The effect of tibialis anterior weakness on foot drop and toe clearance in patients with facioscapulohumeral dystrophy.

Autor: Gambelli CN; Physical Activity, Sport and Recreation Research Focus Area (PhASRec), Potchefstroom Campus, North-West University (NWU), Potchefstroom, South Africa; Université Côte d'Azur, LAMHESS, France; Laboratory of Physiology and Biomechanics of Locomotion, Institute of Neuroscience (IoNS), Université catholique de Louvain (UCL), Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. Electronic address: clement.gambelli@gmail.com., Bredin J; Université Côte d'Azur, LAMHESS, France; Centre de Santé Institut Rossetti-PEP06, Nice, France., Doix AM; Université Côte d'Azur, LAMHESS, France., Garcia J; Université Côte d'Azur, CHU, France., Tanant V; Université Côte d'Azur, CHU, France., Fournier-Mehouas M; Université Côte d'Azur, LAMHESS, France; Université Côte d'Azur, CHU, France., Desnuelle C; Université Côte d'Azur, CNRS, Inserm, iBV, France., Sacconi S; Université Côte d'Azur, CHU, France; Université Côte d'Azur, CHU, CNRS, Inserm, IRCAN, France., Colson SS; Université Côte d'Azur, LAMHESS, France.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Clinical biomechanics (Bristol, Avon) [Clin Biomech (Bristol, Avon)] 2023 Feb; Vol. 102, pp. 105899. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Jan 31.
DOI: 10.1016/j.clinbiomech.2023.105899
Abstrakt: Background: Facioscapulohumeral dystrophy is a genetic disease characterized by progressive muscle weakness leading to a complex combination of postural instability, foot drop during swing and compensatory strategies during gait that have been related to an increased risk of falling. The aim is to assess the effect of tibialis anterior muscle weakness on foot drop and minimum toe clearance of patients with facioscapulohumeral dystrophy during gait.
Methods: Eight patients allocated to a subgroup depending on the severity of tibialis anterior muscle weakness, assessed by manual muscle testing (i.e., severe and mild weakness), and eight matched control participants underwent gait analysis at self-selected walking speeds.
Findings: Walking speed, for all facioscapulohumeral dystrophy patients, and step length, for patients with severe weakness only, were significantly decreased compared to control participants. Minimum toe clearance was similar across all groups, but its variability was increased only for patients with severe weakness. A greater foot drop was systematically observed for patients with severe weakness during swing and only in late swing for patients with mild weakness. Individual strategies to compensate for foot drop remain unclear and may depend on other muscle impairment variability.
Interpretation: Although all patients were able to control the average height of their foot trajectory during swing, patients with severe tibialis anterior muscle weakness exhibited increased foot drop and minimum toe clearance variability. Manual muscle testing is a simple, cheap and effective method to assess tibialis anterior muscle weakness and seems promising to identify facioscapulohumeral dystrophy patients with an increased risk of tripping.
Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
Externí odkaz: