著者

Hiroaki ABE Kei KADOWAKI Naohide TSUJIMOTO Toru OKANUKA

出版者

Japanese Society of Physical Therapy

雑誌

Physical Therapy Research (ISSN:21898448)

巻号頁・発行日

pp.R0015, (Released:2021-12-06)

参考文献数

41

被引用文献数

7

---

Impairments resulting from stroke lead to persistent difficulties with walking. Subsequently, an improved walking ability is one of the highest priorities for people living with stroke. The degree to which gait can be restored after a stroke is related to both the initial impairment in walking ability and the severity of paresis of the lower extremities. However, there are some patients with severe motor paralysis and a markedly disrupted corticospinal tract who regain their gait function. Recently, several case reports have described the recovery of gait function in stroke patients with severe hemiplegia by providing alternate gait training. Multiple studies have demonstrated that gait training can induce "locomotor-like" coordinated muscle activity of paralyzed lower limbs in people with spinal cord injury. In the present review, we discuss the neural mechanisms of gait, and then we review case reports on the restoration of gait function in stroke patients with severe hemiplegia.

著者

Hiroaki ABE Kei KADOWAKI Naohide TSUJIMOTO Toru OKANUKA

出版者

Japanese Society of Physical Therapy

雑誌

Physical Therapy Research (ISSN:21898448)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.24, no.3, pp.195-203, 2021-12-20 (Released:2021-12-20)

参考文献数

41

被引用文献数

7

---

Impairments resulting from stroke lead to persistent difficulties with walking. Subsequently, an improved walking ability is one of the highest priorities for people living with stroke. The degree to which gait can be restored after a stroke is related to both the initial impairment in walking ability and the severity of paresis of the lower extremities. However, there are some patients with severe motor paralysis and a markedly disrupted corticospinal tract who regain their gait function. Recently, several case reports have described the recovery of gait function in stroke patients with severe hemiplegia by providing alternate gait training. Multiple studies have demonstrated that gait training can induce "locomotor-like" coordinated muscle activity of paralyzed lower limbs in people with spinal cord injury. In the present review, we discuss the neural mechanisms of gait, and then we review case reports on the restoration of gait function in stroke patients with severe hemiplegia.

著者

Hiroaki Abe Akira Michimata Kazuyoshi Sugawara Naoki Sugaya Shin-Ichi Izumi

出版者

Tohoku University Medical Press

雑誌

The Tohoku Journal of Experimental Medicine (ISSN:00408727)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.218, no.3, pp.193-199, 2009 (Released:2009-06-27)

参考文献数

24

被引用文献数

41 66

---

Stroke is the leading cause of long-term disability, and many stroke patients have hemiparesis. Hemiparesis induces ankle-control disturbances and equinovarus deformity, leading to difficulty in walking and an increased risk for falling. Plastic ankle-foot orthosis (PAFO) is frequently prescribed to correct ankle joint alignment and increase walking speed and stride length during ambulation. While several studies have shown that PAFO improves gait parameters, such as stride length and walking speed, in hemiplegic patients, the effect of PAFO on gait stability remains unclear. We quantitatively assessed the effect of PAFO on gait stability in 16 hemiplegic stroke patients (mean age 55.9 ± 11.8 years; 5 female and 11 male subjects; and 11 hemorrhagic and 5 ischemic stroke) using an ink footprint record. Wearing PAFO significantly improved the stride length, step length on the unaffected and affected sides, step width, walking speed, step frequency and functional ambulation ability. The coefficient of variation (CV), as an index of stability of movement from trial to trial, provides a measure that defines motor skills for a given task. Unaffected-side step-length CV and step-width CV were significantly decreased, when using PAFO. Furthermore, the correlation was found only between unaffected-side step length and its CV. The decrease in CV indicates that PAFO improved gait stability. We concluded that in addition to providing a faster gait, PAFO improves gait stability during walking. Gait stability and gait efficiency need to be considered separately in evaluating the effects of ankle-foot orthosis on gait performance in hemiplegic patients.