Analysis of Functional Tasks to Provoke Contraction in Paretic Anterior Tibial Muscles in Individuals with Early Subacute Stroke: A Quasi-experimental Study

Introduction: Improving control of ankle dorsiflexors is crucial for enhancing gait and posture control after a stroke. Several training methods have been explored for their efficacy in promoting contraction of the weakened dorsiflexor muscles. However, majority of studies have been done in chronic stroke survivors, leaving a need to study their effect in early subacute phase of stroke. Aim: To test the effectiveness of commonly used functional tasks in stimulating dorsiflexor activity in early subacute phase of stroke. Materials and Methods: The present quasi-experimental study was conducted with 27 subjects recruited at an acute stroke care set-up at Sri Ramachandra Medical centre, Tamil Nadu, India. India. Twenty-seven subjects with first-time stroke with hemiplegia/paresis with Brunnstrom stage less than 2 were enrolled in the study from March 2023 to July 2023. Dorsiflexor activity was tested in five different functional task. The evaluation of muscle activity was conducted using Surface Electromyography (SEMG). The average output in microvolts (µV) of SEMG was recorded and taken for analysis. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Post-hoc Tuckey were used to compare the differences in dorsiflexor activity between each functional task. Statistical significance was kept at p