Discrimination of Walking Ability Using Knee Joint Extension Muscle Strength in Stroke Patients

The isometric knee joint extension muscle strength required for walking was investigated in stroke patients. The subjects were a group of 17 patients who could walk outside parallel bars with a T-cane (ambulation group) and a group of 13 patients who could not walk outside parallel bars with a T-cane (impossible group). The proportion of muscle strength in the affected side to body weight (%) in the ambulation group, 29.7 ± 9.29%, was significantly larger than the impossible group, 9.68 ± 6.94%, at p<0.01. In addition, the non-affected side muscle strength (%) in the ambulation group, 40.9 ± 11.1%, was significantly larger than the impossible group, 32.0 ± 8.80%, at p<0.05. The discrimination point of the affected side muscle strength (%) was 18.3% for the discrimination of ambulation group and impossible group by Mahalanobis distance using only 1 factor, and the positive discrimination rate was 93.3%. In the discrimination using non-affected side muscle strength (%) by Mahalanobis distance, the discrimination point was 36.0%, and the positive discrimination rate was 66.7%. In the discriminant analysis using affected side muscle strength (%) and non-affected side muscle strength (%), using 2 factors, the positive discrimination rate was 93.3%, and it was equal to the discrimination using only the affected side muscle strength (%). Thus, walking outside parallel bars with a T-cane was possible in patients with knee joint extension muscle strength over 20% body weight on the affected side.