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

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Stroke

• Registration Number: NCT00167089
• Lead Sponsor: National Taiwan University Hospital

Brief Summary

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

Detailed Description

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 Timeline

• Study Start: 1998-08
• Primary Completion: 2000-08
• Study Completion: 2000-08
• Study First Submitted: 2005-09-12
• Study First Submitted QC: 2005-09-12
• Study First Posted: 2005-09-14
• Status Verified: 2009-09
• Last Update Submitted: 2009-10-05
• Last Update Posted: 2009-10-06

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 40

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

Exclusion Criteria

Not provided

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
To investigate walking speed and stride length as the representation of ambulation ability	3 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
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	3 months

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

School and Graduate Institute of Physical Therapy College of Medicine, National Taiwan University; 🇨🇳 Taipei, Province of China, Taiwan