Obembe A.O., Olaogun M.O.B., and Adedoyin R.A
Gait deviations in stroke survivors vary with strok e severity, location of infarct and other individua l differences. This study aimed to determine the diff erences in gait characteristics between survivors with haemorrhagic stroke and those with ischaemic s troke. A cross-sectional study of patients who had survived six months or more after a stroke was unde rtaken. Participants consisted of patients treated at the outpatient physiotherapy clinics of two teachin g hospitals in Osun, South-West Nigeria. Using Observational Gait Analysis and Foot Print Method, the following variables were assessed for each participant: gait speed, cadence, stride length, st ep length, step width and foot angle. A total of 70 stroke survivors (46 males and 24 females) with mea n age of 53.52±10.35 years participated in this study. Forty five (64.3%) had haemorrhagic stroke w hile 25 (35.7%) had ischaemic stroke. Results showed significant differences between gait speed, height normalized speed, cadence and step length of paretic limb of haemorrhagic and ischaemic strok e survivors, with those of haemorrhagic stroke survivors higher than those of ischaemic stroke sur vivors. There were differences in some gait characteristics between haemorrhagic and ischaemic stroke survivors. This suggests that stroke type should be taken into consideration as a factor in g ait assessment and retraining of hemiparetic stroke survivors.
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