Effect of Ankle Weight during Gait Training on Dorsiflexors Strength in Hemiparetic Children

Abstract
Background: Affected side toe walking is a common problem in hemiparetic cerebral palsy children, that may occur due to spasticity of planter flexors muscles and inhibition of anterior tibial muscles, walking with equines foot lead to abnormal gait pattern, frequent falling down, pain at the metatarsal heads and compensatory reaction that affects hip and trunk and may cause contracture of calf muscle which may need surgery. Using ankle weight during gait training may be an effective treatment tool in hemiparetic children.
Aim of Study: The current study was conducted to inves-tigate the effect of using ankle weight during gait training in hemiparetic children.
Subjects and Methods: Thirty hemiparetic children par-ticipated in this study, their ages range from 3 to 6 years, all subjects were recruited from the outpatient clinic at the Faculty of Physical Therapy, Cairo University. They were assigned randomly in to two group of equal number; Group A control group received a specific physical therapy program and Group B study group received the same specific physical therapy program as in Group A in addition to weight started 1/2kg placed above ankle of the affected side during gait training. Hand held dynamometer was used to measure ankle dorsiflex-ors muscle strength and Kinovea software was used to measure dorsiflexion angle during initial foot contact.
Results: There was a significant increase in ankle dorsi-flexors muscle strength and a significant decrease of dorsi-flexion angle during initial contact in the study group compared to the control group.
Conclusion: Ankle weight during gait training can be an effective treatment tool in improving dorsiflexors muscle strength in hemiparetic children.