title: The correlation between muscle activity of the quadriceps and balance and gait in stroke patients.
abstract: [Purpose] The purpose of this study was to examine the correlation between quadriceps muscle activity and balance and gait in stroke patients. [Subjects and Methods] Fifty-five stroke patients (30 males 25 females; mean age 58.7 years; stroke duration 4.82 months; Korean mini-mental state examination score 26.4) participated in this study. MP100 surface electromyography, BioRescue, and LUKOtronic were used to measure the quadriceps muscle activity, balance, and gait, respectively. [Results] There was a significant correlation between quadriceps muscle activity (vastus lateralis % reference voluntary contraction, vastus medialis % reference voluntary contraction) and balance (limits of stability) and gait (gait velocity) but there was none between vastus lateralis % reference voluntary contraction, vastus medialis % reference voluntary contraction. [Conclusion] An increase in quadriceps muscle activity will improve balance and gait ability. To improve function in stroke patients, training is needed to strengthen the quadriceps muscles.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, Graduate School of Physical Therapy, Sehan University, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Dae Jung
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, Graduate School of Physical Therapy, Sehan University, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Seung Kyu
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, Graduate School of Physical Therapy, Sehan University, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Yo Han
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Uhm
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, Graduate School of Physical Therapy, Sehan University, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Sam Heon
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, Graduate School of Physical Therapy, Sehan University, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Dong Whan
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Chun
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, Graduate School of Physical Therapy, Sehan University, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Je Ho
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Kim
keywords: Balance; Gait; Muscle activity