Abstract

ALMEIDA, Angélica; GONCALVES, Pedro; SILVA, Maria Adília  and  MACHADO, Leandro. The ankle taping effects in gait and postural control in hemiplegic spastic children with cerebral palsy . Rev. Port. Cien. Desp. [online]. 2007, vol.7, n.1, pp.48-58. ISSN 1645-0523.

This work addresses the gait analysis in spastic hemiplegic children with cerebral palsy. In hemiplegia there are abnormalities in gait pattern and in postural control. Taping techniques are described as a way to control the foot and ankle, in order to improve the gait pattern and postural stability. The main purpose of this study is to quantify the ankle taping effects in gait (ground reaction forces, muscle activity and kinematic parameters) and in postural stability immediately after the ankle taping application and after three months of continuous use, in hemiplegic children. The experimental sample was composed by 7 hemiplegic children, boys and girls, and the control group by 7 children without any pathology. For the gait analysis we used a 2D video system, a force platform and an electromyography device. This study dealt only with the analysis from the stance phase of the gait cycle of the affected inferior limb. The major conclusions arising from this study were that the ankle taping application produces changes on gait pattern and on postural control, icreasing the dorsiflexor movement during the final stance phase as well the knee extension at ground attack phase, facilitating an increase on the muscle tibial-anterior activity and parcial inibition of the tricipes sural during ground attack phase. In summary, we admit that the attained results after three months of ankle taping continuous use denoted positive changes in these children gait pattern.

Keywords : cerebral palsy; hemiplegia; ankle taping; gait pattern; postural control.

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