The Effects of Lower Extremity Elastic Strap Binding Technique on Gait in Stroke Patients

Objective To determine the effects of lower extremity elastic strap binding technique on gait spatiotemporal parameters and the joint angles on the lower extremity throughout the entire gait cycle in stroke patients. Methods 29 stroke patients were invited as the study participants. The patient sat and bent his or her hip and knee, took an elastic strap with a width of 5cm, placed the middle of the strap on the bottom of the affected foot, and crossed it in front of the ankle joint. Then, the patient was asked to stand up, the strap was wrapped around the back of the shank, then around the back of the knee joint, and wound up along the thigh of the affected side. It was crossed in front of the thigh and continued to be wrapped around the back of the waist to be tied and fixed. A paired sample t-test was used to analyze the effects of the technique on gait spatiotemporal parameters and joint angles in stroke patients. Results The patients’ step length decreased (P=0.024), and step width increased (P=0.008) during the gait cycle after the strapping. In the gait cycle between 0% to 2%, 7% to 77%, and 95% to 100%, the hip flexion angle on the affected side was significantly larger after the strapping (P<0.05). In the gait cycle between 0% to 69% and 94% to 100%, the knee flexion angle on the affected side was significantly larger after the strapping (P<0.05). In the gait cycle between 0% to 57% and 67% to 100%, the ankle dorsiflexion angle on the affected side was significantly smaller after the strapping (P<0.05), and in the gait cycle between 0% to 35% and 68% to 100%, the ankle inversion angle on the affected side was significantly smaller after the strapping (P<0.05). Conclusion The lower extremity elastic strap binding technique can decrease the hip flexion and knee flexion limitations in stroke patients during walking, and reduce the ankle plantar flexion and ankle inversion angle of stroke patients. The technique enabled stroke patients to adopt a more stable gait pattern.