Assessment of gait patiem following Kinesiology Taping application in patients after cerebral stroke

Beata Michalak, Bartłomiej Halat, Wojciech Kufel, Marta Kopa, Jacek Łuniewski, Katarzyna Bogacz, Magdalena Wilk, Marcin Krajczy, Anna Lipińska, Jan Szczegielniak, Zbigniew Śliwiński

Beata Michalak, Bartłomiej Halat, Wojciech Kufel, Marta Kopa, Jacek Łuniewski, Katarzyna Bogacz, Magdalena Wilk, Marcin Krajczy, Anna Lipińska, Jan Szczegielniak, Zbigniew Śliwiński – Assessment of gait patiem following Kinesiology Taping application in patients after cerebral stroke. Fizjoterapia Polska 2009; 9(2); 133-142

Abstract
Background. The authors present an assessment of gait pattern in stroke patients subjected to comprehensive physiotherapy inclu-ding Kinesiology Taping applications. Material and methods. The KT group included 20 patients (13 men and 7 women) who were subjected to Kinesiology Taping. KT applications were not used in the control group, which consisted of 5 women and 15 men. Ali patients underwent physical, neurological and functional examinations, which constituted the basis for designing a rehabilitation program. Results. The analysis of the results indicates that functional KT application to the anterior tibial muscie, ligamentous KT application to the Achilles tendon and muscular KT application to the soleus muscie significantly contributed to improving ankle joint function. Patients treated with KT applications demonstrated improved gait patterns, visible as balanced step length and an extended support phase main-taining the body weight. When learning and analyzing the gait pattern, the midstance phase (fuli loading) is a significant element prece-ding the propulsion phase. This assessment of gait patterns following KT application in stroke patient is an innovative study. Conclusions. Muscular and ligamentous Kinesiology Taping applications reduce the spastic tension of the lower limb muscles para-lyzed as a result of cerebral stroke, The beneficial effect of Kinesiology Taping described by the founders ofthis method reduces the congestive edema of the limbs paralyzed as a result of a cerebral stroke and improve the gait pattern. The rehabilitation program applied in this study increased the gait speed of the stroke patients.
Key words:
Kinesiology Taping, muscular applications, ligamentous applications, corrective applications, cerebral stroke
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