Principal motion analysis of manual stretching techniques for the ankle joints

摘要

[Purpose] Physical therapists frequently perform manual stretching of the ankle joints.Manual stretching procedures are challenging to define because they involvemultidirectional joint motions and external forces. Therefore, in this paper, we propose amethod for quantitatively and statistically analyzing the manual foot stretchingtechniques used by physical therapists. [Participants and Methods] The participants werefour physical therapists, and three patients who have a spastic foot. We investigated themanual foot stretching techniques employed by the physical therapists using athree-dimensional analysis system and an instrumented brace with force sensors. Principalmotion analysis was applied to the obtained data, and principal motions were determined.[Results] The first principal motion was the application of force for the dorsiflexion ofthe foot; second, the pushing/pulling of the heel; third, the eversion/inversion of theentire foot; and fourth, the eversion/inversion of the forefoot. Furthermore, the manualstretching techniques varied among the physical therapists, even for the same patient, andsome techniques occurred only between particular pairs. [Conclusion] This studydemonstrated the effectiveness of the principal motion analysis for the statisticalassessment of manual stretching techniques and clarifying differences in stretchingtechnique among physical therapists.