Article

Objective: To quantify the magnitude of stretch that physiotherapists apply to the hamstring muscles of people with spinal cord injury (SCI). Design: Repeated-measures design. Setting: SCI unit in Australia. Participants: Fifteen individuals with motor complete paraplegia or tetraplegia. Intervention: Twelve physiotherapists manually administered a stretch to the hamstring muscles of each subject. The stretch was applied by flexing the hip with the knee extended. Main Outcome Measure: Applied hip flexor torque. Results: Therapists applied median hip flexor torques of between 30 and 68Nm, although some torques were as large as 121Nm. The stretch applied by different therapists to any I subject varied as much as 40-fold. Conclusion: There is a large range of stretch torques provided by physiotherapists to patients with SCI. Some therapists provide stretch torques well in excess of those tolerated by individuals with intact sensation.

Langue : ANGLAIS

Identifiant basis : 2003227879