Prevalence of Genu Recurvatum during Walking and Associated Knee Pain in Chronic Hemiplegic Stroke Patients: A Preliminary Survey

Abstract

Background: Although genu recurvatum during walking is a well-known issue in stroke rehabilitation, there are no reliable epidemiological data on its prevalence. The aim of the study was to investigate the prevalence of genu recurvatum during walking and associated knee pain among ambulatory community-dwelling patients with chronic hemiplegic stroke.

Methods: Questionnaires were sent to physical therapists working at 223 adult day care facilities in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. The number of all chronic stroke patients attending the day care who could walk without human assistance, including those who used a walking aid and/or an orthosis; the number of patients with genu recurvatum in the paretic limb during walking; and the number of patients with genu recurvatum who had experienced any knee pain in the last month were investigated. Physical therapists were also asked whether they considered genu recurvatum in stroke patients to be problematic.

Results: Sixty-four facilities (28.7%) responded, providing data on 1110 ambulatory stroke patients, of whom 217 (19.5%) showed genu recurvatum. Of the patients with genu recurvatum, 25 (11.5%) experienced knee pain in the paretic limb. Of 45 physical therapists who gave an opinion on whether genu recurvatum was problematic, 26 (57.8%) thought it was problematic whereas 19 thought it was not problematic.

Conclusion: Rates of genu recurvatum and associated knee pain were relatively low among ambulatory community-dwelling stroke survivors attending adult day care.

Keywords: Hemiplegia; gait; gait analysis; orthotic device; osteoarthritis.