Current Principles of Functional Gait Rehabilitation in Adults with Foot Drop aftera Stroke

Introduction: Stroke causes muscle weakness and atrophy, which leads to functional and mobility disorders. Muscle weakness of the lower limb is closely related to decreased gait performance, endurance and speed. We propose to identify the current principles of gait reeducation in Romania in order to build, based on the results obtained, a new gait recovery strategy that will bring novel elements. Materials and Methods: We conducted a longitudinal study, carried out over a period of three months, using a questionnaire developed on Google Forms platform, addressed to specialists dealing with gait rehabilitation in people with stroke. Results: During the 3 months it was distributed, the questionnaire was completed by 257 people. The gait recovery programs currently followed by medical recovery specialists largely emphasize the prioritization of ankle joint restoration (78.5%) through recovery programs built according to the functional status of the patients and the motivation is that 96.4% of patients with post-ischemic stroke sequelae are experiencing foot dorsiflexion deficit. However, there are also specialists who focus on restoring the whole kinetic chain of the lower limb (87.1%) but 68.09% of them follow exclusively classical protocols and do not consider it necessary or useful to try to bring novel elements in gait recovery. Discussion: The motor rehabilitation of pathologic gait requires a set of impulses and information necessary for the development, restoration and improvement of bipedal locomotion capacity and the acquisition of new skills for strengthening and readaptation of gait to new conditions. Conclusion: Analyzing the data provided by the applied questionnaire, we have identified information in line with the benchmarks of specialized studies but also particularities of the existing therapeutic approaches that we consider worth to be improved in order to support the beneficiaries of gait rehabilitation services.