Asymmetry of foot-floor contacts in a young athlete five years after traumatic lesion to the sciatic nerve.
This study demonstrates the need for periodic reassessments of overall function in effective rehabilitation programs. Unilateral orthotic aids to walking may correct a malfunction on the affected side and yet inadvertently contribute to malfunction of the contralateral side if attention is focused only on the impaired joint or segment. The subject of the study was an active young adult male who 5 years previously in a waterskiing accident had suffered a severely fractured pelvis, traumatized sciatic nerve, and immediate paralysis of the foot dorsiflexors. He now exhibits residual effects including a unilaterally shortened (2.6 cm) lower extremity, corrected by a heel-lift, and continued paralysis of the right foot, corrected by a drop-foot appliance. These orthotics provide appropriate contact sequences of the affected foot while walking, but unintentionally have adverse effects on foot-floor contact sequences on the unaffected side. Analysis of the ambulatory pattern by temporal sequencing kinematics reveals the extent of the problem, but not its solution.J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 1988;9(11):375-380.
Charteris
J
J
Percy-Lancaster
R
R
Scott
P A
PA
Williams
M
M