Effects of Early Treadmill Training on Ambulatory Ability in Stroke Patients: Electromyographic and Kinematic Analyses

National Taiwan University Hospital40 enrolled

Overview

The purpose of this study is to explore an alternative approach that emphasizes task specificity and treadmill training for ambulation training of these patients.

Restoration of independent ambulatory ability is one of the most common functional goals of patients with hemiplegia after stroke. Ambulation training, therefore, is an important part of physical therapy intervention for these patients. Conventional neurologic physical therapy for ambulation training, based sorely on neurophysiology, prohibits early ambulation experience after stroke in attempt to avoid the development of abnormal gait patterns. Such an approach has been shown to be limited in helping these patients regain independent ambulatory ability.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Masking

NONE

Enrollment

Conditions

Stroke

Interventions

Treadmill TrainingBEHAVIORAL

Partian body weight support treadmill training, 30 min/day \* 3 days /week

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 40 YearsMax age: 75 Years

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * between 40 and 75 years old * first stroke with R't side hemiplegia due to middle cerebral artery occlusion and received acute treatment at NTUH * being willing to sign an informed consent approved by the Human Subjects Committee of the National Taiwan University Hospital * able to ambulate independently in parallel bars and having no independent ambulation ability outside parallel bars Excursion criteria: * having unstable vital sign, unconsciousness, or obvious cognitive, perception, and language impairment, and couldn't communicate with the experimenters * having other neurological diseases, or moderate to severe neuromuscular or musculoskeletal or cardiovascular disorders, or disorders from systematic diseases other than stroke

Locations (1)

School and Graduate Institute of Physical Therapy College of Medicine, National Taiwan University

Taipei, Province of China, Taiwan

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

To investigate walking speed and stride length as the representation of ambulation ability

Time frame: 3 months

Secondary Outcomes

To investigate the the co-activation duration between the activity of hamstring and quadriceps, and tibialis anterior and gastrocnemius joints, the level of symmetry in step length and stance/swing duration ratio between the affected and unaffected legs

Time frame: 3 months

Data from ClinicalTrials.gov

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