Knee Hyperextension Following a Stroke

Knee Hyperextension While Walking

 

 

Upon assessing a client's gait pattern, I look for full knee extension when in the single leg stance position.  Many of my patient's recovering from a stroke present with knee hyperextension.  Upon full weight bearing on the affected leg, the knee "snaps" back forcefully into hyperextension.  This can become painful and damaging to the knee joint.  An example of this can be seen in the video below.

Walking with knee hyperextension

 

 

A brace may be beneficial to protect the knee joint due to the constant forceful hyperextension.  However, I also focus my sessions on strengthening the quadriceps muscles by performing squats and repetitive sit to stand transfers while providing verbal and manual cues to control and minimize forceful knee locking.  Many times, this gait abnormality is due to quadriceps weakness.  A client may feel like they can not depend on their leg strength to keep them upright.  To compensate and avoid knee buckling and falling, a person will lock the knee joint into extension upon weight-bearing. 

 

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