Stroke Rehabilitation: AB No: 176: Influence of Information Processing Speed (IPS) on Gait Asymmetry in Unilateral Stroke Survivors

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 Stroke Rehabilitation: AB No: 176: Influence of Information Processing Speed (IPS) on Gait Asymmetry in Unilateral Stroke Survivors

Purpose:

 

 Gait abnormalities are a prevalent dysfunction in stroke patients. Even post-rehabilitation more than half of them experience gait asymmetry. It is often a result of slow and insufficient activation of muscle on the hemiplegic side(For me it's probably because most of my pre-motor cortex is dead and spasticity.). Gait abnormalities are also seen as a sequel to cognitive impairment.(I have zero cognitive impairment.)

 One of the most severe cognitive impairments in stroke patients is the decline in Information Processing Speed/Time (IPS). Processing speed decline has been seen to influence gait parameters in various populations. The neural correlates of gait and processing speed are interlinked. The study would test the hypothesis if increased IPS of the affected hemisphere influences gait asymmetry. Thus the study aims to measure the processing speed deficit of the affected side, and secondly to assess if it influences gait asymmetry. 

 

Relevance: 

To assess if gait asymmetry in stroke patients is a function of cognitive processing. 

Participants: 

23 left hemispheric stroke patients. 

Methods: 

Visual Reaction Time (VRT) was taken to measure IPS. Gait (Stride velocity and step time) was assessed through GaitRite. 

Analysis: 

 

Spearman Correlation was performed between VRT variable and Gait variables. Results: Affected hemisphere was 337milliseconds slower. VRT had negligible correlation (r=0.106, 0.631) with asymmetry. High-moderate correlation (r=0.661, 0.001; r=-0.514, 0.01) with unaffected velocity and step time and weak-negligible(r=0.473, 0.02; r=0.067, 0.7) correlation with affected side. 

Conclusion: 

 

Stroke patients suffer from increased processing time of the affected side. The increased processing time doesn’t influence the gait asymmetry, although processing of the unaffected hemisphere does influence the gait. 

Implications: 

 

Improving processing time might not reduce gait asymmetry. Further studies are required to understand the relationship between lateralization of IPS and gait retraining.

Ananya Rakesh Sharma1, Ramesh Debur Visweswara2, Aditi Bhandarkar2 1 St Johns Medical College and Hospitals 2 Ramaiah Medical College and Hopitals Correspondence Address: Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None DOI: 10.4103/2456-7787.361091