Effect of elastic taping on obstacle crossing for the stroke patients with foot drop

Abstract

Introduction: Foot drop is a common impairment in the stroke patients The stroke patients with foot drop are unable to dorsiflex the foot actively during the swing phase of gait As a result it appears abnormal gait pattern such as foot drag hip hiking and circumduction The impairment increase the risk of falls which is a major concern for the stroke patients Although the ankle-foot orthosis (AFO) is commonly used to correct foot drop it may constrain ankle joint from adjustments An alternative option is functional electrical stimulation (FES) which may not be affordable for everyone Elastic tape that allows ankle joint motion and is less expensive may be a possible solution for the stroke patients with foot drop The purpose of this study was to determine if the stroke patients with foot drop would have immediate benefit from elastic taping Methods: Sixteen stroke patients who regularly used AFO to correct foot drop participated in this study Subjects were requested to step over a 4-cm-height obstacle with self-selected speed under 3 conditions: (1) taping without wearing an AFO (KTP) (2) wearing an AFO without taping (AFO) and (3) without taping and without AFO (NON) The order of the conditions was randomized Eight trials were performed for each condition The motions were collected by a 3-D motion analysis system Two strips of elastic taping were applied to the affected ankle one for facilitating the tibialis anterior muscle and the other for inhibiting the calf muscles The successful rate Modified Ashworth scale end-point control variables and the ankle joint ROM were analyzed The repeated measure univariance ANOVA was used as a statistical test Results: No significant differences were found for the successful rate step time step length and the ratio of heel-obstacle distance to step length between 3 conditions The toe clearance and dorsiflexion angle at the moment of obstacle crossing under AFO condition were significantly larger than the other 2 conditions The AFO condition showed smaller ankle ROM during obstacle crossing than the other 2 conditions All of the performance such as successful rate spatial-temporalvariables and ankle joint ROM in KTP condition was similar to NON condition The MAS score was decreased after taping than before taping Conclusions: Our results showed that the performance of obstacle crossing was not changed by applying elastic taping on the stroke patients The stroke patients with AFO did not have better performance than the condition without taping and without AFO either Although the MAS score decreased after taping it needs further study to exclude the effects from the taping procedure With the results lacking of immediate effect we suggest investigating the effects of elastic taping combine with conventional therapy over a period of time in the future

Date of Award	2014 Aug 29
Original language	English
Supervisor	Ing-Shiou Hwang (Supervisor)