Immediate Effects of Ankle MWM and Taping on Gait and Balance in Stroke Patients

For MWM for the talocrural joint, the hemiparetic side of the participant is positioned in a standing position on a stool. A non-elastic belt is passed behind the patient's distal tibia and secured around the therapist's pelvis. The patient is asked to perform active knee flexion and ankle dorsiflexion with weight on the hemiparetic side. Meanwhile, the therapist performs forward sliding of the tibia with the help of the belt. For 10 seconds active and painless sliding takes place and then return to the starting position. This application is applied as 10 repetitions, 6 sets, and 1 minute rest between sets. Following the MWM application, Mulligan talus stabilization taping is performed. For this taping, the participants' ankles are placed on a stool at a height of 30 cm and their feet are placed in the dorsiflexion position. The therapist starts taping from the plantar surface of the calcaneus using rigid tape and will wrap and stabilize the talus.

During joint mobilization with movement, the therapist will stabilize the ankle while performing knee flexion and ankle dorsiflexion by actively moving the center of mass to the affected side, but the shear force required to slide the tibia forward with the belt will not be given. Placebo taping following the application will be applied in such a way that there is no stabilization effect without tension between the same start and end points.