http://jneuroengrehab.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12984-016-0113-1
- HaoYuan HsiaoEmail author,
- Jill S. Higginson and
- Stuart A. Binder-Macleod
Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation201613:2
DOI: 10.1186/s12984-016-0113-1
© Hsiao et al. 2016
Received: 16 September 2015
Accepted: 10 January 2016
Published: 15 January 2016
Abstract
Background
Current rehabilitation for
individuals poststroke focuses on increasing walking speed because it is
an indicator of community walking ability and quality of life.
Propulsive force generated from the paretic limb is critical to walking
speed and may reflect actual neural recovery that restores the affected
neural systems. A wide variation across individuals in the improvements
in paretic propulsive force was observed following an intervention that
targeted paretic propulsive force. This study aimed to determine if
specific baseline characteristics can be used to predict patients who
would respond to the intervention.
Methods
Participants (N
= 19) with chronic poststroke hemiparesis walked at their self-selected
and maximal walking speeds on a treadmill before and after a 12-week
gait training program. Propulsive forces from the paretic limb were
analyzed. Pearson correlation coefficient was used to determine the
relationships between (1) treatment gains in walking speed and
propulsive force following intervention, and (2) treatment gains in
propulsive force and baseline propulsive forces.
Results
Treatment gains in
self-selected walking speed were correlated to treatment gains in
paretic propulsive force following intervention. In addition, changes in
paretic propulsive force between self-selected and maximal walking
speeds at baseline were strongly correlated to treatment gains in
paretic propulsive force.
Conclusions
The capacity to modulate
paretic propulsive force, rather than the absolute propulsive force
during self-selected or maximal walking speed, predicted treatment gains
in propulsive force following the intervention. Findings from this
research could help to inform clinicians and researchers to target the
appropriate patient population for rehabilitation interventions.(What a weasaly statement.)
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