Rehabilitation, treatment and orthotic management of stroke

“They may have hip hiking during the swing phase and circumduction of the affected leg to try and clear the leg because of the foot drop.”

Some patients may have a lack of knee and hip stability, as well as an incorrect ankle position during their gait cycle.

“Even if a patient is unable to walk and is in a wheelchair, we still want to maintain range of motion in the ankle joint,” Miller said. “It is important to stabilize their leg and keep the foot in a neutral position while they are sitting.”

Another gait problem that is prevalent in these patients, said Miller, is toe contact at the initial stance phase of gait.

Miller pointed out that often, stroke patients are completely unaware of their affected side, “so their hemiplegic side is almost like a lost limb in space and they tend to ignore it. When you see them walking, their unaffected side is always turned forward. It’s as if their affected side is walking behind them.”

It is a proprioceptive issue, said Miller, and the goal is to emphasize to the patient that if they want to walk, they must use both the right and left sides.

Roy Bowers, CPO, a lecturer at the National Centre for Training and Education in Prosthetics and Orthotics at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland, typically observes in his stroke patients an increase in tone in the plantarflexor and inverter muscles of the foot and ankle.

“We see an equinovarus deformity of the foot and ankle often accompanied by a hyperextension or recurvatum at the knee joint,” said Bowers. “It is normally a spastic drop foot rather than a flaccid drop foot.”

Bowers said the deformity of the knee is secondary to the foot and ankle position.

“The combination of these deformities leads to a fairly typical package of gait abnormalities, including things like reluctance to bear weight on the affected limb, asymmetry of step length and timing, inability to extend the hip at the end of stance phase and difficulty in bringing about flexion of the knee in early swing phase. The latter sometimes leads to circumduction of the limb during swing phase.”

According to Lupinacci, two types of AFOs are used with stroke patients: plastic AFOs and double-upright AFOs.

“Both types come in a number of variations,” he said. “Some are adjustable, some are fixed, and others have adjustable components for ankle and dorsiflexion. The type of bracing we use depends on what the patient is exhibiting, and how much muscle strength they have in the ankle, calf and lower leg.”

Lupinacci said that patients who are dragging their foot [drop foot] due to reduced dorsiflexion strength or are unable to lift their leg to swing the foot through because of reduced hip flexion — or a combination of both — may be candidates for an AFO.

Alistair Gibson, CPO, LPO, area manager of Hanger Prosthetics & Orthotics in Winter Park, Fla., said that some stroke patients do display drop foot with or without lateral instability due to weakness in the anterior tibial muscle group.

“They may exhibit weakness in the dorsiflexors so the AFO is there to prevent the foot from dragging on the ground when they walk,” said Gibson. “When a patient has drop foot, their increased energy demands on walking are significant.” Additionally, Gibson said that due to quadricep weakness combined with plantarflexor tone, patients will attempt to stabilize their knee by firing off their hip extensors and going into recurvatum.

“The AFO can be a significant aid in managing and controlling recurvatum of the knee,” he said.

Chad Kettler, a physical therapist at Health South Rehabilitation Center in Wormleysburg, Pa., said he will adjust an AFO, perhaps adding a bit more dorsiflexion to break up extensor synergy patterns. He also uses AFOs for patients who have balance issues.

“For example, we may use a dual channel AFO,” he said. “We’ll open up the front channel to allow them to transition their tibia forward over the talus to promote more normal ankle motion, to break up synergy patterns or as they get more return of their dorsiflexors. We also have people who have severe spasticity of the gastrocnemius and soleus muscles.” For those patients, Kettler incorporates various modalities to get the muscles stretched out. He will start a patient off with a dual channel brace, progress to an air cast, and finally, discontinue bracing.

Kettler said springs may be added to an orthosis for dorsiflexion assist if they are not getting any return of the anterior tibialis musculature.

According to Miller, the goals when prescribing an AFO should be retaining range of motion, promoting a better sense of support during weight bearing, encouraging proper gait mechanics and safety and stability issues. The design of the AFO, she said, varies between several types.

The AFO, she explained, can be flexible, semiflexible, rigid or hinge.

“The choice of AFO is determined by the physical assessment of the patient,” said Miller. “If there is clonus present, it must be addressed by perhaps adding some sort of internal strapping that will prevent the foot from popping out of the device.”

To improve the biomechanical correction of the deformity, Miller will put a footplate on the base of a polypropylene AFO.

“I put it underneath the toes,” she said. “This will prevent the toes from curling.”

Additionally, some of the prefabricated AFOs are cut behind the metatarsal heads forming a ridgeline that can cause a pressure area or areas on someone with drop foot, Miller added.

A flexible design would be more appropriate for flaccid foot drop because it is lightweight and all it is basically doing is preventing the plantarflexion deformity of the foot, Miller said. A rigid design will help with plantarflexion spasticity and influence knee and hip stability.

“As far as the conventional design, I rarely use it,” said Miller. “It doesn’t have a lot of contact area so it does not optimally control foot position. There are instances where we have to use it, such as when swelling or hypersensitivity of the skin is evident.”

It can be used, however, as an initial training device in a post-CVA patient because it does not make contact with the skin. “But it is not the definitive device.”

“I have never used a knee ankle foot orthoses (KAFO) on a CVA patient. It is heavy and a stroke patient usually does not have the strength to lift it.”

Bowers also favors the AFOs over the KAFOs. In his experience, he can often control the problem at the knee by correctly addressing the problem at the foot and ankle.

“If we normalize the situation at the foot and ankle with an AFO, then we have a beneficial effect at the knee and hip joint,” he said. “The hip joint typically remains in a rather flexed position throughout stance phase and the patient has difficulty extending his or her hip. So our favored approach is to get an AFO in which the tibia is held inclined forward at some angle to the vertical.”

Bowers finds that this helps manage the problem of knee hyperextension. It also encourages a good second rocker so that they roll over the foot nicely in stance phase. Moreover, it helps with knee flexion and hip extension in the later parts of stance and early swing.

“Whether we use joints or not is another issue,” said Bowers. “I am not overly enthusiastic about the use of ankle joints in these orthoses, particularly in patients who have significant increase in tone. I don’t like to use ankle joints that will allow dorsiflexion in patients with high tone.”

Bowers’ starting position is to try the patient with a solid AFO, which has equinus and varus control in it and is inclined forward to an angle that has to be determined on an individual basis.

“Some people favor ankle joints and some don’t. If you look at the orthotics practice globally, I think there is a fair amount of inappropriate prescriptions for stroke patients. For example, in the literature there are reports of posterior leaf spring or shoe horn type orthoses being used on patients with increased tone. In general, I don’t think this is a proper prescription because it is typically not robust enough to prevent spastic plantarflexion and is not designed to control the varus or supination component of the deformity or the supination part of the deformity of the foot and ankle.”

Laureen Martinelli, OTR, CCC-SLP, occupational therapy manager of the HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital of Mechanicsburg in Mechanicsburg, Pa., said the primary goal behind upper extremity orthotics is for positioning.

“I am referring to static splinting which has no moveable parts,” she said. “They are used to preserve the functional position of the hand and wrist, keeping it in a neutral position.”

After a stroke, Martinelli said some patients have no muscle tone or high muscle tone. Depending on what type of tone the patient presents with determines the kind of orthotic that is prescribed. Every patient who has a stroke does not get a splint or orthoses.

“If they have return in the arm or hand, you don’t want to splint it because it will decrease the function,” she said.

Lupinacci added that the return from stroke is variable. People who have had a mild stroke may get excellent return. Certainly, the hand and upper extremity is more affected than the leg.

“Sometimes the return can be rather dramatic,” said Lupinacci. “So the degree of weakness they started with doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re going to have more impairment.”

Lupinacci said generally, younger people have much more rigorous return than older people, yet it is hard to prognosticate who will get return.

For patients with low tone, one of the hand splints Martinelli uses is a resting pan splint. It preserves the space between the thumb and index finger, minimizes contractures, and helps to prevent injury due to lack of sensation. The splint puts the thumb directly underneath the index finger, fingers are positioned straight out and the wrist is maintained at 15 degrees to 30 degrees of extension.

Martinelli said spasticity is more of a challenge. Splints are used to prevent contractures by preserving the palmer arch. Serial casting and pharmaceutical intervention are frequently implemented as well.

Sometimes, a hand cone can be used to prevent contractures.

Both Miller and Bowers see stroke patients who have a subluxation of the shoulder joint.

“The weight of the arm and lack of muscle control in the shoulder can cause the shoulder joint to sublux,” said Bowers.

Miller said a sling is often used to hold the joint and assist in long-term stability.

As with any orthoses, follow-up care is necessary.

“We see all CVA patients for adjustments in their orthoses,” said Miller. “Because CVA patients can change, you want to make sure you have allowed the initial time for progression. It is important that you work with them as they change in their immediate post CVA condition. As the client changes, their needs — and therefore their goals — will change.”

Bowers added that CVA patients are undergoing some form of physiotherapy program while they are using the orthoses.

“From an orthotic point of view, we review them at about one month after delivery or sooner if they are experiencing any problems.”

Thereafter, Bowers would see them about every three months. That will get longer with the passage of time. If there is a need to change the prescription or realign the existing orthoses, he will do that.

“What I mean by changing the alignment — depending on what we observe in a visual gait analysis — is changing the angle of the inclination of the tibia by the addition or removal of some wedges underneath the heel of the orthoses.”

“Sometimes a patient will graduate themselves from a brace believing they’re moving forward when that is clearly not the case,” said Lupinacci. “They wind up having long-term problems with their knees, hips and back. Anytime there is a biomechanical shift to an abnormal biomechanics of a lower limb, the forces are abnormally transmitted upstream. Orthoses are a long-term preventative measure to save the bones, joints and spine. ”

Miller also experiences resistance in some of her stroke patients to wearing orthotics.

“Most people who have had a stroke want to be the way they were prior to their stroke. They want to walk the same and appear normal. Often, there is some denial about their disability. An AFO or any orthopedic device is a reminder of their disability. As orthotists, we cannot make a device invisible. They think they can get the AFO, learn to walk, then throw the device away. It is important to educate the patient as to why they are wearing the AFO throughout the treatment process.”

Bowers said he doesn’t see much resistance in stroke patients to wearing an orthoses.

“Sometimes, if they have had a bad experience from another center, such as a poorly fitting device or difficulty wearing a device with their normal footwear, then they may not be too enthusiastic. But new patients fairly quickly appreciate the benefits of a well-fitted orthosis. We can disguise the appearance of the device by coloring the plastic or covering it up. It doesn’t have to be a terribly visible thing.”