A major goal of rehabilitation after a neurological condition is to be able to walk again.

Being able to swing a leg easily during the swing phase of walking is often a major problem with the risk of tripping or falling. These footclearance problems can be caused by reduced knee flexion during swinging. Impaired knee flexion or stiff knee gait is one of the most common gait disorders and occurs in approximately 60% of patients with Cerebrovascular Accident. A frequently cited cause of this stiff knee gait is abnormal activity during the swing phase of the upper leg muscle musculus rectus femoris.

 

The Stiff Knee Gait project focuses on finding treatment options to improve walking in neurological patients with stiff knee gait.

 

There are a number of treatment options:

  • Electrostimulation of the Hamstring
  • Botulinum toxin injections into the rectus femoris
  • Surgical procedure; moving the rectus femoris (Rectus femoris transfer)
  • Development Lidocaine injections into the rectus femoris and vastus intermedius
  • Development External Knee flexion device
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