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Interactions between foot placement, trunk frontal position, weight-bearing and knee moment asymmetry at seat-off during rising from a chair in healthy controls and persons with hemiparesis.

Lecours J, Nadeau S, Gravel D, Teixera-Salmela L

Centre de recherche interdisciplinaire en réadaptation, Institut de réadaptation de Montréal, Canada.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the interaction of foot placement, trunk frontal position, weight-bearing and knee moment asymmetry at seat-off when rising from a chair. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SUBJECTS: Seventeen subjects with hemiparesis and 15 healthy controls. METHODS: Trunk position, weight-bearing and knee moment asymmetry were quantified by kinetic and kinematic analysis when the subjects rose from a chair using 3 different foot placements: spontaneous, symmetrical and asymmetrical. Asymmetry was defined by the ratio between sides. RESULTS: In the healthy controls, the spontaneous and symmetrical foot placements were associated with an almost vertical trunk position and a symmetrical weight-bearing and knee moment. The asymmetrical foot placement resulted in a trunk displacement towards the foot placed behind, with more weight-bearing and higher moment on this side. The opposite was observed in the hemiparetic participants where the spontaneous and symmetrical foot conditions determined a trunk position and an asymmetry bias towards the unaffected side. Placing the affected foot behind the other reduced the asymmetrical behaviour. CONCLUSION: Changes in weight-bearing are partly associated with the frontal trunk position, and foot placement manipulations can be used to modify weight-bearing distribution. Inference on weight-bearing is possible by observing the trunk position during the sit-to-stand task in persons with hemiparesis.

Published 22 February 2008 in J Rehabil Med, 40(3): 200-7.
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