Study on improving heel strike by constraint-induced movement in patients with stroke

This is an ascertaining and ameliorative study that, through these two aspects, aims at checking to what extent constraint-induced movement therapy applied to the healthy lower limb can cause significant improvement in the affected limb in terms of increased active mobility of the ankle flexion, and integrating this mobility into the heel strike during gait. It is known that, when walking, these patients come into contact withthe support surface with the forefoot or the entire sole instead of the heel. The research was applied to 16 patients with stroke pathology and a motor and cognitive status that gave them the opportunity to participate in the rehabilitation programme. This programme was intensive, lasting over a period of 3 weeks, 6 hours per day, and consisted of a set of exercises divided into a main programme made up of 12 exercises and a secondary one including 6 exercises – both performed under constraint-induced conditions. The latter, due to the different nature of the exercises compared to the former, had the role of determining the patient to transfer and integratefunctional gains into a context closer to the activities of daily living, but without being mentally boring. Following the study, we believe that the benefits of this approach to lower limb rehabilitation should be considered and extended to post-traumatic pathologies that lead to negative repercussions on gait phases.