Gait re-education and mobility act1 vztzes  are important physiotherapy interventions for patients following stroke. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of strengthening of affected lower limb muscle groups on some gait parameters in adult patients  with stroke. Twelve patients (6 men and 6 women) with stroke participated in the study. Each patient went through a six-week muscle strengthening regimenfor the affected hip jlexors, hip extensors,  knee jlexors and knee extensors on a UNEX SYSTEM Ill™ PC isokinetic  machine. An assessment of muscular strength was done pre-training and post-training . In addition, an assessment of the selected gait parameters (stride length, step length, natural gait speed, maximal gait speed and cadence) was also done pre-training and post-training . Paired t-tests were used to determine whether significant differences existed between the pre-training and post-training mean values of muscular strength  and  the gait parameters. The mean age of the patients was 61.25 ± 7.84 years, while their mean weight was 63.08± 5. 93kg. The taining regimen resulted in statistically significant improvement in the strength of the trained muscle   groups  and   in   all   the   selected   gait parameters, except cadence (at p <0.05). It was concluded that the strengthening of the lower limb muscles of the affected side improves some gait parameters over tirne in patients with stroke.

 

Key words: Stroke, hemiplegia, gait parameters, muscle strengthening, rehabilitation