Mechanically assisted walking with body weight support is more effective than overground walking at increasing independent walking in non-ambulatory patients early after stroke .
QUESTION Does mechanically assisted walking with body weight support result in more independent walking and is it detrimental to walking speed or capacity in non-ambulatory patients early after stroke ?
A Pilot Study of Randomized Clinical Controlled Trial of Gait Training in Subacute Stroke Patients With Partial Body-Weight Support Electromechanical Gait Trainer and Functional Electrical Stimulation: Six-Month Follow-Up
Background and Purpose — This study aim ed to assess the effectiveness of gait training using an electromechanical gait trainer with or without functional electrical stimulation for people with subacute stroke . Methods — This was a nonblinded r and omized controlled trial with a 6-month follow-up . Fifty-four subjects were recruited within 6 weeks after stroke onset and were r and omly assigned to 1 of 3 gait intervention groups : conventional overground gait training treatment ( CT , n=21 ) , electromechanical gait trainer ( GT , n=17 ) and , electromechanical gait trainer with functional electrical stimulation ( GT-FES , n=16 ) . All subjects were to undergo an assigned intervention program comprising a 20-minute session every weekday for 4 weeks . The outcome measures were Functional Independence Measure , Barthel Index , Motricity Index leg subscale , Elderly Mobility Scale ( EMS ) , Berg Balance Scale , Functional Ambulatory Category ( FAC ) , and 5-meter walking speed test . Assessment s were made at baseline , at the end of the 4-week intervention program , and 6 months after the program ended . Results — By intention-to-treat and multivariate analysis , statistically significant differences showed up in EMS ( Wilks ' & lgr;=0.743 , P=0.005 ) , FAC ( Wilks ' & lgr;=0.744 , P=0.005 ) and gait speed ( Wilks ' & lgr;=0.658 , P<0.0001 ) . Post hoc analysis ( univariate 2-way ANCOVA ) revealed that the GT and GT-FES groups showed significantly better improvement in comparison with the CT group at the end of the 4 weeks of training and in the 6-month follow-up . Conclusions — For the early stage after stroke , this study indicated a higher effectiveness in poststroke gait training that used an electromechanical gait trainer compared with conventional overground gait training . The training effect was sustained through to the 6-month follow-up after the intervention
Mechanically assisted walking with body weight support is more effective than overground walking at increasing independent walking in non-ambulatory patients early after stroke .
QUESTION Does mechanically assisted walking with body weight support result in more independent walking and is it detrimental to walking speed or capacity in non-ambulatory patients early after stroke ?