https://jneuroengrehab.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12984-017-0317-z
- Juliet A. M. Haarman†,
- Mark Vlutters†Email authorView ORCID ID profile,
- Richelle A. C. M. Olde Keizer,
- Edwin H. F. van Asseldonk,
- Jaap H. Buurke,
- Jasper Reenalda,
- Johan S. Rietman and
- Herman van der Kooij
†Contributed equally
Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation201714:106
© The Author(s). 2017
Received: 1 May 2017
Accepted: 5 October 2017
Published: 13 October 2017
Abstract
Background
The effects of a stroke, such
as hemiparesis, can severely hamper the ability to walk and to maintain
balance during gait. Providing support to stroke survivors through a
robotic exoskeleton, either to provide training or daily-life support,
requires an understanding of the balance impairments that result from a
stroke. Here, we investigate the differences between the paretic and
non-paretic leg in making recovery steps to restore balance following a
disturbance during walking.
Methods
We perturbed 10 chronic-stage
stroke survivors during walking using mediolateral perturbations of
various amplitudes. Kinematic data as well as gluteus medius muscle
activity levels during the first recovery step were recorded and
analyzed.
Results
The results show that this
group of subjects is able to modulate foot placement in response to the
perturbations regardless of the leg being paretic or not. Modulation in
gluteus medius activity with the various perturbations is in line with
this observation. In general, the foot of the paretic leg was laterally
placed further away from the center of mass than that of the non-paretic
leg, while subjects spent more time standing on the non-paretic leg.
Conclusions
The findings suggest that,
though stroke-related gait characteristics are present, the modulation
with the various perturbations remains unaffected. This might be because
all subjects were only mildly impaired, or because these stepping
responses partly occur through involuntary pathways which remain
unaffected by the complications after the stroke.
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