The Effect of a Low-Cost Body Weight-Supported Treadmill Trainer on Walking Speed and Joint Motion

With not even a preliminary protocol on this, useless waste of time.  Survivors need EXACT DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS. Good luck getting PT for 40 weeks.

The Effect of a Low-Cost Body Weight-Supported Treadmill Trainer on Walking Speed and Joint Motion

Jessica D. Ventura
 1,
*, Ann L. Charrette
 2
and Katherine J. Roberts
 3
1
Kinesiology Department, Gordon College, Wenham, MA 01984, USA
2
School of Physical Therapy, MCPHS University, Worcester, MA 01608, USA
3
Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA
*
 Correspondence: jessica.d.ventura@outlook.com; Tel.:
+
1-978-867-4371Received: 6 June 2019; Accepted: 24 July 2019; Published: 30 July 2019

Abstract:

 Background and Objectives:
 Gait training with body weight-support has been shown to
improve the walking speed of individuals with movement disorders. The Acces Sport America Gait
Trainer is a low-cost, premarket gait rehabilitation device that alters the stride characteristics of participants walking on a standard treadmill. The purpose of this study was to examine the
 biomechanical outcomes that training on this device has for people with brain injuries that affect motor functioning. It was hypothesized that there would be an increase in walking speed post-intervention, and that there would be an increase in step length and joint range-of-motion.
 Materials and Methods:
An intervention study was conducted with 11 people with ambulatory difficulty caused by post stroke hemiparesis (n = 7), traumatic brain injury (n = 3), and cerebral palsy (n =1). The average time using
the AccesSportAmerica Gait Trainer was 34.5 (SD = 6.0) minutes per session for 36.9 (SD=21.8) sessions. Gait speed, step length and time, and joint flexion were measured during the 10 Meter Walk Test.
 Results:
 From pre- to post-intervention, there was a mean increase in walking speed of 0.19 m /s (SD=0.06, p=0.016, d=0.40) and a decrease in step time of both affected and unaffected legs (affected: p = 0.011, d = 0.37; unaffected: p = 0.004, d = 0.67). There was no significant change in stride length or joint angles. This line from the full article is most interesting.

No significant differences were found in joint angles after the training (Table 2), and no correlation was found between hours spent on the AccesSportAmerica Gait Trainer and the change in walking speed.  
This doesn't match with this line from the discussion:
 Study participants increased their walking speed by an average of 0.19m /s. An increase in speed of 0.10m/s is considered a substantial meaningful change in physical performance for community dwelling older people and subacute stroke survivors  
Conclusions: 
The AccesSportAmerica Gait Trainer has the potential(NOT GOOD ENOUGH. We need protocols that WILL DELIVER RESULTS.) to improve the walking speed of people with ambulatory difficulty.

I have no clue what was really found out.