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Effect of Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation on the Gait of Patients With Hemiplegia of Long and Short Duration

R-Y Wang, PT, is Lecturer, Department of Physical Therapy, and Doctoral Student, Department of Physiology, National Yang-Ming Medical College, 155, Sec 2, Li-Nom St, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China. She is also Consultant, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Veterans General Hospital, 201, Sec 2, Shih-Pai Rd, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China.

Background and Purpose. The immediate and cumulative effects of proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) applied to the pelvic region on the gait of patients with hemiplegia of short and long duration were studied. Subjects. The subjects were 20 patients with hemiplegia of short duration (=4.4 months, SD=0.8, range=2.8–5.6, n=10) or long duration (=15.4 months, SD=1.7, range=12.7–18.5; n=10). Methods. Each subject received a total of 12 sessions of PNF (three times per week), with each treatment lasting for 30 minutes. Results. In subjects with hemiplegia of short duration, gait speed and cadence improved immediately after 1 session of PNF, and this improvement was further enhanced after 12 treatments. By contrast, subjects with hemiplegia of long duration did not improve immediately, although the cumulative effect of the treatments was similar to that observed in subjects with hemiplegia of short duration. Conclusion and Discussion. These data suggest that (1) in both groups of patients with hemiplegia, the cumulative effects of PNF is more beneficial than the immediate effects, and (2) patients with hemiplegia of short duration respond to training sooner than do patients with hemiplegia of long duration, although the cumulative effects are similar for both groups.

Key Words: Cumulative effect • Duration of hemiplegia • Hemiplegic gait • Proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation

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