The Effect of Achilles Tendon Vibration and Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation on Gait Performance in Ambulatory Stroke Patients

Introduction: Stroke was a leading cause of mortality and morbidity in both developed and developing countries like Bangladesh.

Objective: To determine the effect of Achilles tendon vibration and Proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) exercise on gait performance in ambulatory stroke patients.

Materials and Methods: It was a retrospective study which was conducted to determine the effect of Achilles tendon vibration and Proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) on gait performance in ambulatory stroke patients. Sample size of 40 were recruited in this study and divided into two groups (group-1 & group-2) with equal number of patients. Group-1 patients were treated by Achilles tendon vibration & group-2 patients were treated by Proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) exercise from 6 to 8 weeks with a frequency of 4 to 6 sessions per week. Functional outcome was measured by Wisconsin Gait Scale before and after the treatment. Purposive sampling technique was used for sample selection. A pre tested semi structured questionnaire was used as data collection instrument.

Results: The mean age of the respondents were 54.00±1.148 years with a range from 30 to 70 years in group-1 & 52.55±9.682 years with a range from 40 to 66 years in group-2. The mean Wisconsin Gait score were 26.50 before treatment & 24.50 score after treatment in group-1. The mean Wisconsin Gait score were 28.60 before treatment & 26.10 scores after treatment in group-2. This study found that Wisconsin gait scores were lower in both groups after the treatments compare than before treatment that suggesting higher gait performance in ambulatory stroke patients. There is a significant (P<0.05) effect of Achilles Tendon vibration & Proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) exercise on gait performance in ambulatory stroke patients.

Conclusion: Achilles tendon vibration & Proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) exercise both are statistically sound on gait performance in ambulatory stroke patients that was measured by Wisconsin Gait Scale.

Keywords: Achilles tendon vibrations, Proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) exercise, Stroke, Gait and Wisconsin Gait Scale.