vaughan, Christopher Leonard (Kit)
Busse, Monica
author_sort Busse, Monica
collection Thesis
description Gait difficulties experienced by individuals following a stroke may be related to the commonly observed reduced hip extension in the stance phase of gait. The aim of this initial exploratory study was to evaluate the effects of a home-based strengthening programme on hip muscle strength and gait performance in individuals following stroke. Six chronic stroke patients (> 9 months duration) participated in this pretest-posttest group design which was composed of two six week phases, A and B, where B immediately followed A. No training or advice was given to the six subjects during phase A. During Phase B, the same six subjects participated in a "hip extension focused" home exercise programme aimed at improving hip extensor muscle strength and the range of anterior hip structures. The exercise programme consisted of functional strengthening, task related activities and stretching. At the end of this sixweek period, the subjects were re-tested in order to evaluate the effects of the exercise programme. The outcome measures included isometric muscle strength, walking speed and range of the anterior structures of the hip. The walking section of the Motor Assessment Scale for Stroke and the Nottingham Extended Activities of Daily Living were also employed. In addition, clinical gait analysis was used to gather measures of gait velocity, step length and hip joint excursion. Statistically significant increases were found in the study group (n = 6) for the identified parameter of hip extensor strength after the intervention (p = 0.05), although this change could not necessarily be attributed to intervention effects alone. Hip extension strength was significantly correlated with (1) step length (r = 0.82; p = 0.04) and (2) joint excursion (r = 0.8; p = 0.05) after the intervention. These correlations, although tentative and not conclusive, suggest that hip extensor strength may influence gait performance and therefore warrants further investigation. While the results obtained from this exploratory study appear to suggest that the hip extensors play an important role in providing stability for the lower limb during gait, a randomised controlled study with a larger cohort of patients would be necessary to make any definitive conclusions.
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institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
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license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2017
publishDateRange 2017
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publisher Department of Human Biology
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source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/26515 The influence of a hip extension strengthening programme on gait performance in individuals following stroke Busse, Monica Vaughan, Christopher Leonard (Kit) Physiotherapy Gait difficulties experienced by individuals following a stroke may be related to the commonly observed reduced hip extension in the stance phase of gait. The aim of this initial exploratory study was to evaluate the effects of a home-based strengthening programme on hip muscle strength and gait performance in individuals following stroke. Six chronic stroke patients (> 9 months duration) participated in this pretest-posttest group design which was composed of two six week phases, A and B, where B immediately followed A. No training or advice was given to the six subjects during phase A. During Phase B, the same six subjects participated in a "hip extension focused" home exercise programme aimed at improving hip extensor muscle strength and the range of anterior hip structures. The exercise programme consisted of functional strengthening, task related activities and stretching. At the end of this sixweek period, the subjects were re-tested in order to evaluate the effects of the exercise programme. The outcome measures included isometric muscle strength, walking speed and range of the anterior structures of the hip. The walking section of the Motor Assessment Scale for Stroke and the Nottingham Extended Activities of Daily Living were also employed. In addition, clinical gait analysis was used to gather measures of gait velocity, step length and hip joint excursion. Statistically significant increases were found in the study group (n = 6) for the identified parameter of hip extensor strength after the intervention (p = 0.05), although this change could not necessarily be attributed to intervention effects alone. Hip extension strength was significantly correlated with (1) step length (r = 0.82; p = 0.04) and (2) joint excursion (r = 0.8; p = 0.05) after the intervention. These correlations, although tentative and not conclusive, suggest that hip extensor strength may influence gait performance and therefore warrants further investigation. While the results obtained from this exploratory study appear to suggest that the hip extensors play an important role in providing stability for the lower limb during gait, a randomised controlled study with a larger cohort of patients would be necessary to make any definitive conclusions. 2017-12-08T13:56:33Z 2017-12-08T13:56:33Z 2002 Master Thesis Masters MSc (Med) http://hdl.handle.net/11427/26515 eng application/pdf Department of Human Biology Faculty of Health Sciences University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Physiotherapy
Busse, Monica
The influence of a hip extension strengthening programme on gait performance in individuals following stroke
thesis_degree_str Master's
title The influence of a hip extension strengthening programme on gait performance in individuals following stroke
title_full The influence of a hip extension strengthening programme on gait performance in individuals following stroke
title_fullStr The influence of a hip extension strengthening programme on gait performance in individuals following stroke
title_full_unstemmed The influence of a hip extension strengthening programme on gait performance in individuals following stroke
title_short The influence of a hip extension strengthening programme on gait performance in individuals following stroke
title_sort influence of a hip extension strengthening programme on gait performance in individuals following stroke
topic Physiotherapy
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/26515
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