Effect of balance support on the energy cost of walking after stroke

No idea on what this knowledge is useful for. I still have to expend vast amounts of mental energy on walking and staying upright. Then there is thinking about making sure I dorsiflex, bend my knee, heel strike, and try to look forward rather than at the ground.
http://search.naric.com/research/rehab/redesign_record.cfm?search=2&type=all&criteria=J67508&phrase=no&rec=123274
NARIC Accession Number: J67508.  What's this?
ISSN: 0003-9993.
Author(s): IJmker, Trienke; Houdijk, Han; Lamoth, Claudine J.; Jarbandhan, Ameerani V.; Rijntjes, Danielle; Beek, Peter J.; van der Woude, Lucas H..
Publication Year: 2013.
Number of Pages: 7.
Abstract: Study examined the influence of balance support on the energy cost of treadmill and overground walking in ambulatory patients with stroke. Of the 24 subjects, 12 subjects used a walking aid in daily life (dependent ambulators), and the other 12 did not (independent ambulators); all able to walk for at least 5 minutes. Energy cost and temporal gait parameters (walking speed, mean and coefficient of variation of stride time, and symmetry index) were obtained during 4 walking trials at preferred walking speed: overground with and without a cane and on a treadmill with and without handrail support. On the treadmill, handrail support resulted in a significant decrease in energy cost of 16 percent, independent of the group. Although dependent ambulators had on average a larger reduction in energy cost than independent ambulators (19 versus 14 percent), this interaction did not reach statistical significance. Interestingly, overground walking with support resulted in an 8 percent reduction in energy cost for dependent ambulators, but a 6 percent increase for independent ambulators. The reduction in energy cost with support was accompanied by changes in temporal gait parameters, most notably an increase in stride time and symmetry and a decrease in stride time variability. Balance support can result in a significant reduction in the energy cost of walking, the magnitude of which depends on walking ability and the walking task.