The Effects of Foot Position on the Performance of the Sit-To-Stand Movement With Chronic Stroke Subjects

Camargos AC, Rodrigues-de-Paula-Goulart F, Teixeira-Salmela LF. The effects of foot position on the performance of the sit-to-stand movement with chronic stroke subjects.

Objective

To investigate the effects of different foot positions during the sit-to-stand (STS) movements with stroke subjects.

Design

Cross-sectional.

Setting

Research laboratory.

Participants

Twelve chronic stroke subjects (N=12).

Interventions

Not applicable.

Main Outcome Measures

Differential latency and electromyography (EMG) activity of the tibialis anterior, soleus, quadriceps, and hamstring muscles of the affected leg as well as the movement time, time of seat-off, weight symmetry, and rising index were obtained while the subjects performed the STS movements by using 4 different strategies: spontaneous; symmetric; asymmetric-1, with the affected foot behind; and asymmetric-2, with the unaffected foot behind.

Results

Compared with the spontaneous strategy, the soleus showed the greatest differential latency in the asymmetric-2 strategy, the hamstrings had lower EMG activity in the symmetric strategy, and the movement time was greater in the asymmetric strategies.

Conclusions

The asymmetric 2 strategy appeared to be the least favorable, whereas the spontaneous and the symmetric strategies appeared to be more favorable in improving the STS performance. Based on these findings, allowing the subjects to adopt the spontaneous strategy or training of the symmetric strategy could result in greater benefits for subjects with higher chronicity and higher functional levels, such as those evaluated in the present study.