Editors

Michelle Ploughman

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-13-2021

Publication Title

Brain Sciences

Publisher

MDPI

Volume

11

Issue

3

First page number:

1

Last page number:

10

Abstract

Post-stroke rehabilitation often aims to increase walking speeds, as faster walking is associated with improved functional status and quality of life. However, for successful community ambulation, ability to modulate (increase and decrease) walking speeds is more important than walking continuously at constant speeds. Increasing paretic propulsive forces to increase walking speed has been extensively examined; however, little is known about the mechanics of slow walking post-stroke. The primary purpose of this study was to identify the effects of increased and decreased walking speeds on post-stroke kinetics and ankle kinematics. Fifteen individuals with chronic post-stroke hemiparesis and 15 non-neurologically impaired controls walked over an instrumented treadmill under: slow, self-selected, and fast walking speeds. We examined the peak propulsive forces, propulsive impulse, peak braking forces, braking impulse, and ankle kinematics under each condition. When walking at slow walking speeds, paretic limbs were unable to reduce braking impulse and peak propulsive force or modulate ankle kinematics. Impaired modulation of paretic gait kinetics during slow walking places people post-stroke at high risks for slip-related falls. These findings suggest the need for developing gait retraining paradigms for slow walking in individuals chronically post-stroke that target the ability of the paretic limb to modulate braking forces.

Keywords

Post-stroke hemiparesis; Walking speed; Gait; Slow walking; Ground reaction forces

Disciplines

Physical Therapy

File Format

pdf

File Size

937 KB

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Publisher Citation

Liang, J.N.; Ho, K.-Y.; Lee, Y.-J.; Ackley, C.; Aki, K.; Arias, J.; Trinh, J. Slow Walking in Individuals with Chronic Post-Stroke Hemiparesis: Speed Mediated Effects of Gait Kinetics and Ankle Kinematics. Brain Sci. 2021, 11, 365. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci11030365

Download


Search your library

Share

COinS