Knee joint dysfunctions that influence gait in cerebrovascular injury.
BACKGROUND
There is still no consensus among different specialists on the subject of kinematic variation during the hemiparetic gait, including the main changes that take place during the gait cycle and whether the gait velocity changes the patterns of joint mobility. One of the most frequently discussed joints is the knee.


OBJECTIVE
This study aims to evaluate the variables found in the angular kinematics of knee joint, and to describe the alterations found in the hemiparetic gait resulting from cerebrovascular injury.


METHODS
This study included 66 adult patients of both genders with a diagnosis of either right or left hemiparesis resulting from ischemic cerebrovascular injury. All the participants underwent three-dimensional gait evaluation, an the angular kinematics of the joint knee were selected for analysis.


RESULTS
The results were distributed into four groups formed based on the median of the gait speed and the side of hemiparesis.


CONCLUSIONS
The relevant clinical characteristics included the important mechanisms of loading response in the stance, knee hyperextension in single stance, and reduction of the peak flexion and movement amplitude of the knee in the swing phase. These mechanisms should be taken into account when choosing the best treatment. We believe that the findings presented here may aid in preventing the occurrence of the problems found, and also in identifying the origin of these problems.
Lucareli
Paulo Roberto Garcia
PR
Department of Orthopedics, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil. plucareli@hotmail.com
D'Andrea Greve
Julia Maria
JM
D000328:Adult; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D020234:Gait Ataxia / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D007719:Knee Joint / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010291:Paresis / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D020521:Stroke / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*